Sex and gender classifications (page 1 of 8)

For an introduction to these issues, see our page on identification documents

Parliament: an icon showing an outline of the Australian Parliament

Federal call for action, 2025

We congratulate the Albanese Labor government on its re-election. We look forward to continuing to work with the government, to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for people with innate variations of sex characteristics, to build on key actions from the 47th Parliament, and to deepen engagement across portfolios.

Text reads "New Journal Article by Dr Morgan Carpenter published in the American Journal of Bioethics asks the questions: Is It Ever OK to Reclassify Someone Out of Their Birth-Observed Sex Without Personal Consent? How Do We Manage Competing Methods of Classifying Sex?" There are two images- 1. Current cover of The American Journal of Bioethics- black with a white line drawing of a hand switching on a lamp. 2. Picture of Dr Morgan Carpenter speaking at a microphone. He has short brown hair and wears a white shirt, light brown jacket and glasses.

Revisiting Sex Classification in Athletics: Insights from Dr. Morgan Carpenter

In this article in the American Journal of Bioethics, Dr Carpenter asks if it is ever acceptable to reclassify someone out of their sex determined and classified at birth without their consent. He proposes that women athletes should always be able to compete, without preconditions, in their birth-observed, birth-assigned sex.

the shape of WA, in purple

Law-making on the basis of polite fictions in WA

The Western Australian Parliament is currently debating a Births, Deaths and Marriages Bill. Much of the debate makes erroneous assumptions about the implications for people with innate variations of sex characteristics.

Parliament: an icon showing an outline of the Australian Parliament

Federal call for action, 2022

IHRA is pleased to share our call for action by the new government. It includes calls for action to promote legislative reform, resource peer support and advocacy, reform medical codes and provide redress.

Hans Lindahl on writing intersex characters

Writing an intersex character

Hans Lindahl, formerly of interACT, presents here one of best discussions about how to write intersex characters in fiction. We highly commend this video, and other work by Hans.

Intersex in surveys and forms

Joint statement on the 2021 Census

Intersex Human Rights Australia and the National LGBTI Health Alliance issue this statement following news reports on the 2021 Census.