The Council has officially recognized October 26, 2025, as Intersex Awareness Day, marking an important moment in the city’s ongoing commitment to equity, bodily autonomy, and human rights.

The Council has officially recognized October 26, 2025, as Intersex Awareness Day, marking an important moment in the city’s ongoing commitment to equity, bodily autonomy, and human rights.

Intersex Awareness Day commemorates the first public demonstration by intersex people in the United States, which took place in Boston on October 26, 1996, during the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since then, the day has become an international call to action for education, visibility, and respect for intersex people and their rights.

“Intersex” refers to people born with natural variations in sex characteristics, such as anatomy, reproductive organs, hormones, or chromosomes, that don’t fit typical definitions of male or female. Though often underrepresented and misunderstood, recent community-led efforts estimate that up to 5% of the population may have intersex traits.

The resolution underscores the significant disparities in health care access, mental health outcomes, and social treatment faced by many in the intersex community. It highlights troubling patterns of nonconsensual and medically unnecessary surgeries performed on infants and children to conform their bodies to binary norms, practices that national and international health organizations increasingly oppose.

Boston has taken early leadership on this issue. Boston Children’s Hospital has adopted a policy limiting such surgeries until a child can participate in decision-making, and Fenway Health has worked with community advocates to develop affirming care guidelines. The Massachusetts Medical Society, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Bar Association, and former U.S. Surgeons General have all affirmed the importance of consent-based care and bodily autonomy for intersex individuals.

'The resolution calls on all sectors — government agencies, health care providers, schools, and businesses — to take meaningful action by supporting intersex people and promoting education, inclusive care, and community resources. It encourages Boston health institutions to provide culturally and clinically competent care and urges schools to support intersex-inclusive education and youth programming.

By recognizing Intersex Awareness Day, Boston reaffirms its dedication to dignity, diversity, and the rights of all people to live openly, authentically, and free from discrimination.