Abbreviation AISSGA Type NGO President Bonnie Hart | Formation 1985 Region served Australia | |
Purpose Intersex peer and family support | ||
The Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia (AISSGA) is possibly the oldest known intersex organization, established in 1985. It provides peer and family support, information and advocacy. The group is run by volunteers, for people with intersex variations such as androgen insensitivity syndrome.
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History
The Androgen Insensivitity Syndrome Support Group Australia may be the oldest intersex organization, established in 1985, prior to the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group (UK), established in 1988, and the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) in 1993.
The AISSGA was founded by Dr Garry Warne, then the Director of Paediatric Endocrinology at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne. It is now run by a board of people with intersex variations, and parents. Notable members include Bonnie Hart, Phoebe Hart and Tony Briffa. Many members of the group took part in Phoebe Hart's 2010 autobiographical road movie, Orchids, My Intersex Adventure.
Activities
The group provides peer and family support, information and advocacy. It produces regular newsletters, known as dAISy, an annual conference, and regular meetings in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
The group has advocated on intersex human rights issues since at least the turn of the century, with submissions on discrimination and prenatal terminations dating back to 2003. Tony Briffa was published in Nature in April 2004, calling for an end to irreversible sex assignment treatments in infancy. The group has also made a similar submission to a 2013 Australian Senate inquiry on involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities.
Andie Hider, then president of AISSGA, took part in the ABC television program Four Corners in July 2005. Current president Bonnie Hart appeared on Australian television with Organisation Intersex International Australia president Morgan Carpenter in March 2015, and in a short video for the National LGBTI Health Alliance QLife project, later that year.
Affiliations
The AISSGA is a member of the National LGBTI Health Alliance.