Nationality Australian Website morgancarpenter.com | Name Morgan Carpenter Role Researcher | |
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Occupation Community activist, researcher Known for Intersex activist, president of Organisation Intersex International Australia | ||
Morgan Carpenter is an intersex activist and researcher. He became president of Organisation Intersex International Australia in September 2013, and is now a co-executive director. In 2015, he founded a project to mark Intersex Awareness Day. Australia's Gay News Network included him in their "LGBTI people to watch in 2014".
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Activism
Morgan Carpenter helped found Organisation Intersex International Australia and became president of the organisation in September 2013. His intersex status was diagnosed as an adult, described as including a diagnosis of "indeterminate sex", and a complex surgical history.
Carpenter wrote OII Australia's submissions to Senate inquiries and appeared before a Senate hearing on anti-discrimination legislation, during activities that led to the adoption of an "intersex status" attribute in anti-discrimination law on 1 August 2013, and a Senate committee inquiry on involuntary or coerced sterilisation. Carpenter has also authored critiques of eugenic selection against intersex traits.
With recognition of non-binary gender identities in Australian regulations, and German birth certificates, Carpenter expressed concern that such developments are "not a solution" to the needs of intersex people. Nevertheless, Carpenter is the recipient of a passport with an 'X' sex marker.
While opposing use of "Disorders of Sex Development" or "DSD", as "pathologising" terminology, Carpenter is named as a reviewer for a DSD Genetics website funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia.
Carpenter took part in the "first United Nations Human Rights Council side event on intersex issues" in March 2014, alongside Mauro Cabral and representatives of Intersex UK and Zwischengeschlecht, In 2015, Carpenter joined an international advisory board for a first philanthropic Intersex Human Rights Fund established by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. In the same year, he founded a project to mark Intersex Awareness Day.
Carpenter speaks out against stigma, and has spoken out in national media on issues affecting women purported to have intersex traits in competitive sport. In 2015, he participated in an analysis of access to sport and healthy lifestyles for the UN Special Rapporteur on health.
Recognition
In 2013, Australia's Gay News Network included Carpenter in their "LGBTI people to watch in 2014".