Nationality Maltese | Name Ruth Baldacchino | |
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A conversation with the UN SOGI Independent Expert
Ruth Baldacchino is an LGBT, transgender, and intersex activist, Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), and program officer for the first intersex human rights fund.
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Education
Baldacchino holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies from University College Dublin and a B.A. (Honours) in Sociology from University of Malta. Baldacchino is a PhD candidate in Sociology/Gender Studies, and lectures in Queer Studies at the University of Malta.
Activism and career
Baldacchino has previously served on the boards of the Malta Gay Rights Movement, IGLYO and ILGA-Europe and also serves as program officer for the first intersex human rights fund. Baldacchino is a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. From late 2014, Baldacchino has served as co-secretary general of ILGA. From mid-2015 Baldacchino serves as program officer for the first intersex human rights fund, at Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.
Prior to joining Astraea, Baldacchino worked at the Ministry for Civil Liberties in Malta on human rights and social integration, participating in the process of developing and passing a groundbreaking Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act.
Baldacchino has a non-binary gender identity, and describes the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act as providing "freedom to an individual to develop, establish and express their gender, rather than having the State or the medical professionals deciding that. In other words, ... to be allowed to determine what identity fits ... best and how ... to embody that identity."
Baldacchino has also closely engaged with intersex activists, particularly through the co-facilitation and coordination of ILGA’s International Intersex Forums.
Baldacchino contributed to a 2015 national education policy on Trans, Gender Variant and Intersex Students in Schools.