InterACT

The InterACT logo.

InterACT is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 that advocates for the rights of children with intersex traits.

History

InterACT was first founded in 2006 in Cotati, California. As of 2024, the group's co-presidents are Niki Khanna and Catherine Clune-Taylor, and the vice president is Keely Bosn.

The site states that "InterACT—formerly known as Advocates for Informed Choice (AIC)—was founded by attorney Anne Tamar-Mattis with an Equal Justice Works fellowship in 2006, and continued with an Echoing Green fellowship in 2008 with a focused mission of ending harmful medical interventions on intersex children.  We began our operations with a national advisory board, including doctors, lawyers, mental health experts, and leaders of many different intersex organizations to establish our goals."

InterACT is also identified as the successor to the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA).

Advocacy

InterACT advocates for the legal and human rights of children born with intersex traits. Strategies include media work and the development of youth leadership, in addition to litigation. Issues of focus are informed consent, insurance, identity documents, school accommodation, discrimination, medical records retrieval, adoption, military service, medical privacy, refugee asylum, and wider international human rights.

In 2016, the United Nations Committee Against Torture asked the United States government to comment on reports of intersex medical interventions on infants and children, following submission of a report by InterACT. As part of its submission, InterACT stated that it is "unaware of any jurisdiction in the U.S. that enforces its own FGM laws in cases where the girl undergoing clitoral cutting has an intersex trait".

InterACT has worked with MTV on the program Faking It, notable for providing the first intersex main character in a television show, and television's first intersex character played by an intersex actor.

In July 2017, Human Rights Watch and InterACT published a major report on medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, "I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me", based on interviews with intersex persons, families and physicians. The report found that "Intersex people in the United States are subjected to medical practices that can inflict irreversible physical and psychological harm on them starting in infancy, harms that can last throughout their lives." The report calls for a ban on "surgical procedures that seek to alter the gonads, genitals, or internal sex organs of children with atypical sex characteristics too young to participate in the decision, when those procedures both carry a meaningful risk of harm and can be safely deferred."

M.C. vs Aaronson

On May 14, 2013, interACT, The Southern Poverty Law Center, and pro bono counsel for the private law firms of Janet, Jenner & Suggs and Steptoe & Johnson LLP filed a lawsuit against South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS), Greenville Health System, Medical University of South Carolina and individual employees for performing an irreversible and medically unnecessary surgery on an infant who was in the state's care at the time of the surgery.

The defendants sought to dismiss the case and seek a defense of qualified immunity, but these were denied by the District Court for the District of South Carolina. In January 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed this decision and dismissed the complaint, stating that, "it did not 'mean to diminish the severe harm that M.C. claims to have suffered' but that a reasonable official in 2006 did not have fair warning from then-existing precedent that performing sex assignment surgery on sixteen-month-old M.C. violated a clearly established constitutional right." The Court did not rule on whether or not the surgery violated M.C.'s constitutional rights. State suits were subsequently filed. In July 2017, it was reported that the case had been settled out of court by the Medical University of South Carolina for $440,000, without admission of liability.

California Senate Bill 201

InterACT has been an advocate for a variety of legislative movements related to intersexuality and those affected. One example of their advocacy is the organizations support and co-sponsorship of the proposed legislation of California Senate Bill 201. The Senate Bill would "ensure intersex individuals can provide informed consent before any medical treatments or interventions that could irreversibly affect their fertility or sexual function, as stated on the interACT website. The bill would not prohibit intervention in the instance of a medical emergency.

InterACT commented on the legislation, stating that "This long overdue measure will give individuals the opportunity to delay medically unnecessary, potentially harmful, irreparable procedures until they have the ability to make an informed decision for themselves.

As of August 21st, 2024, the bill is being engrossed.

Interface Project

The Interface Project is a nonprofit operating under the fiscal sponsorship of interACT. Founded in 2012, The Interface Project features stories of individuals with intersex traits under the banner: No Body is Shameful.

Resources

Wikipedia contributors. "InterACT." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 13 Jun. 2024. Web. 21 Aug. 2024.