Physical integrity and bodily autonomy

In 2014, following testimony by then staff member Pidgeon Pagonis, Anne Tamar-Mattis was published on medical interventions as torture in healthcare settings, in a book by the Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law.^[13] 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.^[14][15] 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".^[16]

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.^[17][18] 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."^[19] 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."^[17][18][19]

Reparations

Youth leadership development

interACT Youth^[29] is a program for intersex youth, run by intersex youth. All members between 14 and 25 years old, have intersex traits, and are in a place where they are ready to speak out about their experiences. interACT Youth works to provide tomorrow's scholars and activists a platform for their vital perspectives. A product of this work entitled "What We Wish Our Doctors Knew"^[30] was the first of its kind: Intersex youth talking back to medical providers and caregivers. InterACT Youth is funded in part by Ms. Foundation and Liberty Hill Foundation.

In 2013, the then youth leadership coordinator,^[31] Pidgeon Pagonis, testified for interACT before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights about the medical interventions they were subjected to as an intersex child,^[32] alongside Latin Americans Mauro Cabral, Natasha Jiménez and Paula Machado.^[33]

Media work

interACT has worked with MTV on the program Faking It, notable for providing the first intersex main character in a television show,^[34] and television's first intersex character played by an intersex actor.^[35] In 2017, interACT began working with Belgian-born model Hanne Gaby Odiele to tackle social taboos and unnecessary surgeries.^[36][37]

interACT published a media guide on covering intersex issues in January 2017.^[38]

Language

Having historically used the current clinical terminology of disorders of sex development, interACT issued a strong statement favoring the term intersex in 2016, citing increasing acceptance and public awareness.^[39]

Involvement in 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.

Proposed by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) on January 28, 2019, and amended on March 25, 2019, the proposal has yet to be voted on. 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."^[40][41]