August 18, 2021

“All we ask is to be allowed to run free, for once and for all, as the strong and fearless women we are and have always been.”Caster Semenya

This year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which closed on August 8th, featured more out 2SLGBTQI athletes than ever before. However, they were also the first Olympics to take place since World Athletics, which regulates international track and field competitions, decided to bar intersex women with naturally elevated testosterone levels from competing in the women’s category of track events over 400m. The testosterone limit has been referred to as the “Caster Semenya rule” – a reference to the South African two-time Olympic gold medalist and intersex woman Caster Semenya, who has been targeted by the IAAF’s discriminatory rules and invasive “gender testing” since she was a teenager.

Semenya is now taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to argue that the regulations are based on gender and racial discrimination. In order to be allowed to compete, women athletes with naturally high testosterone levels must undergo “humiliating and invasive physical examinations followed by harmful and experimental medical procedures” designed to lower their testosterone levels. They also risk being outed as intersex.

Last month, Egale applied to the ECHR for intervenor status in the case on Semenya’s behalf. Egale has long been a vocal supporter of intersex rights at home and around the world. Most recently, we filed an application at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to end the practice of ‘normalizing’ aesthetic surgeries on intersex infants and children before they are old enough to consent to surgery.

The term intersex refers to a person whose chromosomal, hormonal, or anatomical sex characteristics fall outside the conventional classifications of male or female.

 
 
 
 
 
 


Helen Kennedy, Executive Director

2SLGBTQI News

 

Researchers confirm substantial income disparities among lesbian, gay and bisexual Canadians | CTV

 

Transgender pastor sues Mississauga Baptist church for alleged wrongful dismissal
| Global

 

This portrait booklet is a celebration of two-spirit people
| CBC

 

Trans Canada Project gives transgender and non-binary people a platform to share their stories | Capital Current

 

 

2021 Calgary Pride Festival Lineup Includes Talk with World’s First Openly Gay Prince

| To Do Canada

 

 

Team LGBTQ finishes 7th in the Olympics medal count, a testament to being out

| Out Sports

 
 
 
 
 

Watch our Affirming Adults panels now available!

Affirming adults have an important role in creating safer spaces for 2SLGBTQI youth in the school setting. Our free panel discussions are available to watch now on egale.ca or our YouTube channel.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Read our open letter to the Prime Minister on the HESA Recommendations for 2SLGBTQI Health Equality

 
 
 

"Are you a 2S-LGBTQ+ person who has been harmed by subtle or blatant pressures to deny, suppress, or change your sexual orientation or gender identity-expression?

Help develop supports for SOGIECE/Conversion Therapy Survivors: complete a Survey, join a Focus Group, Email responses, request an Interview. Respond by September 15, 2021"

Êtes-vous une personne 2S-LGBTQ + qui a été lésée par des pressions subtiles ou flagrantes pour nier, supprimer ou changer votre orientation sexuelle ou votre expression identitaire de genre?

Aidez-nous à développer des réseaux de soutien pour les survivant·es des thérapies de conversion : remplir un questionnaire en ligne, répondre à des questions par courriel, se joindre à un groupe de discussion ou participer à une rencontre individuelle. Répondez avant le 15 septembre 2021.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Giveaway: Let's queer up your summer reading list!

Have you entered our Giveaway? Enter for a chance to win five (5) 2SLGBTQI books, courtesy of Penguin Random House Canada! Enter with the button below!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Egale Canada
120 Carlton Street, Suite 217  | Toronto, Ontario M5A 4K2
416-964-7887 | [email protected]

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Egale works to improve the lives of 2SLGBTQI people in Canada and to enhance the global response to 2SLGBTQI issues. Egale achieves this by informing public policy, inspiring cultural change, and promoting human rights and inclusion through research, education and community engagement. 

Our vision is a Canada, and ultimately a world, without homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and all other forms of oppression so that every person can achieve their full potential, free from hatred and bias. 

 

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