Intersex Awareness Day 2026 is on Monday

About Intersex Awareness Day

Intersex is an umbrella term for natural variations in chromosomes, hormones, internal organs or genitals. Some differences are noticed at birth and others not until puberty or later. Advocates use the day to challenge the secrecy and shame many intersex people grew up with, and to campaign against medically unnecessary surgeries performed on babies and young children before they are old enough to have a say.

The date recalls October 26, 1996, when intersex activists Morgan Holmes and Max Beck, then with the Intersex Society of North America, went to the American Academy of Pediatrics' annual conference in Boston to question doctors' approach to treating intersex children. Joined by allies from the activist group Transexual Menace, they ended up demonstrating outside the venue. Intersex organizations describe it as the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America.

The commemoration came later. According to The 19th and co-founder Betsy Driver's own account, Driver and fellow activist Emi Koyama began discussing an awareness day in 2003, and Koyama suggested the anniversary of the Boston protest. Driver sent out press releases for the first Intersex Awareness Day on October 26, 2004. The day is now marked in many countries, the days around it are increasingly treated as Intersex Awareness Week, and a separate Intersex Day of Solidarity follows on November 8.

Sources: Intersex Day: Intersex Awareness Day, Intersex Day: The origins of Intersex Awareness Day, by Betsy Driver, The 19th: Intersex Awareness Day highlights a fight for rights that's far from over (2025). How we check dates.

How to mark Intersex Awareness Day

• Learn the basics of what intersex means from an intersex-led organization rather than from myths or jokes.
• Read or listen to first-person accounts by intersex people about growing up and dealing with medical care.
• If you work in health care or education, look up current guidance on supporting intersex patients and students.
• Support an intersex-led advocacy group with a donation or by sharing its materials.
• Parents of an intersex child can ask their doctor about all the options, including waiting on non-urgent procedures, and connect with peer support groups.

Intersex Awareness Day dates