OII is grateful that the UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, has included intersex people in its consideration of refugees seeking asylum.

“UNHCR: Washington forum debates protection for refugees persecuted for their sexuality

We hope that the UN will now begin to include us in all its considerations.

The usual corrections

The UNHCR is correct in stating that intersex is to do with “sexual anatomy [that] is not considered standard for a male or female,” but we are ill-served by suggestions that our biological variations are somehow the same thing as sexual orientation or gender identity.