1. Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons
This famous English author was known for living decades as a male. She was originally born with swelling genitals resulting in her initial identification as a male. Simmons went on to have sex reassignment surgery in 1968 and was married in South Carolina with what was considered to be the first legal interracial marriage. During her final years, Simmons suffered from Parkison’s disease before later passing away in 2000.
2. Cheryl Chase
Born in 1956, doctors were baffled over the intersex condition and ambiguous genitalia. It was discovered that she had a mixture of male and female sex organs, consisting of ovaries and a uterus. At the age of 18 months, surgery was performed to remove her oversized clitoris. Cheryl later changed her name to Bo Laurent and became a spokesperson for intersex people and rights activist. She speaks of her own experiences with doctors and parents who have difficulty with understand intersex issues. Chase is the founder of Intersex Society of North America.
3. Del LaGrace Volcano
Born in 1957, Volcano is both a photographer and activist. She was born with both male and female characteristics but was raised as a female from birth. Having proceeded to live as a woman for 37 years, Volcano now considers herself to be a gender queer and lives as both a male and female. Volcano’s professional work includes photography and depicts femininity and lesbian masculinity, making queer femininities a focus.
4. Mauro Cabral
Cabral is a well known Argentinian intersex and trans activist. He was originally assigned the female gender at birth, but now lives as a male. Researching academics, Cabral focuses on issues related to social theory, embodiment, and biotechnology helping to fuel his debates among intersex issues. Cabral was involved with the coordination of Trans and Intersex Area of the IGLHRC in Latin America and co-director of Global Action for Trans Equality.
5. Tony Briffa
Born in Australia, Briffa is known as being the first intersex mayor in Victoria and the Vice President of Organization Intersex International in Australia. Initially raised as a girl, Briffa now lives as a man and chooses the live of both female and male. As the first openly intersex mayor and pubic office bearer, he presently served in leading organizational positions that have allowed him the ability to advocate for the rights of intersex people in Australia. Briffa is additionally known as being one of the first people to obtain a certification for having an indeterminate birth certificate.
