NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Like some 260,000 Americans, Sean Saifa Wall was born with significant . The sex on the birth certificate was checked 鈥渁mbiguous鈥� and then crossed out.
Wall was instead labeled female on the document and, at the age of 13, after his mother was inaccurately warned of a cancerous threat, his testes were removed. Doctors told his parents to raise him as a girl, though Wall later developed masculine features and now identifies as a man.
鈥淭hey literally stopped my development 鈥� I was starting to develop as male. And they stopped it right there and changed course. It was a hard left,鈥� says Wall. 鈥淚t was disappointing and almost devastating that what I wanted could never be achieved. I wanted to pass. I wanted to be read as cis.鈥�
鈥淚 had to tap into something else because it was hard being misgendered all the time and people not seeing me the way I saw myself,鈥� Wall adds. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I was like: I need to really fight back.鈥�
Wall, co-founder of the , is one of three intersex activists profiled in the new documentary by . The film, which Focus Features will release in 250 nationwide theaters on June 30, shines a warm spotlight on a much-misunderstood community, and three of its most dauntless champions.
An estimated 1.7% of the U.S. population 鈥� or about the same number of red-haired people 鈥� have some intersex traits, including genitalia, reproductive organs, chromosomes and/or hormone levels that don鈥檛 fit typical definitions for males or females. At a time when gender is an increasingly fraught battleground everywhere from to those born intersex contradict any strictly binary notion of gender.
鈥淎t the core, people are afraid of uncertainty. The thing that trans people and intersex people represent is that gray space,鈥� says actor and filmmaker River Gallo, another subject of the film. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been six years since I came out. I鈥檓 still trying to grapple with what it means to exist in between.鈥�
鈥淓very Body,鈥� which recently premiered at the seeks to be a galvanizing moment in the intersex rights movement, a small but growing advocacy for a sizeable segment of LGBTQIA+ people (the 鈥淚鈥� stands for intersex).
Fear of social stigma has often haunted intersex people. But the advocate trio of 鈥淓very Body,鈥� gathered for a recent interview in New York, are unashamed, unshakable and forthright about themselves and their experiences 鈥� and what they believe needs to change about how intersex children are medically treated.
Alicia Roth Weigel, a political consultant and human rights commissioner for the city of Austin, Texas, was born with male (XY) chromosomes. As an infant, her gonads were removed, which she considers a castration. Years of hormone treatments followed.
鈥淚鈥檝e found so much freedom in realizing that there are so many roles for all of us in the world,鈥� Weigel says. 鈥淣one of us have to be defined by 鈥� set gender aside, set sex aside 鈥� the rigid notions of what anyone thinks you should be. My whole thing is just: There鈥檚 no should. Just be.鈥�
The United Nations, in a 2013 report on torture, called for an end to 鈥済enital-normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, 鈥榬eparative therapies鈥欌�� 鈥� procedures which the U.N. said may violate a person's 鈥渞ight to physical integrity.鈥�
But such surgeries have continued. sought to prohibit surgeries until a child is 12, in order to give them time to develop a gender identity and offer consent themselves. At the same time, several states have advanced anti-trans legislation that bans gender-affirming care for those under 18 or older.
鈥淲hat happened to me shouldn鈥檛 happen to anyone,鈥� says the 44-year-old Wall, whose co-stars call the 鈥淥G鈥� of the movement. 鈥淭o me, that was the drive, and it鈥檚 still the drive. People ask me, 鈥楬ow are you doing all this work after all these years?鈥� And I鈥檓 like, 鈥楩irst, I鈥檓 a Capricorn.鈥� But I am determined to fight whoever to stop this. I will not stop until justice is upon us.鈥�
Cohen was first attracted to the subject by a Canadian man who, in an infamous medical experiment overseen by physician Dr. John Money, was raised as a girl for most of his first 14 years of life. Reimer, after speaking out about what happened to him, killed himself in 2004.
For 鈥淓very Body,鈥� Cohen wanted people who were comfortable speaking publicly about their experience. The 33-year-old Weigel, whom Cohen first approached, about a then-proposed bill regulating bathroom use for transgender Texans. She has an upcoming book titled
Gallo wrote and stars in the the film 鈥淧onyboi,鈥� a film they expect to release later this year or early next. The Los Angeles-based Gallo, who has found Hollywood less liberal than it often presents itself, is accustomed to performing. But it takes courage.
鈥淚 still get really scared every time a camera points at me or I get on a stage,鈥� they say. 鈥淚 would be better suited to a life that鈥檚 smaller. But I know that my experience is one that needs to be shouted from the rooftops because it could save people鈥檚 lives.鈥�
Cohen, wanting to foster intimacy, filmed interviews with only herself in the room each subject. But while there are anguished and heart-wrenching aspects of the documentary, 鈥淓very Body鈥� is a inspiring and celebratory testimony. It concludes with dancing.
鈥淭he center of the whole film is just Saifa, Alicia and River telling their own stories and being their own amazing selves,鈥� says Cohen.
鈥淭he intersex rights movement is right in the middle of a lot of national conversations that we鈥檙e having right now as some of the country starts to look at gender in a more expansive way,鈥� Cohen says. 鈥淏ut leaving aside the relevance and impact that they might have on trans rights cases and on nonbinary people, intersex people deserve their own lives. They want to be advocated for, too.鈥�
Even among LGBTQ causes, funding for intersex people is a tiny percentage. In national debates over trans rights, they can be forgotten. that would bar transgender athletes from girls鈥� and women's sports teams, advocates say, discriminates against intersex kids, too.
鈥淓very Body,鈥� though, has brought together a dispersed and fledgling movement that's coalesced largely online. At the Tribeca premiere, many intersex people flocked to the screening and even joined the film team on the red carpet.
鈥淕reat films have always brought people together and we鈥檙e already seeing that happen on this one,鈥� says Peter Kujawski, chair of Focus. The film, he added, 鈥渞epresents the best of what we do.鈥�
For Weigel, Wall and Gallo, the screening was a deeply moving experience and a rare sense of togetherness. Weigel was there with guests, she says, from throughout her life, from elementary school to her professional career in Texas.
鈥淚 felt a little bit vulnerable because I said some stuff that most human beings don鈥檛 need to share with the world in the way that we often need to expose ourselves,鈥� Weigel says. 鈥淏ut it also felt very like freeing. Kind of like everyone from my world saw me for the first time.鈥�
In one scene, Wall visits a Berlin art exhibit that paid tribute to him and others and featured nude photographs. At the sight of Wall's naked body, the crowd cheered.
鈥淔or Saifa, Alicia and River to see themselves as kind of works of art verses something that鈥檚 freakish and to be kept closeted and buried, I think, felt like a big moment,鈥� Cohen says.
Wall wants the burst of energy prompted by 鈥淓very Body鈥� to keep growing.
鈥淚 hope that this film creates a wave of people going, 鈥榃ait, maybe I鈥檓 intersex?鈥欌�� Wall says. 鈥淕iven the number of intersex people in the world, it can鈥檛 be a handful of people in different countries holding up so many millions of people. We need more people. Whatever they do, just be out. Be like: 鈥業鈥檓 intersex and that鈥檚 OK.鈥欌��
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
