{"id":71256,"date":"2025-07-10T16:03:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished"},"modified":"2025-07-10T16:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:54:16","slug":"association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished","title":{"rendered":"Association Wants Intersex Surgeries Abolished"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong><\/span><b>Rainbow Identity Association, a local advocacy group, is calling for an end to intersex surgeries performed on babies, describing them as non-essential.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The association\u2019s project coordinator, Mr Kagiso Bannye said in an interview that the procedures were mostly not medically necessary, as they were performed based on a child\u2019s genitals. He explained that a person\u2019s sex was complex and could not be determined solely by visual inspection, as it involved hormones, chromosomes, and genitals. Mr Bannye said the sex assigned by a doctor was recorded on the child\u2019s birth certificate, and could be difficult to change at a later stage if a need arose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe challenge in Botswana is that when a child is born, they are assigned either one (male) or two (female). We are saying that we intersex individuals belong to neither category; we should be assigned zero or three,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He stated that when an individuals\u2019 sex identity differed from the one assigned at birth, the situation became more complex if such an individual\u2019s other reproductive organ had been surgically removed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are calling for an end to these operations,\u201d he continued, noting that the association was currently running a campaign, \u2018Hands off Our Genitals,\u2019 which urges medical professionals to avoid making decisions solely based on genital anatomy.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Bannye explained that parental consent for these operations often stemmed from misinformation by medical practitioners and societal pressure. He added that some surgeries resulted in medical complications, leading to some individuals having to frequent health facilities while others became recluse.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, he highlighted that some intersex people faced challenges accessing facilities due to their national identity cards reflecting an opposite sex, adding that they were sometimes forced to undress to prove their sex. Also, he emphasised the need for societal efforts to foster acceptance of intersex people, adding that they were often subjected to derogatory names due to widespread ignorance. Despite their challenges, he said the National Registration Act was their lifeline, enabling individuals to change their sex designation on their identity documents.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Mpho Mudendu, another project coordinator responsible for transgender issues, said intersex and transgender individuals were often perceived as gays or lesbians, which was inaccurate. She stated that their sexuality was not determined by sexual partner preference but rather by their biological makeup.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the lack of a law explicitly recognising and protecting the rights of intersex people, the government attempted to introduce such protections, along with protections for people with disabilities, through a failed constitutional amendment last year. The amendment, which failed to pass, defined intersex as \u2018a person born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, and genitals that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.\u2019 According to the United Nations it is estimated that 1.7 per cent of the world population is born with intersex traits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Botswana<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. Rainbow Identity Association, a local advocacy group, is calling for an end to intersex surgeries performed on babies, describing them as non-essential. The association\u2019s project coordinator, Mr Kagiso Bannye said in an interview that the procedures were mostly not medically necessary, as they were performed based on a child\u2019s genitals. He explained [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":71255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-71256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Association Wants Intersex Surgeries Abolished - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rainbow Identity Association, a local advocacy group, is calling for an end to intersex surgeries performed on babies ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Association Wants Intersex Surgeries Abolished\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rainbow Identity Association, a local advocacy group, is calling for an end to intersex surgeries performed on babies ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T16:03:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T16:54:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2025\/07\/sm_1752153644.802887.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Association Wants Intersex Surgeries Abolished\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-10T16:03:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T16:54:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\"},\"wordCount\":494,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2025\/07\/sm_1752153644.802887.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/association-wants-intersex-surgeries-abolished\",\"name\":\"Association Wants Intersex Surgeries Abolished - 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