LGBT and Now I: Intersex Movements, Framing, and Political Opportunity Structures

Despite several years of increasing anti-feminist and anti-gender rhetoric in German media, a small minority is making large steps towards more visibility and inclusion: intersex individuals. In 2013 the German state under a Christian Democratic government introduced a surprising reform of the German Civil Status Law, which recognizes that not all newborns can be clearly distinguished as either ‘male’ or ‘female.’ It is the first law in Europe to provide more leeway assigning a gender in the case of inter* children. The reform demonstrates how the once unquestioned medical practice “correcting” the body of intersex newborns has been seriously challenged by a small social movement even in a conservative welfare state. Instead of “correcting” the body according to a specific vision of normalcy the emerging counter-discourse emphasizes human rights and “protecting” intersex children from physical harm. This surprising reform follows the multi-level dynamic that Keck and Sikkink have called “boomerang effect” (1998). Process tracing shows that since 2008 the critique of intersex activists is quietly diffusing and has become part of reports by international treaty organizations, such as CEDAW, CAT, ICCPR and recently the EU. Parliamentary documents and data from interviews with activists and politicians illustrate how this paradigmatic shift came about after LGBT and disability movements opened discursive and institutional doors for intersex activists.