ORINDA, Calif. — Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, announced Tuesday that the organization has withdrawn its endorsement of Senator Steve Glazer (D-Contra Costa) after the Senator failed to support legislation to protect the human rights of intersex Californians, people born with sex characteristics or traits that don’t seem to match traditional concepts of male or female. The civil rights organization released the following statement from Executive Director Rick Zbur:
“Equality California is proud to support leaders of both parties — or no party at all — who stand up for LGBTQ civil rights and social justice. By siding with powerful special interest groups and refusing to defend California children against clear human rights abuses, Senator Glazer has demonstrated that he no longer meets Equality California’s endorsement standard of a 100 percent commitment to the fight for full LGBTQ equality. East Bay voters deserve a pro-equality champion in the Senate, and Steve Glazer has shown us that he’s not willing to be that champion.”
As chair of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, Glazer attempted to strip protections for the vast majority of intersex people from the bill. When Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and the bill’s cosponsors, including Equality California, interACT and the ACLU of California, declined Glazer’s proposed amendments, he refused to support the bill. At the bill’s hearing, the senator spoke out against SB 201 and helped to ensure its defeat. As a result, California babies born with variations in their sex traits will continue to be subjected to irreversible, medically unnecessary surgeries aimed at “normalizing” their bodies before they are old enough to talk, let alone participate in the life-altering decision.
Affirming bodily autonomy and protecting infants born with variations in their sex characteristics is a critical human rights issue that has received national and international attention. The United Nations, World Health Organization, European Parliament, Human Rights Watch, a bipartisan group of U.S. Surgeons General and all major intersex-led groups have urged policymakers to address this issue and protect people from these clear human rights violations.
###
Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
