Liat Fowler testifies on being fired for intersex traits
Liat Fowler, president of Interconnect Support Group, says she was fired without explanation after her intersex trait became visible. She says explicit protection is needed so intersex people know their legal recourse and are not left undefined in anti-discrimination law.
If it's red, does that mean it's on?
Yeah, cool.
Thank you all for the opportunity to speak and share my story today.
My name is Liat Feller, and I find many of my communities here in New York City.
A visual description of myself for those who might need that.
I'm a white presenting Jewish intersex woman in my mid-20s.
I have long brown hair that hangs past my broad shoulders and desperately needs a haircut.
And bright colored glasses on my face.
Typically, I sport a full beard, but it just so happens this week I am clean shaven.
I'm a part-time wheelchair user, and I'm wearing a bright purple blazer.
Which people say is the color of my aura.
And I use she, her, or they, them pronouns.
I'm also president of Interconnect Support Group, the national peer support network for intersex folks and their families.
And today I'm testifying on my own behalf as an intersex woman in strong support of Introduction 131.
With federal protections for intersex people having been completely rolled back by the current administration, comprehensive state and local protections are more crucial now than ever.
To write explicit intersex protection into law would be to affirm our basic existence, something that should never have to be debated, but still so often is.
Much of the harm and isolation that intersex people experience stems from ignorance.
Ignorance, misunderstanding, or disbelief that we exist.
To be intersex is a natural phenomenon.
We're not some myth, and we're not freaking unicorns.
Though I know an intersex five-year-old who would like to be one.
When I came out to my mother, she cried.
Not out of disappointment, but out of fear for how the world would treat me.
She knew that without explicit legal protection for intersex folks, people would continue to pathologize our bodies, misunderstand our experiences of gender and sex, and deny our sheer existence.
My mom is wonderful.
When COVID mask mandates were lifted in 2021, I was a young teacher in the observant faith community that I was raised in.
Going to work without a mask for the first time, since coming out as intersex, meant that my most prominent intersex trait, a full beard rivaling that of my brother, the Hasidic rabbi, was on full display for the first time.
That week, I was fired without explanation.
Because intersex traits were not explicitly defined in anti-discrimination law, I didn't know my clear legal recourse.
I wasn't fired for being a woman.
I was fired for being intersex, and visibly so.
Friends stopped looking me in the eye.
My community isolated me.
I lost more than eight weeks'worth of income, and I've since left classroom teaching entirely.
Ignorance breeds discrimination, and discrimination thrives when it's left undefined.
I'm asking you to explicitly
affirm intersex existence, and define our rights so that equal protection under the law becomes non-negotiable.
New York City was a national leader when the CCHR recognized intersex traits as protected via interpretation of existing anti-discrimination laws.
The city has an opportunity to be a national leader again by modeling what it looks like to value and protect intersex people.
Wholly, firmly, and proudly.
Please pass Introduction 131.
Thank you.