Younger star Nico Tortorella is advocating to end intersex surgery, telling folks to “change your hearts, not our parts.” 

The 30-year-old attended a protest in New York City and shared several photos and videos from the rainy day to his Instagram account. The actor urged his followers, especially those in the LGBTQ community, to advocate for intersex rights.

“We are responsible for queer people everywhere,” he began the lengthy post. “It’s time for all LGBTQ+ folk to stand up for intersex rights. our bodies our choice… Unfortunately still to this day all over the globe surgeries are being performed on intersex babies at birth and shortly after without the child’s consent to fit the recent historical binary construct… CHANGE YOUR HEARTS NOT OUR PARTS.”

According to Intersex Society of North America, intersex is a term used for a person who is born with “a reproduction or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.” 

Often times, the parents or doctors will chose to operate on the child — shaping their bodies to appear as one particular gender over the other. Often times, they choose the wrong one and the child grows up with incredible emotional and mental trauma. 

 

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we are responsible for queer people everywhere. it’s time for all LGBTQ+ folk to stand up for intersex rights. our bodies our choice. unfortunately still to this day all over the globe surgeries are being performed on intersex babies at birth and shortly after without the child’s consent to fit the recent historical binary construct. CHANGE YOUR HEARTS NOT OUR PARTS. thank you @adameli and @voices4_ for putting this protest together. #endintersexsurgery specifically non consensual. please follow @intersexjusticeproject to find out how you can help.———————————————————————— since so many people are asking “what is intersex?” i’m adding a definition from the @interact_adv website. interact is an intersex organization: “Intersex” refers to people who are born with any of a range of sex characteristics that may not fit a doctor’s notions of binary “male” or “female” bodies. Variations may appear in a person’s chromosomes, genitals, or internal organs like testes or ovaries. Some intersex traits are identified at birth, while others may not be discovered until puberty or later in life. People with intersex traits have always existed, but there is more awareness now about the diversity of human bodies. People with intersex bodies, like anyone who may be seen as different, sometimes face discrimination, including in healthcare settings as early as infancy.”

A post shared by nicotortorella (@nicotortorella) on Oct 27, 2018 at 3:53pm PDT