Featured image, left to right: John Adkison, Allie, Tim Hammond and Perry offer information to booth visitor.

GALDEF had an extremely successful presence at Portland Pride on July 20 and 21, thanks to our donors and supporters who contributed to our May/June Go Fund Me campaign to raise money to fund our presence at multiple Pride festivals this year in California and Oregon. Portland Pride had 187 exhibitors who participated and an estimated attendance of 65,000!

Executive Director Tim Hammond’s travel to Portland was not without incident, however, as his flights from Palm Springs to Portland were among the countless others affected by the worldwide software outage that affected his itinerary. His presence was especially critical as his full size checked luggage contained all of the informational material and the supply of Pride roses destined for the event. Through quick thinking and perseverance Tim was able to find alternative flights with an unaffected airline.

During the two-day event, close to 1,000 information packets were distributed and, as usual, Pride roses were a big draw to the GALDEF booth, with dozens of roses distributed to those who donated. This year our rose selection consisted of rainbow, transgender and intersex themed colors. Our educational materials stressed the need to protect the bodily integrity and eventual genital autonomy of all children, focusing on the question: “Who should decide how much of a child’s genitals they get to keep?”

GALDEF’s Intersex, Transgender and Pride fundraiser roses

Under existing laws prohibiting female genital mutilation, several dozen states, including Oregon, have decided that only those born with a vulva (girls) have the right to decide for themselves how much of their genitals they get to keep. Those born with a penis (boys, transgender females, intersex males) and intersex children born with nonbinary genitalia are left legally unprotected.

Tim made important connections with several important human rights organizations that also had booths at the festival. At the Metropolitan Community Church booth, visitors were invited to write down their prayers which were to be read to the congregation at the following Sunday’s service. Tim used the opportunity to expand awareness by submit this prayer: “That we protect ALL children from medically unnecessary genital mutilation regardless of sex or gender.”

Several moms stopped by the booth to express their regret that they had their sons circumcised before they became better educated on the matter. Conversely, a number of Jewish moms said they steadfastly refused to circumcise their sons. One such mom said her father refused to talk to her for five months afterwards, but eventually love won and he came to appreciate his intact grandson.

Prayer card submitted to MCC/Portland by Hammond

Assisting Tim during the festival were board member John Adkison, who drove from his home in Washington, making the 5 hour round trip journey each day. Also assisting were local activists T.T. Perry and Alliana (Allie) Arshad.

Both Perry and Allie respectively bring a transgender and intersex perspective to the issue of genital autonomy and they have graciously accepted an invitation to join GALDEF’s Advisory Council.

Like many persons born with a penis in the U.S., who later identify as either transgender or gender nonbinary, Perry was subjected to circumcision at birth and they are now a foreskin restorer. They became an activist and (self-)advocate for bodily integrity and genital autonomy as a teenager, seeking to elevate conversations among clinicians and researchers who understand children as the primary meaning-makers of their own bodies.

Allie, as a second-generation South Asian immigrant, is passionate about championing the intersectionality of the genital autonomy movement. While not religious herself, her multicultural background includes Islamic, Catholic, and Jewish faiths, inflected through racialized and queer identities.  Motivated by her experiences as an intersex transfeminine woman struggling to find non-male-dominated support for her own violated genital autonomy, in 2022 she founded Portland’s Genital Autonomy Collective, which focuses on the intersection of violated genital autonomy and marginalized identities, especially trans, intersex, and gender-diverse identities.

As always, the LGBTQIA community is especially receptive to and supportive of our messaging to protect all children from genital cutting customs. Next on our Pride presence schedule is our August 25 tabling at Silicon Valley Pride in San Jose, CA.