Tony Briffa
| Date of birth | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Altona, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Pronouns | she/her, any |
| Gender identity | "I am both male and female" |
| Occupation | Politician, activist |
| Known for | First openly intersex mayor elected in the world |
Tony Briffa is an Australian politician and intersex activist who feels she is nonbinary due to her intersex condition, Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. She obtained a birth certificate with a blank sex designation. This caused legal difficulty in getting married, since Australian law specified marriage as between a man and a woman. In 2013 she and Manja Sommeling traveled to New Zealand and were married there.[1]
As of April 2020, Tony's official website uses "she/her" pronouns[2], although she is okay with any pronouns.[3]
In her youth, Tony was made to take feminizing hormone therapy for years, but never identified as female.[1]
Tony does identify as queer[4] but does not consider herself trans.[3]
Quotes
"My natural female and male biology also reflected how I felt as a person. I'm more than just a woman or a man - I'm both."[5]
"If people feel female that is great, and if they feel male that is great, but there are also people like me: I just accept the way nature made me. I am happy for my birth certificate to say that I am both male and female. One day, hopefully, we will have that as well."[6]
"Sex is about biology and gender is about identity. Like most people, my gender is consistent with my sex."[7]
"I am part Antoinette and I'm part Tony."[8]
"Being referred to as 'Mr Mayor' was not easy. Inside I cringed every time I heard it because I felt the 'Mr' denied my full self. 'Madam Mayor' similarly would have felt strange because that too denied part of me. It’s funny how words have these affects. For the most part I just went on with the job and ignored the male/female salutations, just as I tried to ignore being constantly labelled the world's first intersex mayor."[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Calleja, Claudia (16 February 2015). "'Healthy hermaphrodite' is both man and woman". Times of Malta. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ↑ Who is Tony Briffa?
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tony Briffa (10 September 2017). "My experience as the world's first openly intersex Mayor". briffa.org. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- ↑ @tonybriffa (16 January 2020). "I'm looking forward to being on @JOY949 on #queerislanddiscs this Saturday. I'm intersex and queer, but why am I vacuuming the red carpet? @lgbtihealth @ThorneHarbour @queerspace_ds @VGLRL @comish_ro_allen @intersexaus" – via Twitter.
- ↑ ""I'm proud to be intersex"".
- ↑ Cross-party speeches on intersex health in the Australian Senate, Morgan Carpenter, 25 March 2014
- ↑ This is the world’s first openly intersex person elected into public office, 26 October 2017
- ↑ NICHE IDAHO Campaign: "I", Tony (YourStory) August 3 2013
