22 May 2025
OII Europe firmly denounces the verbal aggression experienced by a Belgian intersex activist during the Brussels Pride march, by one of the events’ organisers.
On May 17, underneath the banner of “Unity – Time to protect our rights”, a Belgian intersex activist was verbally attacked with intersexphobic and ableist slurs and aggressively told that they needed to move to the back of the march. The intersex activist, who was wearing a T-shirt bearing the intersex pride flag, was walking with 3 other persons at the front of the march, when the attack happened. The activist had chosen this place at the front of the march for security reasons, since they have a disability.
The attack clearly outlines a persistence of exclusionary, ableist and intersexphobic views within the LGBTIQ community. This attack is even more worrying, given the fact that it comes at a time of increased backlash, where members of the LGBTIQ community are being instrumentalized and pitted against each other. Pride events are meant to be a space of joy and resistance for the movement, where all LGBTIQ people, in all their diversity, feel welcomed, not a place where such harmful and divisive discourses should be given any space at all, least not by the very organisers of such an event.
Intersex persons have been speaking out against their marginalisation within society as well as the invisibilization of intersex human rights issues for many years. This incident illustrates the way in which intersex people still continue to face exclusion from key shared community spaces, including but not limited to, Pride events. OII Europe stands behind its member organisation Intersex Belgium, and the activist who was a victim of the attack, and calls on the organisers of Pride to issue a formal apology and to commit to ensuring the future Brussels Pride events remain a safe space for all members of the LGBTIQ community, including intersex persons.
Please access the press release from Intersex Belgium here:
