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At Sydney World Pride human rights conference, March 2023
Morgan Carpenter is Executive Director of Intersex Human Rights Australia, a national charity by and for people with innate variations of sex characteristics. He is also a Research Affiliate and bioethicist in the University of Sydney School of Public Health, where he submitted his doctoral thesis in bioethics in September 2023. Morgan is an intersex human rights defender with lived experience.
Morgan’s particular interest within the intersex movement is to build community, and coherent, ethical and effective infrastructure — including regulation, norms, and community-owned organisations. Some key milestones:
- In 2023, Morgan’s “tireless work” was singled out for particular recognition by Australian Capital Territory Chief Minister Andrew Barr, in introducing Australian-first legislation to protect the rights of people with innate variations of sex characteristics in medical settings.
- He has been named as a significant contributor to a 2021 Australian Human Rights Commission report on the health and human rights of people born with variations in characteristics.
- During 2017, Morgan helped construct the Darlington Statement, an intersex community consensus statement in Australia and Aotearoa/NZ, and was a member of a drafting committee for the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10 on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
- In 2015, he was a participant in the first expert meeting held by the UN on ending human rights violations against intersex persons.
- In 2013 he designed and shared the intersex flag, now used across the world, framed around concepts of bodily integrity and autonomy. In the same year, he appeared before Senate inquiries on sterilisation and discrimination law, and formally reviewed a “DSD Genetics” research website funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.
- Morgan was a co-founder of the organisation that became Intersex Human Rights Australia, registering in 2010. In 2023 it has a turnover exceeding $460,000, delivers services and advocacy, and has an impact far larger than its size.
Morgan has been contracted to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the Australian Capital Territory government and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. He is a reference or advisory group member for the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Bureau of Statistics and New South Wales Health.
Morgan has qualifications from Coventry, Dublin City University, a Master of Information Technology from UTS, and a Master of Bioethics from the University of Sydney Medical School. Via Sydney Health Ethics at University of Sydney, he is a member of the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law.