Dr. Megan DeFranza, Anunnaki Ray Marquez and Sarah Beck visited Whitworth University on March 15 and 16. DeFranza presented her documentary, Stories of Intersex and Faith, and gave a talk called “More Than Male & Female: Theological Implications of Biological Sex Diversity.” Marquez and Beck appeared online for a panel following the documentary screening. As a team, they brought attention to the unethical surgeries being done to intersex children and called for more awareness about intersex people in medical institutions.
According to her website, DeFranza earned a Ph.D. in religious studies from Marquette University with a concentration on sex, gender and sexuality. DeFranza has written three books, multiple articles and additional chapters dealing with different issues regarding faith, sex, sexuality and gender. Most recently, she has fought to share the stories of intersex people by touring schools with a fellow Christian author, Lianne Simon.
Simon was born with XY-Turner Syndrome mosaicism. She explained that she was raised as a boy, but never felt that she would be able to, or was meant to, fulfill this role. On her website, Simon explained how hearing the Gospel affected her (http://www.liannesimon.com/about-lianne/), saying, “By the time I was seventeen, I was anorexic, anti-social and suicidal. But a Christian boy cared enough about me to befriend me and share the Gospel. As a new Christian, I hoped to become the man my parents expected. Instead, the mask that I had relied on to function socially as a boy crumbled. What remained was an immature girl who wanted to serve her Lord.”
DeFranza talked about what came of her experience touring with Simon, “She would tell her story and then I would follow it up with the biblical theological and sometimes the science bit,” she explained. “People were so much more receptive to hear what I had to say once they’ve met Lianne and heard her story… And then, as things progressed, we were able to find some other folks who are willing to join in and it grew from there.”
DeFranza and Simon released their documentary Stories of Intersex and Faith in 2018, which focused on sharing the stories of intersex people and balancing the trauma from secret surgeries, oppression from those around them, faith and family. Marissa Adams is one of the people whose stories were shared in the documentary. She grew up without knowing that she had Androgen insensitivity syndrome. Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition where a person has the genetic makeup of a man but the physical traits of a woman due to having XY chromosomes but being resistant to male hormones. Adams called for more mental health care for intersex people, especially in the midst of surgeries and confusion.
It is extremely common that when a baby is born with intersex traits, surgeons will operate in order to make the baby conform to modern-day gender-binary norms. A therapist interviewed in the documentary talked about the side effects of these surgeries, especially the trauma and PTSD that results from repeated surgeries and genital examinations forced upon children. Adams said, “Parents feel like they’re going to mess up either way, but I would say just remember that your intersex baby is just a normal baby.”
Anunnaki Ray Marquez is an intersex activist, educator, seminarian and TEDx speaker who shared their story in the documentary. Marquez was not put through surgery at birth when born intersex and was assigned female. After 46 years of living as a female, the pills to maintain a female appearance started to have life-threatening effects on them. They transitioned to the male gender in 2014. Marquez has been married to their husband for 32 years, and fights for individual’s rights to bodily autonomy. In the documentary, they said, “When there are laws to protect us all, that will be my restitution.”
According to Dr. Kimberly Zieselman, an intersex individual and executive director of interACT, “1.5-2% of the population is born with an intersex trait, which is as common as people with red hair.” Despite the prevalence of intersex traits, DeFranza brought up that only 5% of therapy professionals are trained in any general intimacy. Addressing students at Whitworth, DeFranza said, “I want everybody at Whitworth to know that they’re intersex people, that Jesus talks about intersex people, that St. Augustine talks about intersex people… having folks just learn again, it’s one of those rare cases where the ancient church knew more about sex diversity than we know today. And that’s because we’ve tried to fix it. We’ve pathologized difference, and then brought in physicians to make it go away.”
DeFranza also emphasized the need for more accuracy regarding sex and gender language. She said, “You heard Sarah last night say, whenever she sees a gender-neutral restroom, her whole body relaxes. So, I want to see Christian colleges have options for bathrooms. You know, I want this to be a conversation where if you’re checking a form, and it asks male/female, it should have a third box for sex. Gender identity is another row of questions. Right? That’s man, woman, boy/girl, non-binary or transgender but that’s gender. We need to be able to differentiate biological sex from gender.” Sarah Beck, an intersex activist and author, was another one of the panelists who talked about her experience. She talked about a sense of fear regarding revealing her identity to her church but expressed hope that someday she would be able to.
DeFranza also talked about the need for self-education in an individual library, “The film is going to be in the library. Tell your friends to watch it. Tell your family to watch it, you can find it. You know, on our website, it’s only $20 to stream for an individual which is way down from where it used to be. So, sharing! Sharing the information is something you can do.”
You can find more resources on DeFranza’s website (https://www.megandefranza.com/author#), Marquez’s website (https://anunnakiray.com/), the documentary webpage (https://www.storiesofintersexandfaith.com/), or follow Interact Advocates on their social media or website (https://interactadvocates.org/).
