Tony Briffa (born Antoinette Briffa) is a Maltese-

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

politician who is notable for being the world's first known intersex mayor and public officeholder. Briffa has

partial androgen insensitivity syndrome Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) is a condition that results in the partial inability of the Eukaryote#Animal cell, cell to respond to androgens. It is an X linked recessive condition. The partial unresponsiveness of the cell to the ...

, and is an independent councillor, formerly mayor and deputy mayor of the

City of Hobsons Bay The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre. It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of l ...

, Victoria. Briffa was raised as a girl, then lived for a time as a man, and now chooses to live as both female and male. Briffa is one of the first people to be public about a chosen blank, indeterminate, birth certificate.

Early life

Tony Briffa was born in Altona,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

with

, raised as a girl and castrated at age seven to impose that

assigned sex Sex assignment (sometimes known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex at or before birth. A relative, midwife, nurse or physician inspects the external genitalia when the baby is delivered and, in more than 99.95% of birt ...

. Speaking to a 2013

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

inquiry into the ''Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia'', Briffa describes how doctors "convinced my mother to approve me to be castrated":

Career

Briffa has worked in positions with the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

and the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

. Briffa is the world's first openly

intersex Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...

public mayor, and "the first known intersex public office-bearer in the Western world", serving as Deputy Mayor of the City of Hobsons Bay, Victoria, between 2009 and 2011, and Mayor between 2011–2012. Briffa resigned as a local councillor on 14 February 2014, effective on the appointment of a successor. In October 2016, Briffa was re-elected to Hobsons Bay City Council. Briffa has previously served as the President of the Genetic Support Network of Victoria. Briffa is now co-executive director of

Intersex Human Rights Australia Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) is a voluntary organisation for intersex people that promotes the human rights and bodily autonomy of intersex people in Australia, and provides education and information services. Established in 2009 and i ...

(formerly OII Australia) and vice-president of Intersex Peer Support Australia (formerly the

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a difference in sex development involving hormonal resistance due to androgen receptor dysfunction. It affects 1 in 20,000 to 64,000 XY ( karyotypically male) births. The condition results in the partial o ...

Support Group Australia; described as "the two leading groups advocating for the rights of intersex people in Australia".

Selected bibliography

* * * * * Parts of Briffa's life story are depicted in a short online animation.

Personal life

Birth certificate

Norrie May-Welby Norrie, also known by the pseudonym Norrie May-Welby, is a Scottish-Australian transgender person who pursued the legal status of being neither a man nor a woman, between 2010 and 2014.

is popularly regarded as the first person with an indeterminate birth certificate, and "non-specific" sex was awarded by the High Court of Australia in April 2014 on the basis of May-Welby's failed sex affirmation surgery. However, Tony Briffa had previously obtained a birth certificate with a blank sex classification.

Alex MacFarlane Alex MacFarlane is an intersex person born with XXY sex chromosomes in Victoria, Australia. MacFarlane is believed to be the first holder of an indeterminate birth certificate and passport. Birth certificate and passport MacFarlane is believ ...

is believed to be the first. Speaking to the Senate hearing on intersex sterilisation in March 2013, Briffa said:

Identity

Briffa made the following statement: "I am very public about being born biologically partially female and partially male and that I was raised as a girl and lived as a woman until I was 30. I ask all my friends and colleagues to respect my sex as what nature made me; both female and male." On her website Briffa posted:

“I feel very comfortable having accepted my true nature. I am not male or female, but both. I am grateful for the years I lived as a woman and the insight and experiences it gave me. I am still ‘Antoinette’ and have now also incorporated and accepted my male (‘Anthony’ or ‘Tony’) side. I feel whole. I’ll continue to live as Tony but I feel I am now at a point in my life where I can celebrate being different.”

Briffa uses she/her pronouns.

Marriage

Legal issues presented by Tony Briffa's non-specific birth certificate meant that Briffa could not lawfully marry in Australia until late 2017. On 27 September 2013, Tony Briffa married Manja Sommeling in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, New Zealand. Intersex Human Rights Australia notes:

References

External links

*
Hobson's Bay Council web page
* *
Intersex Human Rights AustraliaIntersex Peer Support Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briffa, Tony Australian people of Maltese descent Living people 1971 births Australian activists Intersex politicians Intersex rights activists Intersex rights in Australia Intersex rights in Malta Intersex women LGBT mayors of places in Australia Mayors of places in Victoria (Australia) 21st-century LGBT people Deputy mayors of places in Australia People from Altona, Victoria