Alex Jürgen (born September 7, 1976) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

intersex Intersex people are those 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 binar ...

activist. Jürgen was the first person in Austria to receive a birth certificate and passport with

legal recognition of non-binary gender Multiple countries legally recognize non-binary or third gender classifications. These classifications are typically based on a person's gender identity. In some countries, such classifications may only be available to intersex people, born with ...

after having fought for it in court.

Life

Alex Jürgen was born intersex in a hospital in

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...

and was assigned male at birth by the doctors. Their parents gave them the name Jürgen. Two years later, doctors advised their parents to socialize them as a girl from then on because of an underdevelopment of their male sex characteristics. Their first name was changed to Alexandra, through a medical intervention their penis and their inner testicles were removed. Elisabeth Scharang shot a documentary film about them and their fight for recognition of intersex people in Austria. The film was released in 2006 as ''Tintenfischalarm'' and had its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Alex Jürgen was one of the first people in Austria to openly talk about being intersex and advocate for intersex rights. In 2014, Jürgen founded the intersex rights organisation Verein intergeschlechtlicher Menschen Österreich (VIMÖ) and was an active member until 2018. Since then, they are an honorary member. From 2016 on, together with the lawyer

Helmut Graupner Helmut Graupner is a lawyer in Vienna, considered a leading advocate in LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorp ...

from the human rights organisation Rechtskomitee Lambda, they issued a complaint at the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

in order to get a non-binary sex entry in their passport and birth certificate. In June 2018, the Constitutional Court confirmed that a third option needs to be introduced, referring to article 8 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jurgen, Alex 1976 births Living people Intersex non-binary people Austrian LGBTQ rights activists Intersex rights activists Non-binary activists 21st-century Austrian LGBTQ people Castrated people