Spalding’s Joe Holliday takes fight for intersex equality inquiry to Houses of Parliament

Spalding intersex equality campaigner Joe Holliday and his mum handcuffed themselves to Houses of Parliament railings to raise awareness of the issue.

Joe (28) and Julia Farmer were later questioned by police after the handcuffs were found in their bags as they entered the House of Commons last Thursday.
The two are among campaigners calling for a stop to surgery on babies born with factors that make their sex ambiguous.

Julia said: “We wanted to speak to anyone who would listen to us.
“We want to talk to Maria Miller (chairman of the Women and Equalities Select Committee) and our own MP John Hayes.

“We just need them to know what’s going on and understand the devastation this is having on the lives of children born with undetermined sex.
“It’s immoral, it’s cruel and it needs stopping.”

Joe, who was born without a penis, was castrated and, on medical advice, brought up as a girl – Joella – from the age of one.
Years later Julia, of Pinchbeck, won a landmark case in getting Joe’s birth certificate changed to female. It wasn’t until Joe had a chromosome test at the age of 25 that he discovered he had the genetic make-up typical to a man, after which he decided to live as a male.

There was national newspaper and television coverage of Joe’s story upon the release of his autobiography She’s A Boy last summer.

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