Intersex discrimination is real. I just saw it.

I was recently involved in a nation-wide teleconference including leaders from across several National and State Sports organizations, including executives and directors.

One agenda item discussed was the seemingly benign topic of a member survey – standard questions which are useful to any organization seeking to better understand the behaviours and needs of its customer base.

Pretty normal stuff, right? Most people on the call seemed to think so, as there were no questions or comments.

Except one. This individual did not seek to add value to the survey around product innovation, the membership value proposition, facility development, or any other issue which might benefit the wider sporting landscape.

No, instead they chose to ask why the survey included ‘non-binary’ as a third option to the gender survey, in addition to the traditional options of male and female. This person stated that it would be ‘offensive’ to its members for this option to be included, as it did not have a ‘biological or medical’ basis. These are the actual words they used.

I remind you here that this person is in a prominent leadership position within a sports organization - not a religious, political (or similar) group with a social change agenda of one type or another at the core of its purpose.

I’m not surprised very often anymore, and those who know me will agree that I’m rarely lost for words. But my jaw dropped, and it took me a good few seconds to gather myself. Interestingly, no-one else on the call spoke during this time. Maybe they were just as horrified as me – I’d like to think so.

I did speak up though. Perhaps not as eloquently as I would’ve liked, but I did say (as calmly and professionally as I could, under the circumstances at the end of a long day) that I could not disagree more with this person’s comments. I also said that they were not reflective of either the standards of modern governance and leadership expected from a contemporary organization, or of wider society in general.

I made the final point that the Australian Bureau of Statistics have seen fit to include this three-option approach in their next census collection. I could have added that in 2014, the Australian High Court legally recognized non-binary as a category for people to identify with on legal documents.

I should probably add here that I have no personal interest in the issue, in as much as that it does not affect me directly. I do not identify as non-binary – I’m a straight down the middle heterosexual white Anglo male, married to a female, two kids. Very vanilla.

Turns out, I’m just not a big fan of causing arbitrary harm to vulnerable people, or tolerant of bigots. Why would anyone be? What would motivate someone to firstly hold that type of view, and secondly, why do they feel comfortable exposing it via a national forum?

It’s obvious that there is still a lot of work to do. The scale can be daunting sometimes, as brought home to me recently. I’d encourage everyone to regard it as their problem, to stand up and to call it out. And educate, educate, educate.