{"id":2213,"date":"2014-02-14T08:32:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T08:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transintersexhistory.africa\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2025-02-12T15:46:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T13:46:41","slug":"death-of-sally-gross-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transintersexhistory.africa\/death-of-sally-gross-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"14 February 2014 \u2014 Death of Intersex Activist Sally Gross, South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Prominent\u00a0anti-Apartheid<\/a>\u00a0and intersex activist,\u00a0Sally Gross<\/a>, who founded\u00a0the first intersex rights organisation in Africa<\/a>\u00a0(Intersex Society of South Africa<\/em><\/strong>), passed away on 14 February 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image of Sally from TimesLive<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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In 2000, Sally secured the first known mention of intersex in national law, with the inclusion of \u201cintersex\u201d within the definition of \u201csex\u201d in the anti-discrimination law of the Republic of South Africa. Since then, she helped to draft legislation on the Alteration of Sex Descriptors, and the Promotion of Equality. In an\u00a0interview with InterAction<\/a>, Sally spoke about her influence on intersex law:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSince 2000, I\u2019ve drafted amendments bearing on intersex for the\u00a0Alteration of Sex Descriptions Bill<\/strong><\/a><\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, and these have been lobbied into law. Getting intersex into the\u00a0Promotion of Equality Act<\/em>\u00a0is the weightier of the two. Lobbying persuaded the\u00a0South African Human Rights Commission<\/a>\u00a0that intersex is a serious human rights issue. This yielded an SAHRC workshop three years back that looked at the imposition of genital surgery on intersex infants and children, and the possible need for legislation.\u201d<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Painting of Sally by her brother Ray Smidt-Gross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sally\u2019s last communication had been with prominent New Zealand-based intersex activist, Mani Bruce Mitchell, a friend who had posted a GoFundMe appeal<\/a> for help on Gross\u2019s behalf in January of the same year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally\u2019s founding of and work as part of Intersex South Africa (ISSA)<\/a>had severely depleted her own limited resources and she fell into poor health. The tragedy of her death as a result of this poor health affected communities all over the world. Many obituaries* followed her death. Sally continues to be greatly missed, but her powerful legacy lives on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* See, for example, the tributes written by Gabrielle Le Roux<\/a> and Organization Intersex International<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch Sally speak in this video interview with It Gets Better South Africa:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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