Aleksander Berezkin () is a Russian intersex nonbinary person, refugee, and

intersex human rights Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies." Intersex pe ...

activist. He is a founder of the first Russian intersex human rights organization Association of the Russian Speaking Intersex (ARSI).

Early life

Aleksandr was born in

Novokuznetsk Novokuznetsk (, , ; )Чиспияков Э. Ф. (1992) ''Учебник шорского языка''. Кемеровское книжное издательство. p. 27. is a city in Kemerovo Oblast (Kuzbass) in southwestern Siberia, Russia ...

, Russia. He was diagnosed with

Klinefelter syndrome Klinefelter syndrome (KS), also known as 47,XXY, is a chromosome anomaly where a male has an extra X chromosome. These complications commonly include infertility and small, poorly functioning testicles (if present). These symptoms are often n ...

at the age of 17, after learning about his diagnosis directly from his physician. He openly speaks about living with Klinefelter syndrome. He has graduated with a BA in Sociology from

Kemerovo State University The Kemerovo State University () (KemSU) was established in 1973 as a successor to Kemerovo Pedagogical Institute. It is a leading educational and scientific center of Kemerovo Oblast with five branches throughout the oblast in Belovo, Kemerov ...

and an MA in Sociology from

Far Eastern State Technical University Far Eastern State Technical University (FESTU) () is a university located in Vladivostok, Russia. It was established on February 20, 1930 as Far Eastern Politechnical Institute (). It was granted the university status in 1992. FESTU is not a suc ...

. Aleksandr has stated that his doctor told him he would never find someone else with his intersex variation, that he should keep it a secret, and never talk about his identity with anyone.

Activism

Aleksandr started his advocacy in 2013, following a talk with

Hida Viloria Hida Viloria (born May 29, 1968) is an American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist of Latin American origin. Viloria is intersex, nonbinary, and genderfluid, using they/them pronouns. They are known for their writing, their int ...

, working on intersex and

LGBTI Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexua ...

issues, organizing educational events for the LGBT community in Vladivostok. In 2014 Berezkin had to leave Russia as a result of a homophobic campaign against him. He sought political asylum in the United States on the basis that he was an LBGTQI activist. He was granted asylum in 2017. In August 2013, he created a Facebook group called “The Association of the Russian-Speaking Intersex” (ARSI) for intersex people and allies, which further became the first Russian intersex human rights organization. In the following years, he acted as a Russian-Speaking Intersex consultant for the United Nations Free & Equal program. Aleksandr spoke on health and civil rights issues. Since 2021, Aleksander has been working on their Doctoral dissertation in Psychology, "A Micro-phenomenological Inquiry into Lived Embodied Experience and Consciousness of Intersex/Variations of Sex Characteristics (VSC) Migrants in the United States" at the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco, C

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berezkin, Aleksander Intersex rights in Russia Intersex rights activists People from Novokuznetsk Russian intersex people Kemerovo State University alumni Far Eastern State Technical University alumni 1984 births Living people Intersex non-binary people