Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 ...
and awareness. She is the first openly intersex person to be elected as a political officeholder in the United States.
Early life
Driver was born in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, in 1964. She was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).
In her mid-30s, she began learning about intersex people and the surgeries she went through at eight months old. She has stated that she and her mother had been told that she was the only one to have this condition.
Career and advocacy
Driver was once a journalist and segment producer for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
. After joining groups for women with CAH, in 2001, she cofounded Bodies Like Ours, an online community forum for those with intersex variations. In 2003, Driver was appointed executive director of Bodies Like Ours. Driver and
Emi Koyama
Emi Koyama (born 1975) is a Japanese-American activist, artist, and independent scholar. Koyama's work discusses issues of feminism, intersex human rights, domestic violence, and sex work among many others. Koyama is best known for her 2000 essay ...
, were credited for starting
Intersex Awareness Day
Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed awareness day each October 26, designed to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people.
History
The event marks the first public demonstration by intersex people in North America ...
, which is observed on October 26 and is internationally recognized.
When Driver decided to run for a town council seat in Flemington in 2017, she learned that opponents planned to make an issue of her sexuality. She wrote an article about Intersex Awareness Day on her campaign
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page and the topic never became an issue during her campaign. In 2017, Driver was elected to Flemington town council, where she served for two years before being elected as mayor. She is the first openly intersex elected official in the United States, and the second worldwide after Australian Tony Briffa.
She was selected as a grand marshal for the 50th Pride Parade in Manhattan and recognized by
Heritage of Pride
Heritage of Pride (HOP), doing business as NYC Pride, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that plans and produces the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events each June. HOP began working on the events in 1984, taking on the work prev ...
as a community hero in 2019.
Driver became the mayor of
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in and the county seat of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, Hunterdon County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Marcia A. Karrow by just 94 votes in 2022.
Personal life
Driver has lived in Flemington since 2007 with her wife and their two sons.
See also
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List of transgender public officeholders in the United States
This is a list of openly transgender, intersex, and nonbinary officeholders by office in the United States. The first transgender public officeholder in the United States was Joanne Marie Conte, elected to Arvada, Colorado's City Council in 19 ...