Intersex Awareness Day 2026: Oct. 26 Origin, Nov. 8 Solidarity Day

Intersex Awareness Day is observed on Oct. 26, which fell on a Monday in 2026. According to the Intersex Day Project, the date marks the anniversary of the first public intersex demonstration in North America.

Where the date comes from

That demonstration took place on Oct. 26, 1996, in Boston, outside the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The protesters appeared under the banner “Hermaphrodites with Attitude,” the Intersex Day Project says. It names activists from the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), including Morgan Holmes and Max Beck, who were joined by allies from Transexual Menace. The page gives the same date, Oct. 26, as the reason the awareness day is observed then, which is why the day does not move with the weekday.

The day itself was created in 2003 by Emi Koyama and Betsy Driver and was first observed in 2004.

What the day is about

interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth describes the day as a time for awareness of intersex people and for opposition to non-consensual surgeries. That is how the organization frames it; readers can find its full explanation on its site.

Oct. 26 to Nov. 8

Nov. 8 is Intersex Day of Solidarity, which is a Sunday in 2026, six days after Nov. 2. The Intersex Day Project says the date, also called Intersex Day of Remembrance, marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person.

Date	Observance
Mon., Oct. 26, 2026 (passed)	Intersex Awareness Day
Sun., Nov. 8, 2026	Intersex Day of Solidarity

How to read the dates

Oct. 26 falls on a different weekday each year, so the date, not the weekday, defines the observance. In 2026 it landed on a Monday, which put it at the start of a two-week stretch that closes on Sunday, Nov. 8. Counting both days, that is 14 days.

Mark both dates on the October and November printable calendars.