by Stephanie Allen
The “I” in LGBTQIA+ doesn’t stand for invisible. It stands for intersex.
This is the message that intersex activist Kimberly Zieselman wants people to know about upcoming short film, “Common as Red Hair.”
Until a year ago, Robbie Robertson wasn’t even aware of the issue that would become the subject of his screenplay. “Common As Red Hair” is a narrative film that covers the aftermath of a funeral where two parents are forced to reevaluate their decision to have gender “corrective” surgery on their intersex child.
Robertson had heard of intersex, but didn’t realize the frequency of intersex births and the regularity of medically unnecessary (and often harmful) surgeries performed on intersex infants for the sake of “normalization.” This film, more than an artistic endeavor, is meant to raise awareness about the damages of these operations.
Zieselman was brought on board to the project to give her expertise, not only as an activist, but as an intersex person herself. Now serving as the project’s executive producer, she distinguishes between intersexuality, gender identity, and sexual orientation. “It’s really talking more about the body and the physical sex traits or sex characteristics… like genitals, reproductive organs and hormone levels and chromosomes,” she says.
Essentially, intersex is a broad term used to describe people who have sex characteristics that fall outside of the male-female binary. Being intersex is different from being transgender, though both groups fight for bodily autonomy. Additionally, intersex people can have any gender identity— being intersex does not mean a person identifies as non-binary. The film’s title, “Common as Red Hair” contextualizes how frequently these kinds of births occur— nearly two percent of births are intersex.
Starring Days of Our Lives’ Kassie DePaiva and Wally Kurth as mother and father, the film has already garnered attention for its script. “I know good dialogue when I read it,” Kurth says. “Robbie’s always had a good ear for dialogue… it’s a really well-written story.”
Kurth and Robertson met about 14 years ago through UCLA’s online screenwriting program. From there, Kurth became a fan of Robertson’s writing. So, after reading the script, Kurth knew he wanted to be part of the project.
DePaiva describes her addition to the cast as a “God moment.” Kurth introduced DePaiva to Robertson at a soap opera event, and she was open to working on the project before even reading a script. “I had no idea he was going to come up with such a beautiful, powerful script about something that is so relevant and portent right now,” DePaiva says.
Much like Robertson, Kurth and DePaiva were unfamiliar with the subject of intersex children. “If I am so uninformed,” DePaiva says, “I’m sure I’m not the only person out there that goes ‘what is this?’ So, it’s important to me to grow as an actress and as a human being doing a project… Hopefully people will have their eyes opened to the differences in all of us.”
As a narrative writer, Robertson wanted to tackle this lack of information from an accessible perspective. Because anyone can parent an intersex child, Robertson emphasized the need for a wide audience— this story isn’t just one for the queer community.
A father himself, Kurth says “All we really want is to protect our children and do right by them and make sure that they’re happy.” Though his onscreen character has similar objectives, the character— through no fault of his own— fails to make the right decision for his child. The weight of having to live with a parent’s choices is something, according to Kurth, that everyone has to grapple with— whether parent or child.
According to Zieselman, this shame and stigma surrounding intersex people originates from society and even medical practices that falsely assert that there is something wrong with intersex bodies. The vast majority of intersex births are healthy; only through awareness and acceptance can these discriminatory practices begin to be corrected. Films like “Common as Red Hair” can help start these important conversations.
To help the cause, you can donate to the project for the next three weeks. For additional resources about what it means to be intersex and to promote legal advocacy, check out nonprofits such as interact.