Thea Hillman

Thea Hillman (born 1971) is an American intersex activist, poetry slam performer, and writer. Hillman was an early advocate for intersex rights in the United States and served as chair of the Intersex Society of North America board from 2002 to 2005. Her 2008 book, Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Literature.

Early life and education Thea Hillman was born in San Francisco, California, on January 17, 1971. She was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) which was treated with hormone therapy. It wasn't until age 28 that she came to the realization that CAH was an intersex condition, and she began considering her identity as an intersex person. She earned an MFA from Mills College in 1999. She co-produced the first inclusive all-girls spoken word festival, ForWord Girls. During the 2001 National Queer Arts Festival, she produced "Intercourse: A Sex and Gender Spoken Word Recipe for Revolution," which showcased transgender and intersex writers. Hillman's 2008 book, Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), won the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Literature. The book is a memoir in the form of short essays describing Hillman's experiences with sex, gender, family, and community. Hillman used her testimony to condemn the withholding of information about treatment from intersex children.

In a report titled the "Homosexual Urban Myth," the conservative Christian organization Traditional Values Coalition referred to Hillman as a radical who "conducts erotic readings for homosexual groups" as part of the "homosexual revolution."

Hillman has said that her Jewish heritage has inspired her performance work.