Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit lapel badge

In the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2021, Mani Bruce Mitchell (MNZM) was awarded the Member of New Zealand Order of Merit for services to intersex advocacy and education. Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro presented the award to Mani in person at an investiture ceremony in December 2021. Mani is believed to have been one of the first intersex, non-binary New Zealanders to be made a MNZM. This small badge or pin can be worn with everyday clothing (the actual medal is worn more formally).

The citation is as follows:

‘Mx Mani Mitchell has been a human rights advocate and educator for intersex people in New Zealand and played a significant role in establishing the Intersex Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ) in 1997. The Intersex Trust was the first of its kind in the world and Mani has served as its CEO since inception. Mani has contributed to initiatives to include intersex conditions into the fields of sexual health medicine and mental health.

Mani was the focus of the award-winning television documentary ‘Mani’s Story’ in 2003. Mani narrated the 2012 film ‘Intersexion’, which has won several awards at international film festivals and is used as an educational resource by the UN Commission for Human Rights.

Mani represents New Zealand on the Australian National LGBTI Health Alliance. In 2017 Mani represented ITANZ at a meeting of New Zealand and Australian Intersex organisations in Darlington, Sydney, where the group published the Darlington Statement, the first comprehensive policy platform for intersex persons in Australasia. Mani has continued to be involved in the development of this living document.

Mani has been a member of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) governing council since 2015. Mani Mitchell has played a key role in organising ILGA World conferences in Wellington in 2016 and 2018.’

Queen's Birthday Honours 2021 - Citations for Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Background

This achievement was in stark contrast to Mani’s first years. At birth (10 March 1952) they were assigned male and named Bruce Mitchell. But invasive surgery before their first birthday meant they were reassigned as female and named Margaret. They suffered further non-consensual surgeries at eight years old. Doctors advised Mani’s parents to keep their child’s intersex condition a secret. In their 40s, Mani explored their childhood trauma of misgendering and surgeries, and emerged as an intersex person.