What happens when a teenage girl hits puberty, drops a testicle, grows a penis, develops breasts, gets a period and tells no one? What if thirty years later this person finally confides in an insecure ally who has her own secret: a life-changing promotion with a catch—her signature on a document labeling sexual minorities as “repugnant” and “offensive”?

Intersexion is a dual-narrative, creative nonfiction work told from alternating, first person perspectives. Dani/Danny’s story plays out at the intersection of social and religious tension: think Middlesex set in Margaret Atwoods Gilead—while Cynthia delivers a personal and spiritual reckoning in the vein of Glennon Doyle’s Untamed.

Crossing Paths and Finding a More Authentic Life

Cynthia, an adjunct professor with a trunk full of ungraded papers and snack wrappers, has been an LGBTQI ally for years—in convenient ways. She enjoys the company of her gay friends—but her support isn’t risky; it hasn’t cost her anything. Until she meets Dani.

The youngest child in a conservative evangelical family, Dani knows playing the role of dutiful daughter is safer than jeopardizing faith and family with a body that seems an affront to both. Born visibly female, yet desperate to be seen as the boy he truly is Dani relies on prayer and magical thinking, until his life depends on one thing: the truth.

Cynthia understands the fear fueling Danny’s silence. Her evangelical upbringing taught her that loving church “families” are conditional—just like her surprise, mid-semester tenure track promotion. Caught at her own intersection, Cynthia can silently sign her contract or join her new friend Danny on a parallel quest to discover their true selves.

Intersexion explores the cost of coming out—as a sexual minority, ally, or asker of difficult questions—and what it means to come into one’s own. It’s a book for anyone craving a more authentic life. It’s also a movement: an inclusive community forming around a desire to be very human, together.