[5] Briffa has partial androgen insensitivity syndrome,[6] and is mayor of the City of Hobsons Bay, Victoria.

[2][9][10] Tony Briffa was born in Altona, Victoria with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome.

In an article on SBS News, Antoinette explained that they had their first surgeries when they were just a baby and had further procedures including the removal of healthy gonads.

[11] Speaking to a 2013 Australian Senate inquiry into the Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia, Briffa describes how doctors "convinced my mother to approve me to be castrated" (i.e. the removal of their internal testes without their consent): "I have a few pages here from my medical records...It says: 'Mother now ready for gonadectomy.'

[6][10][23][24] Speaking to the Senate hearing on intersex sterilisation in March 2013, Briffa said:[10] My birth certificate, from the state of Victoria, does not classify me as male or female.

I’ll continue to live as Tony but I feel I am now at a point in my life where I can celebrate being different.”[25]Legal issues presented by Tony Briffa's non-specific birth certificate meant that Briffa could not lawfully marry in Australia until late 2017.

[26][27] Intersex Human Rights Australia notes:[24][28] Tony was born in Victoria with Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS), one of many intersex variations, and Tony's birth certificate does not state a sex.

Tony is able to marry in New Zealand because legislation providing marriage equality was passed earlier this year.