The Altona Ward councillor will this Sunday depart for Canada and the UK after being awarded a Municipal Association of Victoria fellowship to study the application of human rights in local government overseas.

The $10,000 international study grant is awarded to a Victorian councillor to research a significant issue affecting local government.

Cr Briffa said his interest in human rights began taking shape in childhood.

After being born of indeterminate sex, he was wrongly raised as a girl.

"Having the genetic condition that I have, which is 5 alpha reductase deficiency syndrome, meant that I regularly went to the Royal Children's Hospital; I guess from the moment I was born," Cr Briffa said.

"I usually went into hospital around Christmas time so it didn't affect school and, of course, people didn't know about the surgeries because we couldn't tell people what we're going to hospital for.

"There is a lot of shame and stigma attached to having a condition like mine."

Despite his insistence that he was a boy, doctors decided he should be raised as a girl, reinforcing their diagnosis with hormones and surgery. "I was raised as a girl. I went to Mount St Joseph Girls' College but felt like I was living a lie all along."

When he started developing as a boy, doctors told his parents he had testicular cancer so that his testicles would be removed.

Cr Briffa said the medical profession now had a better understanding of intersex conditions, which affect more than one in 1000 births.

"They get the gender assignment right more often than not these days. A recent follow-up study from the Royal Children's Hospital has shown that they get it right about 92per cent of the time.

"The problem with the 8per cent is they don't just do the assignment - allocate which gender the person will be raised as - they surgically enforce it.

"I was castrated at a young age. I've had two mastectomies to remove the breasts that developed as a result of the estrogen treatment, but I certainly wouldn't go to Bayfit Leisure Centre without a top.

"When they surgically reinforce gender, the surgeries are irreversible. I wouldn't need testosterone treatment for the rest of my life had they not castrated me."

Cr Briffa said a confidentiality agreement meant he could not confirm or deny whether he had had an out-of-court settlement with the Royal Children's Hospital.

His overseas research will be used to benefit all Victorian councils.