A Response to the EU parliamentary question on the depathologisation of gender identity disorder ............

European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection John Dalli answered a parliamentary question on the depathologisation of gender identity disorder:

The Commission refers the Honourable Members to its answer to written question P‑2625/10, in which the Commission explained the ongoing process of revision of the International Classification of Diseases, ICD-10.

The objective of the International Classification of Diseases is to facilitate the tasks of health professionals and health systems in helping individuals, in particular in relation to their reimbursement. This classification does not imply any social, cultural or moral judgement about individuals, behaviours or needs.

As mentioned in the Issue Paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity adopted by the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe in July 2009, many international and national medical classifications impose the diagnosis of mental disorder on transgender persons. Such a diagnosis may become an obstacle to the full enjoyment of human rights by transgender people especially when it is applied in a way to restrict the legal capacity or choice for medical treatment.

The issue paper also emphasises that transgender people appear to be the only group in Europe subject to state-enforced sterilisation and that married transgender persons find themselves forced to divorce prior to their new gender being officially recognised.

For these practices to be considered under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, namely with regard to the right of respect to human dignity, the right of respect to private and family life and the right to non-discrimination, they would have to fall within the remit of the implementation of Union law, which they do not.

As pointed out in a document produced by the European Parliament in relation to “Transgender Person’s Rights in the EU Member States”, which the Honourable Members mention in their question, the approach to regulate legal requirements for access to hormonal treatments and gender reassignment surgery without psychiatric monitoring varies between Member States. This is the result of the exclusive competence of the Member States in this matter.

The Commission is contributing to the revision of the 10th version of the ICD, and the 11th version of the ICD is scheduled to be adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2014. In the context of this revision, the Commission will take into account the issues raised by the Honourable Members.

Source

Meanwhile the vexed issue has also raised some concerns and responses on this side of the planet chiefly from Gender Identity Disorder Reform Advocates who are opponents towards its inclusion in the DSM V slated for release in May 2013.

In a clearly outlined piece as to reasons why Transvestic and other related disorders must be removed from the DSM Kelley Winters Ph. D said among other things "

The classification of gender diversity and nonconformity to birth-assigned gender roles as mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has drawn growing protest and outrage from transpeople and and allies worldwide. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the APA, is regarded as the medical and social definition of mental disorder throughout North America and strongly influences international diagnostic nomenclature. The fifth edition of the manual, the DSM-5, is in development and scheduled for publication in 2013. While the diagnostic category of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has garnered most of the controversy, a second category of so-called Transvestic Fetishism (TF) has harmed transwomen, including transsexual women, as well as male-to-female crossdressers, dual gender and gender nonconforming people since the earliest days of the DSM. Trans and LGB advocates have been inexplicably quiet about the TF category, even after the APA proposed to expand the category in the DSM-5, renamed Transvestic Disorder, to implicate gender nonconforming people of all sexes and all sexual orientations.

The proposed DSM-5 diagnosis of Transvestic Disorder, even worse than its predecessor Transvestic Fetishism, labels gender expression not stereotypically associated with assigned birth sex as inherently pathological and sexually deviant. The diagnosis is punitive and scientifically capricious, serving to punish social and sexual gender nonconformity and enforce binary stereotypes of assigned birth sex. Here are ten reasons why the Transvestic Disorder diagnosis should be eliminated entirely from the DSM-5.

1. Diagnosis of Diversity
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, (HBIGDA), publishes recognized standards of medical transition care for those who need it. In May, 2010, WPATH issued the following pivotal statement on de-psychopathologisation of gender variance,
The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologisation of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative. The [psychopathologisation] of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalisation and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.
Gender expression that differs from social expectations of assigned birth sex does not meet any medical or scientific definition of mental pathology. Difference is not disease."

Please follow this and other related issues on my GLBTQ Jamaica Blog which also has Intersexed references as well as we look at our friends who are trans-gendered, inter-sexed who are looking for their rights to be recognized.

Peace and tolerance

H