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APA modifies Gender Identity Disorder diagnosis

Replaces โ€˜Gender Identity Disorderโ€™ with โ€˜Gender Dysphoriaโ€™

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Dana Beyer, Maryland
Dana Beyer, Maryland, gay news, Washington Blade

Dana Beyer (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Advocates welcomed the American Psychiatric Associationโ€™s decision on Saturday to remove Gender Identity Disorder from its list of mental disorders.

The APA specifically removed GID from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel (DSM) of Mental Disorders and replaced it with Gender Dysphoria.

The organization, which represents more than 36,000 psychiatrists from around the world, has revised the DSM five times since it was founded in 1844. The latest revision process began 15 years ago.

Transgender activist Dana Beyer, who worked on the task force that wrote the new language the APA adopted with the Washington Psychiatric Society, said the removal of GID from the DSM is comparable to the organizationโ€™s declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness in 1973.

โ€œWhat we did in that workgroup and what other activists have been pushing for is reconceptionalizing the state of being trans from a mental illness,โ€ she told the Washington Blade. Beyer added this change will have implications for children who see a therapist for GID to trans activists fighting against what she described as โ€œfundamental oppositionโ€ in state legislatures. โ€œWe are no longer mentally ill and that has huge implications just as it did for homosexuality in 1973. Itโ€™s absolutely game-changing.โ€

Michael Silverman, executive director of the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said opponents of trans rights often used the term โ€œdisorderโ€ as a โ€œweapon to deny transgender individuals equal rights and equal treatment.โ€ Doctor Jillian Weiss of Ramapo University in New Jersey agreed as she described the DSM revisions as a โ€œstep in the right direction.โ€

Psychiatrists and other medical providers had begun to commonly diagnose trans patients with GID by the early 1990s โ€” the APA added it to the DSM when it revised it for the third time in 1987. The diagnoses, however, remain controversial among some trans advocates.

Kelley Winters of the group GID Reform Advocates told the Blade the change in title from Gender Identity Disorder to Gender Dysphoria signifies the โ€œproblem to be treated is not the personโ€™s identity,โ€ but rather โ€œthe distress that is often experienced by those who need access to medical transition care.โ€ She further noted the new terminology remains within what she described as a โ€œmanual of disorder.โ€

She also criticized the APA for not removing the โ€œTransvestic Disorderโ€ category she asserts remains defamatory to cross-dressers and transsexuals in a post on the Bilerico Project on Wednesday.

Winters welcomed, however, the move to change GID to Gender Dysphoria in the DSM.

โ€œThis change in title is significant because it actually signals a change of attitude within the APA that our gender identities are no longer considered the focus of pathology,โ€ she told the Blade. โ€œThat change is not insignificant. It carries a message. Despite this forward progress, the sad fact remains that trans and especially transsexual folks needing hormonal or surgical transition care are still classified as mentally disordered.โ€

Advocates remain hopeful the proposed revisions will allow trans people to have increased access to quality health care.

โ€œIt is imperative that transgender people who experience dysphoria have access to medical care to treat it. Unfortunately, that has rarely been the case,โ€ Silverman said. โ€œAs the American Medical Association has stated, the denial of medical care for patients with Gender Dysphoria is discriminatory and must be stopped.โ€

Weiss agreed.

โ€œThe term โ€˜disorderโ€™ gave the impression that people with this condition had an illness that made them dangerous or incompetent,โ€ she said. โ€œOf course, there is much to say about this, and whether the change will impact medical and social practices remains to be seen.โ€

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.โ€™s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

โ€˜Discredited junk scienceโ€™ โ€” GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trumpโ€™s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

โ€œOur duty is to protect our nationโ€™s children โ€” not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,โ€ National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. โ€œWe must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.โ€

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that โ€œempirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.โ€

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with โ€” in some but not all cases โ€” puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

โ€œThe suggestion that someoneโ€™s authentic self and who they are can be โ€˜changedโ€™ is discredited junk science,โ€ GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. โ€œThis so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.โ€

GLAAD further notes that the โ€œgovernment has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.โ€

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, โ€œFor decades, every major medical associationโ€“including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatricsโ€“have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

โ€œThis report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name โ€“ and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isnโ€™t actually therapy โ€“ it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

โ€œThe end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

โ€œLike being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.โ€

โ€œTodayโ€™s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in todayโ€™s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,โ€ said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. โ€œIt promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they canโ€™t change.โ€

โ€œLike being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choiceโ€”itโ€™s rooted in biology and genetics,โ€ Minter said. โ€œNo amount or talk or pressure will change that.โ€ 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: โ€œTrans people are who we are. Weโ€™re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

โ€œThis report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.โ€




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

โ€œI am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,โ€ said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltzโ€™s nomination. โ€œFrom his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nationโ€™s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.โ€

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, โ€œwhile continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.โ€

โ€œTogether, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,โ€ said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administrationโ€™s passport policy.

The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with โ€œXโ€ gender markers โ€œhas caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.โ€

Two of the seven plaintiffs โ€” Jill Tran and Peter Poe โ€” live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.

โ€œThe discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,โ€ said Lambda Legal in a press release.

Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.

The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.

Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trumpโ€™s inauguration โ€œsent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.โ€

Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with โ€œXโ€ gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.

โ€œThe passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of โ€˜Fโ€™ or โ€˜female,'โ€ notes the lawsuit. โ€œMr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that โ€˜the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,โ€™ with โ€˜sexโ€™ circled in red. The stated reason was โ€˜to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'โ€

โ€œI, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,โ€ said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. โ€œMy safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.โ€

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an โ€œXโ€ gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.

A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.

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