[US] Rep. Robert Garcia calls out Peru for classifying trans, intersex & nonbinary people as mentally ill
https://www.advocate.com/politics/robert-garcia-peruOpen linkView original on lemmy.worldSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
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https://www.advocate.com/politics/robert-garcia-peruOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
18 replies
I mean, I am mentally ill, but not because I'm nonbinary.
I don't know you, but I know for many people, coming out helps with their mental illness issues.
Unsurprisingly, the stress of hiding your true self all the time for years is not mentally healthy.
Listen, it’s one kind of wrong to declare trans and nonbinary people as mentally ill, but like i really don’t see how my mental health impacts the genital structure I was born with
It only impacts it if you know it's wrong and you can't let the world know that your genitals don't match your gender.
Like keeping any other huge secret would impact your mental health.
Oh yeah, but that’s like saying that having been to war is a mental disorder. Like as someone both trans and intersex, the former is an acknowledgment of an inner truth where all expressions of it are filtered through the brain at some point, but the latter idk what to tell people it’s like having a sixth toe (in the condition I’m thinking of of mine). You may not like it, and people may try to “fix” it or make me feel bad about it, but it was just there before my bottom surgery.
In a similar vein I have a cousin with (iirc) mono X. It’s definitely had negative impacts on her life and mental health but it’s a chromosomal condition not a mental condition
Okay, so intersex people are mentally ill from the moment that plays out in the womb?
Is this a schrodingers mental illness, where up until the intersex is determined by an ultrasound that they are both mentally fine and mentally ill?
Lol don't you love it.
Peru does something to force healthcare providers to cover transgender procedures and treatments, people are outraged that it's been labelled an illness. You can't make this stuff up.
I'm not sure that's what the criticism is about. The law references ego-dystonic sexual orientation as one of the "mental illnesses" it covers. From Wikipedia (edits mine):
The current manuals for mental disorders (ICD-11, DSM-5) already include diagnostic categories that can be used as a basis for providing healthcare to LGBTIQ+ people (e g., gender dysphoria). The criticism of the Peruvian law is that it is based on outdated categories that regard the actual sexual identities and orientations as a whole as "mental illnesses" (rather than the affective and emotional issues that LGBTIQ+ are vulnerable to), which has no clinical value and is extremely prone to being used to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ people.
If the only way to help transgendered people is to call them mentally ill, maybe there's a bigger problem you're missing.
It is not the only way, WHO provides a code "gender incongruence" that is a condition "related to sexual health". Not a mental disorder. https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/gender-incongruence-and-transgender-health-in-the-icd
Fine. Then Peru should do that.
Yeah, the problem is "do no harm". To modify your body, a medical professional needs to be fixing something, i.e. you have an illness that needs treatment.
Bro forgot about the entire practice of plastic surgery.
Are you saying gender affirming care is elective?
No, just responding to this bit
So... you are under the bizarre (and very wrong) impression that doctors in other countries only give gender-affirming care to people they have determined have an illness?
Because, as I said, you are very wrong.
The way other countries do it is by considering "gender dysphoria" an illness. This way, you aren't ill for being trans, but you can absolutely feel sick if you're trans but cannot transition, so the cure for gender dysphoria is to facilitate medical transitioning.
It could pass a Gender Identity Recognition Act by self-identification. Then cover trasngender health by insurance, prohibit healthcare discrimination on grounds of gender identity, and use a modern, non-pathologizing code the one provided like ICD-11 by WHO "gender incongruence" a condition "related to sexual health". Not a mental disorder. https://www.who.int/standards/classifications/frequently-asked-questions/gender-incongruence-and-transgender-health-in-the-icd