Transgenders are Normal, Would You Believe?

Transgender identity is not a mental illness, study says

© Jonathan Drake / Reuters

People who identify as transgender should not be considered to have a mental health disorder as many professionals have assumed for decades, a study has found.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently lists transgender identity as a mental health disorder, as was previously the case with homosexuality.

The report, ‘Removing transgender identity from the classification of mental disorders’, says the distress experienced by many is primarily a result of social rejection and violence, not solely the result of being transgender.

The distinction matters because it has implications for how transgender people are treated in a healthcare setting and how they are viewed by society.

The findings, published in UK medical journal the Lancet, show that viewing transgender people as having a mental illness might force them into psychiatric care rather than the physical care they need. 

That wording makes it sound like they don't need psychiatric care; that's crazy! How can a man look at his scrotum and decide that he is a woman and not need psychological help? 

A report published by a UK parliamentary committee earlier this year found as many as 650,000 Britons are “gender fluid” to some degree.

'Gender fluid' can also be expressed as 'gender confused'.

The Commons Women and Equalities Committee heard how transphobia undermines careers, incomes, living standards, and mental and physical health.

Of course it does! Who wants an employee who lives in a world that is unrelated to reality?

A third of transgender adults and “gender variant” young people attempt suicide, the committee found.

That should cinch it right there! Mentally well people do not commit suicide. 

Changing the classification would have an impact on how transgender people are treated by the medical establishment, the report said.

“Stigma associated with both mental disorder and transgender identity has contributed to the precarious legal status, human rights violations and barriers to appropriate care among transgender people,” senior author Professor Geoffrey Reed of the National Autonomous University of Mexico told the Guardian.

NAUM is a very prestigious university in the Spanish-speaking world. I do have to question, however, who funded the study? Virtually all scientific, and I'm not sure this qualifies as scientific, research finds a conclusion that is in agreement with the ideology of those who fund it. Is this a case of normalizing transgender behaviour as gay behaviour has been 'normalized' not so long ago?

The above statement reveals that mental disorder and transgenderism result in many difficulties and prejudiced treatment further cements the fact that transgenderism is a mental disorder - they have the same effect! 

So here's the problem - the authors of this study want to stop the prejudiced behaviour toward transgenders by pretending transgenderism is normal. That's like trying to stop a terrorism attack by closing your eyes and pretending it's not happening.

Wouldn't it be more effective to deal with the prejudice as a behavioural problem? The stigma of mental illness has been significantly reduced in the last couple decades. It can be reduced for transgenderism as well, but not by pretending that it is not a mental illness. 

It also begs the question - why not declare all mentally ill people normal, then there won't be any mentally ill people?  That's how absurd this whole thing is.

“The definition of transgender identity as a mental disorder has been misused to justify denial of healthcare and contributed to the perception that transgender people must be treated by psychiatric specialists, creating barriers to healthcare services.

“The definition has even been misused by some governments to deny self-determination and decision-making authority to transgender people in matters ranging from changing legal documents to child custody and reproduction.”

The authors of the study argue that being transgender might be better classified as a condition related to sexual health.

The researchers interviewed 250 transgender people in Mexico City.

Some 76 percent of participants reported experiencing social rejection and 63 percent said they were victims of sexual, physical or psychological violence as a result of their gender identity.

The study will be repeated in Brazil, France, India, Lebanon and South Africa, according to the researchers.

Is this a study, or a campaign?