August 18, 2012

Transgender Persons Have Rights Too

American Psychiatric Association supports civil liberties of transgender people

The APA’s vision statement includes the phrase: “Its vision is a
society that has available, accessible quality psychiatric diagnosis
and treatment”. Sadly, transgender and gender variant individuals
often do not have available and accessible treatment.

The APA joins the American Medical Association and the American
Psychological Association in recognizing the critical importance of
access to care for transgender persons.

At its July meeting, the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of
Trustees voted to endorse position statements in support of access to
care and civil rights for transgender individuals.

The APA’s official positions:

Therefore, the American Psychiatric Association:
1. Supports laws that protect the civil rights of 
transgender and
gender variant individuals
2. Urges the repeal of laws and policies that discriminate against
transgender and gender variant 
individuals.
3. Opposes all public and private discrimination against 
transgender
and gender variant individuals in such areas as health care,
employment, housing, public accommodation, education, and licensing.
4. Declares that no burden of proof of such judgment, capacity, or
reliability shall be placed upon these individuals greater than that
imposed on any other persons.
5. Recognizes that appropriately evaluated transgender and gender
variant individuals can benefit greatly from medical and surgical
gender transition treatments.
6. Advocates for removal of barriers to care and supports both public
and private health insurance coverage for gender transition treatment.
7. Opposes categorical exclusions of coverage for such medically
necessary treatment when prescribed by a physician

Advocacy is an important aspect of the APA’s work. In 2000, the APA
announced its support of same-sex unions; in 2002 they announced their
support of same-sex couples raising children.

Now, the APA’s support of civil liberties has extended to the
transgender and gender variant communities.

Transgender individuals face serious discrimination, prejudice, and
victimization from violent hate crimes. These individuals also
struggle with legal issues, employment issues, and documentation
issues.

At this point, transgender people have no federal protection against
discrimination and are often denied medical and psychiatric care
related to gender transition.

The mental health of transgender individuals suffers from little
access to proper care. In the most recent survey of over six thousand
transgender individuals, 41 percent reported having attempted suicide
before.

This information was announced August 16th in the Psychiatric News
Alert, the voice of the American Psychiatric Association.

Reviewed by: Robert Carlson, M.D

Review Date: August 15, 2012

Citation: APA Issues Official Positions Supporting Access to Care and
the Rights of Transgender and Gender Variant Persons
<http://alert.psychiatricnews.org/2012/08/apa-issues-official-position...>

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