The World Health Organization on May 25 officially declassified transgender people as mentally ill.
The World Health Assembly, which represents the 194-member state body, voted to remove gender nonconformity as a mental illness in its latest publication of the International Classification of Diseases during its annual assembly in Geneva.
The new term for gender identity disorder is “gender incongruence” and it will no longer appear in the chapter of mental disorders.
NHK World Japan reported that it was the first update of the manual’s illness list in 29 years.
Graeme Reid, LGBT rights director at Human Rights Watch, praised the assembly’s decision.
“The WHO’s removal of ‘gender identity disorder’ from its diagnostic manual will have a liberating effect on transgender people worldwide,” said Reid in a May 27 statement from the agency.
“Governments should swiftly reform national medical systems and laws that require this now officially outdated diagnosis,” he added.
Published by the Bay Area Reporter.
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