Ask Matt: Should Gender Dysphoria Be in the DSM?
April 16, 2012 by Matt Kailey
http://tranifesto.com/2012/04/16/ask-matt-should-gender-dysphoria-be-in-the-dsm/A reader writes: "The DSM-V is coming out at the end of the year, and the big question of whether or not gender identity disorder will appear is being decided now, I believe. I heard something about that they gave the revision of this part to the wrong people, and that something terrible could come out of it.
"My main question, though, is: Is it good or bad to remove ourselves from the DSM at this point in time? I know that seeing being trans as a mental disorder is not proper – that I know from living through it. But not everyone else understands.
"I fear that if transsexuality is no longer in the medical books, we will be seen in both the medical and rest of the community as feigning illness. And especially for the former, I see free license to discriminate. I think it shouldn't be in there, but at this point, when many people still think trans people are just really gay people, what do we gain and lose from taking ourselves off a respected list?"
