News and Events => Political and Legal News => Topic started by: LostInTime on March 16, 2007, 08:42:28 AM Return to Full Version
Title: Gender identity bill has its dangers
Post by: LostInTime on March 16, 2007, 08:42:28 AM
Post by: LostInTime on March 16, 2007, 08:42:28 AM
Ma-ma-mama, we're all crazy now (http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/OPINION03/703150302/1039/OPINION03)
First, all of the behavior to be protected is associated with a treatable mental disorder. According to every respected body of mental health experts such as the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, and both psychological diagnostic manuals DSM-IV and ICD-10, people with a "strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with their sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex" suffer from gender identity disorder, or gender dysphoria. The behaviors associated with this disorder range from occasional stress-related cross-dressing to full-time transvestism, to the less common compulsion to surgically alter the body to conform to a perceived gender or identity. A significant number of sufferers choose to avoid gender norms, using partial surgical alteration and/or hormones to exhibit both male and female physical traits (i.e. "she/males").
First, all of the behavior to be protected is associated with a treatable mental disorder. According to every respected body of mental health experts such as the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, and both psychological diagnostic manuals DSM-IV and ICD-10, people with a "strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with their sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex" suffer from gender identity disorder, or gender dysphoria. The behaviors associated with this disorder range from occasional stress-related cross-dressing to full-time transvestism, to the less common compulsion to surgically alter the body to conform to a perceived gender or identity. A significant number of sufferers choose to avoid gender norms, using partial surgical alteration and/or hormones to exhibit both male and female physical traits (i.e. "she/males").