“REMOVE TRANSGENDERISM AS A MENTAL ILLNESS” ON IDAHO

By Lesego Tlhwale (BTM Intern)

WORLD – 08 May 2009: As the gay community in the world prepares for the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) on 17 May, Gender DynamiX and other trans and gay rights organisations are urging the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other states of the world to stop considering trans people as mentally disordered.

Liesl Theron of Gender DynamiX says transgender activists from around the world continue to lobby and fight for the removal of transgenderism as a mental illness from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) which will be updated in 2012.

In a joint statement with IDAHO, Transgender Europe (TGEU), the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), Arc International and the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA), Gender DynamiX says basic human rights of trans people are presently being ignored and denied in all nations.

It adds that states and international bodies reinforce social transphobia through short sighted negligence or reactionary politics.

“Because of the failure of national law and social justice in far too many states, trans people are being forced to live a gender which they experience as fundamentally wrong for them. In most countries any attempt to change one’s gender can lead to legal sanctions, brutal mistreatment and social stigma”, the statement reveals.

In other countries, it adds, legal recognition of gender change is subject to sterilization or other major surgical interventions and trans people who do not submit to this can not obtain legal recognition of their preferred gender and are forced to come out every time they cross a boarder, run into a police patrol, apply for a new job, move into a new home or simply want to buy a mobile phone.

In this statement organisations are also requesting WHO to promote access to adequate health care and psychological support as desired by trans people, the United Nations to examine human rights abuses that trans people face around the world and to take action to combat these abuses and finally the states of the world to adopt the international Yogyakarta Principles and ensure that all trans people benefit from appropriate health care.

Homosexuality Knows No Borders is the theme for this year’s IDAHO and is aimed at making the general public, particularly the ethno-cultural communities of all backgrounds, more aware of gay and lesbian issues, and sexual diversity.

“The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is an important day as it serves as a tool to raise awareness in mainstream media and spaces in general about the injustice and discrimination which takes place on the daily basis affecting homosexual and transgender people”, says Theron.

Meanwhile, to commemorate IDAHO, Gay.com is asking the gay community to submit short videos saying how proud they are to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender to be released on IDAHO 2009, coinciding with Gay.com’s anniversary.

IDAHO is an annual event celebrating 17 May as a day that WHO removed homosexuality as a mental illness in 1990.

IDAHO was launched in 2005 and since then homosexual people across the world come up with initiatives and activities to commemorate this important day in the gay calendar.

For more information: www.idahomophobia.org