Officials in Denmark have announced that the nation will no longer classify being transgender as a mental illness, the first country in the world to do so.
Trans issues are more visible than ever before, and yet the World Health Organization still classifies being trans as a disorder (though the WHO is reportedly working to revise that definition). Denmark, on the other hand, will formally separate itself from that classification, effective January 1, 2017.
“At the moment, transgender is listed as a mental illness or behavioural problem,” Social Democrat health spokesman Flemming Moller Mortensen told Danish news agency Ritzau. “That is incredibly stigmatising and in no way reflects how we see transgender people in Denmark. It should be a neutral diagnosis.”
He added: “The WHO is currently working on a new system for registering diagnoses. It has been working on it for a very, very long time. Now we’ve run out of patience, and want to send out a signal saying that if the system is not changed by October, then we in Denmark will go it alone.”
HELL YES, Denmark. Set a precedent and demand that the rest of the world follows your lead. Yes yes yes.
February is upon us, and the picture for anti-transgender legislation
has begun to emerge. In 2015 there were 20 state-level bills intended to
target transgender people. All of them were either defeated or carried
over to the next legislative session. This year has seen the number grow
to at least 28 pieces of legislation, and we’ll likely see more before
the sessions are over. […]
State Sen. Ron Alting. the man behind Indiana’s push for gay rights dropped this LGB bomb Monday.
Alting said “Its (transgender visibility) is so new to legislators and the public I might add, has trouble getting their hands around it understanding it’ Alting continued “Gender language would not be in the best interest of Hoosiers and would not be in the best interest of the sexual orientation (effort) for equal rights. Period.’
Alting told Wifi.com this is something he has been working on for the past 20 years.
“Getting sexual orientation into the civil rights code of Indiana is enormous, enormous,” said Alting. He said Senate Bill 344 has the most potential of passing. The bill prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation but not gender identity.
“I think with the transgender language the bill will struggle getting votes to get the entire bill out of the Senate,” said Alting. He said tabling transgender protections, for right now, is in the best interest of getting equal rights for lesbian and gay people.
CLICK THE HEADER LINK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO.
Oh hey, it’s like Barney Frank and the HRC all over again!
Jesus
in which cis gays just fucking stampede over trans ppl in the effort to further their own assimilation
this type of mess. it don’t make any sense, politically and humanely.
In an era of unprecedented
visibility, the transgender community is at a crossroads. Do we work
transgender people into current systems such as education and the
military or do we work to significantly transform these structures and
society as a whole? While the majority of media attention has gone
towards integrating trans people into the dominant culture, is this the
right decision for the community? Many activists, scholars, and
community members say no. Read more.
As
you may or may not know, transgender people in Canada are still do not
benefit from basic human rights. We are not legally protected from
discrimination in housing, employment, education, or health care, nor is
trans-related violence recognized as a hate crime.
Advocates
have been trying to get Bill C-279 passed in parliament for almost 3
years now, which would amend the Canada Human Rights Act to include
gender identity as a prohibited ground for discrimination. But despite
support, we are still sitting at a stand-still.
If you live in
Canada, please visit trans.egale.ca to learn more, contact your senator
and urge them to take action about this important human rights issue.
“No person should be denied an education simply because of who they
are,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “By opening its
doors to transgender women, Smith College has joined a growing number of
educational institutions that respect and afford equal opportunity to
all women.”
It all started with Calliope Wong (@calliowong) who applied to Smith, was rejected, and summarily challenged the ban. The fight of one becomes the victory of many.
When the history civil rights is taught in school, the fight for LGBT equality is often overlooked. But now thanks to Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights, a new young adult non-fiction book by author Ann Bausum, young people may finally get the info they need to hear.
