Rights group demand better healthcare after WHO says being transgender not a mental illness

KUALA LUMPUR, JUNE 23 — A transgender rights group urged the Health Ministry today to introduce trans-specific healthcare services after the World Health Organisation (WHO) no longer classified being transgender as a mental disorder.

In a move deemed historic, WHO announced in its 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) that gender incongruence, which is a “marked and persistent incongruence between an individual’s experienced gender and the assigned sex”, has been reclassified as a sexual health condition.

Justice for Sisters urged Malaysia’s Health Ministry and other relevant agencies to study the newly-released ICD to ensure that public health policies are in accordance with current global medical understanding and human rights standards.

“This necessitates the removal of barriers that trans people face in accessing healthcare, including stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings, the inaccessibility of legal gender recognition and the lack of expertise of healthcare workers,” Justice for Sisters said in a statement.

The group said the revision provides further evidence that trans identities are not a form of mental disorder, and should prompt revisions of other policies and laws that criminalise transgender persons.

“The classification of trans identities as a mental health disorder have not only adversely contributed to an inaccurate and discriminatory perception of trans people, but also multiple forms of violence, humiliating and dehumanising experiences, denial of rights, and efforts to ‘correct’ trans people,” said Justice for Sisters.

“In Malaysia, for example, multiple state-funded efforts that aim to correct and rehabilitate transgender persons and school children based on gender expressions have been introduced since 2010.

“The ‘return to the right path’ or ‘balik ke pangkal jalan’ rhetoric adds multiple forms of pressure and burden on trans persons to ‘change’, which causes psychological and emotional harm, among others,” it added.

The group also urged the new Pakatan Harapan government to engage transgender persons and human rights groups to address the discrimination and marginalisation faced by the community.