(hell, yeah) Scarleteen

I came to know a similar mistake had been made, except that at that time, I didn’t have words to explain it. I learned to live a lie. Pretending to be what you’re not, hoping things will magically fix themselves, seems easier at times. But lies have consequences.

It is unfortunate that Coy’s school has not learned the lesson that so many other aspects of our culture have already acknowledged, that a person’s gender is more complicated than a body part or a chromosome.

Workplaces across this country are recognizing the challenges that their transgender workers face and are removing deeply embedded barriers to health care and wellness benefits. Organizations ranging from the National Collegiate Athletic Association to the Girl Scouts are accepting transyouth, sometimes under fire, treating children based on identify, not body parts.

Transwomen have openly competed in mainstream beauty pageants and have been featured in magazines such as Vogue. Transgender athletes, artists and writers, people in all fields, have shown there is a pathway to a happy, well-adjusted and fulfilling life — not as an “other,” but as the men and women we know ourselves to be.

Apparently none of this matters to the school that denies Coy the use of the girls’ bathroom or to the parents who demonize her and her family. Arguments to treat Coy with dignity often fall on deaf ears. Why? Because discussion of the topic quickly becomes emotional rather than rational.

Read the rest at CNN here.

After years of campaigning by trans activists, the American Psychiatric Association has removed “gender-identity disorder” as a mental illness, and replaced it with the more neutral diagnostic term “gender dysphoria.”

“The label of mental defectiveness really places a burden on trans people to continually prove our competence in our affirmed roles,” says activist Kelley Winters. Previously, an individual’s gender identity could be used against them in custody battles and other legal cases. But removing it from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) could cost trans people insurance coverage for hormone treatments and gender-reassigment surgery.

Dr. Jack Drescher, a member of the APA subcommittee handling the revision, told the Associated Press, “We know there is a whole community of people out there who are not seeking medical attention and live between the two binary categories. We wanted to send the message that the therapist’s job isn’t to pathologize.”

The move comes almost 40 years after homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness by the APA in 1973. Just this week, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a statement confirming the Affordable Care Act protected against discrimination based on gender identity.

Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/american-pyschiatric-association-drops-gender-identity-disorder-as-mental-illness-20120809/#ixzz23AjYJdOn

The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) has published two groundbreaking booklets on sexual health for trans people. Each one contains basic – yet valuable – information on trans bodies and health needs.

Each booklet tackles a whole bunch of common questions, such as: do post-op trans women still need prostate examinations? and: can trans guys get pregnant after going on T? There’s some trans specific information on HIV prevention, and also some more general health advice.

The language is broadly respectful and acknowledges the great range of trans identities. There isn’t as much of a binary division as might appear to be the case from the titles, with each booklet noting that the information contained within is also relevant to queer or non-binary individuals…

Read the rest from transactivist here (and thanks to our user Redskies for the heads-up!).