The Transgender Lobby 

In May of 2013 the American Psychiatric Association will publish the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a universally recognized classification of mental disorders first published in 1952.  In anticipation of this first major revision since 1994, transgender advocates have been lobbying psychiatrists for several years in an attempt to persuade them to abandon thousands of years of logical thought by theologians and philosophers as well as several hundred years of scientific reasoning by some of the most erudite psychology scholars throughout the world.  In short, they want the label of mental disorder dropped from men who like to dress in women’s clothing, women who want a new appendage and four year old boys who tell their parents they want their appendage removed, to name just a few of the tragic scenarios embraced by the transgender lobby.  

The Transgender Dilemma 

If the American Psychiatric Association caves to political pressure and gives its stamp of approval to these demands, it will not be without exacting a toll on the gender disturbed community.  In so doing, they will have inadvertently denied them the health insurance coverage to pay for their mutilating surgeries.  If it’s not abnormal then it doesn’t need fixing, so to speak.  In addition, removing the label of mental disorder from these conditions would also remove a tool from the lawyer’s bag of tricks.  Without a diagnosis, attorneys would be hard pressed to prove employment discrimination or disability, for example.   Regardless of where we stand on this issue, we can all agree that the gender disturbed, as fellow human beings, deserve our love and concern and should be treated with fairness and understanding.  Whether or not the American Psychiatric Association goes the route of enabling the ever more bizarre behavior of this unfortunate group, common sense tells us that those with gender disturbances should be offered care by a psychiatrist, not a surgeon!