Transgender
activists
have
raised
strong
objections
to
a
decision
by
the
American
Psychiatric
Association
to
name
a
prominent
Canadian
child
psychologist
as
head
of
a
committee
that
will
recommend
changes
in
diagnosing
persons
with
an
ailment
defined
by
the
group
as
gender
identity
disorder.
In
a
flurry
of
blog
postings
and
an
online
petition,
trans
activists
and
some
gay
rights
supporters
have
called
for
the
removal
of
University
of
Toronto
psychiatry
professor
Kenneth
J.
Zucker
as
chair
of
the
psychiatrist
association’s
Sexual
and
Gender
Identity
Disorders
Work
Group
on
grounds
that
Zucker
supports
therapy
to
discourage
transgender
children
and
adolescents
from
changing
their
biological
gender.
The
Work
Group
is
charged,
among
other
things,
with
making
recommendations
for
changes
in
how
transgender
persons
are
classified
under
the
APA’s
internationally
recognized
Diagnostic
and
Statistical
Manual
of
Mental
Disorders,
which
is
being
revised
for
publication
in
2012.
“We
believe
being
transgender
is
just
as
innate
as
being
gay
or
lesbian,”
said
transgender
advocate
and
blogger
Mercedes
Allen
of
Alberta,
Canada.
“Our
concern
is
that
Zucker
favors
a
form
of
reparative
therapy
for
trans
youth
that
amounts
to
the
suppression
of
their
true
gender
identity,”
said
Allen.
In
a
telephone
interview
Tuesday,
Allen
said
Zucker’s
treatment
philosophy
for
trans
youth
appears
to
yield
to
societal
norms
about
gender
conformity
rather
than
acting
in
the
best
interest
of
the
transgender
child
or
adolescent.
But
a
prominent
gay
psychiatrist
and
former
chair
of
the
APA’s
gay
advisory
committee,
Dr.
Jack
Drescher,
said
the
fears
by
trans
activists
are
unfounded
and
that
Zucker,
while
favoring
possible
therapy
for
some
trans
teens,
supports
gender
reassignment
therapy
in
most
cases
—
for
both
youth
and
adults.
Drescher
said
he
was
especially
concerned
about
claims
by
some
trans
bloggers
that
Zucker
and
at
least
one
other
member
of
the
APA’s
Sexual
and
Gender
Identity
Disorders
Work
Group
would
push
for
reinstating
homosexuality
as
a
diagnostic
disorder
under
the
APA’s
revised
diagnostic
manual
in
2012.
“[T]here
is
absolutely
no
possibility
that
the
diagnosis
of
homosexuality
will
be
put
back
into
the
DSM
—
anyone
that
tells
you
that
it
can
be,
could
be,
would
be,
or
will
be
put
back
in,
knows
not
of
what
they
speak,”
Dresser
said
in
a
May
13
statement.
The
APA
removed
homosexuality
from
its
DSM
classification
as
a
mental
disorder
in
1973
following
a
lobbying
campaign
by
gay
activists
in
which
veteran
D.C.
gay
rights
leader
Frank
Kameny
played
a
key
role.
Zucker
could
not
be
reached
by
press
time.
A
statement
released
on
his
behalf
by
the
APA
on
May
23
says
Zucker
does
not
advocate
change
therapy
for
transgender
adults
or
for
trans
youth
in
all
cases,
and
he
opposes
change
therapy
for
gays
under
all
circumstances.
“The
goal
of
his
therapy
is
the
opposite
of
conversion
therapy
in
that
he
considers
well-adjusted
transsexual,
gay,
lesbian,
or
bisexual
youth
to
be
therapy
successes,
not
failures,”
the
APA
statement
says.
Drescher
noted
that
Zucker
was
one
of
10
people
serving
on
the
Sexual
and
Gender
Identity
Disorders
Work
Group
and
that
“hundreds”
of
other
experts,
including
scientists
and
academic
researchers,
would
be
contributing
to
the
base
of
knowledge
and
information
on
which
any
changes
are
to
be
made
concerning
transgender
issues.
“No
single
person
will
have
a
controlling
influence
over
this
process,
which
takes
four
years,”
said
Drescher,
who
has
also
been
appointed
to
serve
on
the
Work
Group.
Despite
those
assurances,
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force
issued
a
statement
Wednesday
questioning
the
APA’s
decision
to
appoint
Zucker
and
a
second
member
of
the
work
panel,
Ray
Blanchard,
a
University
of
Toronto
psychiatry
professor.
Blanchard
has
argued
that
certain
manifestations
of
transgender
behavior
should
be
classified
as
a
“paraphelia”
or
“tranvestitic”
fetish,
terms
to
which
transgender
advocates
object.
“These
appointments
are
raising
great
concern
within
the
lesbian,
gay,
bisexual
and
transgender
community,”
the
Task
Force
statement
says.
“Zucker
has
built
his
reputation
on
the
position
that
children
can
be
directed
away
from
nonconforming
gender
expression
via
therapy,
while
Blanchard
has
a
long
list
of
articles
[labeling
as
pathological]
commonplace
expressions
of
sexuality
and
gender,”
the
statement
says.
A
separate
statement
released
this
week
by
four
transgender
organizations,
including
the
National
Center
for
Transgender
Equality,
stopped
short
of
specifically
criticizing
Zucker
and
Blanchard.
The
statement
—
also
signed
by
the
Transgender
Law
and
Policy
Institute,
Transgender
Law
Center
and
Transgender
Youth
Family
Allies
—
expressed
confidence
that
any
changes
in
the
APA’s
diagnostic
manual
on
transgender
issues
would
be
based
on
science
rather
than
bias.
“We
have
met
with
and
strongly
encouraged
the
APA
to
closely
adhere
to
its
stated
commitment
to
scientific
process
regarding
diagnosis
of
transgender
people,”
the
joint
statement
says.
“We
are
confident
that
a
fair,
unbiased
review
of
current
knowledge
can
result
in
a
DSM-V
...
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