On May 18th, concerned community members and mental health providers gathered to protest the handling of the American Psychiatric Association’s revision of so-called “Gender Identity Disorder” in its 5th revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The APA has been criticized for a number of moves regarding the revision, including the appointment of Kenneth Zucker, an outspoken reparative therapist of gender variant children, as head of the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group.

Organizer Danielle Askini said, “We demand that evidence-based medicine and scientific literature be the focus of how sexual and gender minorities are considered. That includes work in related fields of behavioral science, bioethics, and philosophy of science.”

Andrea James, also an organizer, stated, “We believe trans health services can be provided without diagnosing gender identity and expression as disordered. We believe any clinical distress may arise from attempts to suppress, shame, or cure nonconforming gender expression and can be resolved through clinically proven social and/or medical options.”

The protest began at 6:00pm at 4th & Howard in San Francisco’s South of Market District in front of the Moscone Center where the APA will hold its annual conference.

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