Gender dysphoria issues like “transsexualism”, “dual-role and fetishistic transvestism” and “gender identity disorder in childhood” are all now to be recorded as mental illnesses in Peru. A new decree signed by President Dina Boluarte states these and all “other gender identity disorders” are now to be classified by medical professionals as mental illnesses. “Psychological treatment” will be freely available to those suffering from gender dysphoria, states the decree. The Peruvian government “categorically reaffirms respect for the dignity of the person and their free actions within the framework of human rights, providing health services for their benefit'.The World Health Organization (WHO) removed transsexuality from its list of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) in 2019, which went into effect in 2022. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) however, based on the most current 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), still lists someone who identifies as transgender/transexual as gender dysphoria, a psychological illness. Canada on the other hand asserts gender dysphoria should be treated with “transition-related hormones” and “transition-related surgeries,” according to Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), a Toronto-based teaching hospital for mental illness. The Alberta branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) rejects transgenderism as a mental illness altogether, claiming “many transgender people do not experience gender dysphoria as a mental illness or diagnosable condition.”CBA overtly discards the standardized diagnostic “as contemplated in the DSM-V,” which is an internationally recognized standard established by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and asserts “some transgender people do not experience gender dysphoria at all.”The South American nation has garnered criticism for its move to recategorize transsexuality as a mental illness. Medical researcher at Lima's Scientific University of the South Percy Mayta-Tristan slammed Peru’s “super-conservative society” and lamented to Yahoo News “the LGBT community has no rights.”“Labelling them as mentally ill opens the door to conversion therapy,” claimed Mayta-Tristan.
