In the framework of the Gender Equality Week (see EUROPE 13049/15) the European Parliament’s Committees on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and Environment (ENVI) joined forces on Thursday 27 October. In the presence of experts and civil society representatives, they discussed the “depathologisation” of transgender and non-binary people, i.e. the removal of medical requirements for access to legal gender recognition, as well as ways to promote their access to health care.
Decorrelation of gender recognition from any medical requirement
Richard Kohler, Advocacy Director at Transgender Europe, pointed out that out of 25 Member States allowing legal gender recognition, 16 require transgender people to undergo a mental health diagnosis first, and four require them to undergo sterilisation.
“Transgender identities are not conditions of mental health disorders, and classifying them as such can cause enormous stigma”, argued Iva Žegura, speaking on behalf of the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH).
For Silvan Agius, a member of the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, it is “important that medical care and gender legal recognition are entirely decoupled”. In other words, not only should “anything pertaining to the medical care of a person not be impacted by whether the State has recognised or otherwise their legal gender”, but also “that legal gender recognition is not requiring any medical intervention […] be it psychological or physical in nature”. However, he recalled that in health matters, Member States are competent and that the European Commission can only play a coordinating and supporting role.
For gender-sensitive health care
Iva Žegura also stressed the need for gender-sensitive health care for patients which is sensitive to the specific realities of transgender and non-binary communities. In particular, she advocated for the introduction of these issues into the curricula of medical and psychological studies.
She also stressed the need for such care to be covered by health insurance and to be accessible. Indeed, beyond financial accessibility, the people concerned have to face waiting lists - up to 7 or 10 years in countries like Ireland - to get an initial appointment with a professional trained in their specific situation.
“43% of countries are ranked as providing a very poor degree of trans-specific healthcare”, lamented Richard Kohler, referring to a study on health care for transgender people in the EU to be published on Monday 31 October by Transgender Europe.
Finally, the various speakers called for appropriate medical and psychological follow-up for transgender children and adolescents. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)