Anger in Peru over decree that defines transsexuality as ‘mental disorder’

LIMA, May 18 — The Peruvian government is under fire from LGBTQ+ groups who protested Friday against a new decree that labels transsexuality a “mental disorder.”

The government on May 10 updated its list of insurable health conditions – which has included mental health benefits since 2021 – to include services for transgender people.

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In the decree, the Ministry of Health describes the condition as a ‘mental disorder’ – an outdated term that has long been officially abandoned by the World Health Organization.

There have been calls for a demonstration in Lima on Friday, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

But the government said it would not scrap the decree.

Health ministry official Carlos Alvadrado told AFP this would “take away the right to care.”

The ministry has previously insisted that it does not view gender diversity as a disease, issuing a statement expressing “our respect for gender identities and our rejection of the stigmatization of sexual diversity.”

The decree said the decree was merely intended to expand mental health coverage “for the full exercise of the right to health and well-being” of those who want or need it.

Transgender people are those who reject the gender assigned to them at birth. Some opt for surgical or medical intervention.

“We demand the withdrawal of this transphobic and violent decree, which goes against our trans identities in Peru,” activist Gianna Camacho of the Coordinacion Nacional LGTBIQ+ told AFP.

“We are not mentally ill and we are not suffering from any mental disorder,” she added.

An article on the Human Rights Watch website describes the decree as “deeply regressive” in a country that does not allow gay marriage or transgender people to change their identity documents.

“It is a decree that takes us back three decades,” said Jorge Apolaya, spokesman for the Collective Pride March, a Lima-based rights group.

“We cannot live in a country where we are considered sick,” he said.

For Percy Mayta, a doctor and activist, “pathologizing” transgender people “opens the door to… conversion therapy” – which UN bodies equate to torture and which is not illegal in Peru.

In its press statement, the Peruvian Ministry of Health underlined that “a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity do not in themselves constitute a physical or mental health disorder and therefore should not be subjected to medical treatment or care or so-called reconversion therapies.” —AFP