What is Gender Identity Disorder (GID)/Gender Dysphoria?
GID/Gender Dysphoria is found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). GID is the mental disorder diagnosis for individuals that identify as the opposite gender that typically corresponds with their birth sex. Transgender and other human rights activists have opposed the existence of GID because it further stigmatizes these individuals. After homosexuality was taken out of the DSM, GID was put in. Homosexuality and GID share many similarities with the reasoning behind why they were put in the DSM. Homosexuality was dismissed as a mental illness because it was the stigma around being gay that caused problems, not being gay by itself. People argue that the same stigma of being transgender exists, and it is not being transgender itself that causes problems. The DSM treats hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery as the “treatment” to GID and many doctors will not allow individuals to receive either without a diagnosis of GID. Being transgender is not a menta
