In Peru, hundreds of protestors marched in the capital city to repeal the recent legislative act that labels transgender individuals as mentally ill in order to provide them healthcare benefits. The country’s Essential Health Insurance Plan, which broadly covers health conditions insured by health policies, includes transgender identities as mental health conditions.
Activists from Coordinacion Nacional LGTBIQ+, including Gianna Camacho, termed this law as transphobic and offensive for diagnosing their identity as an illness. Just last week, the Peruvian government passed a law qualifying people who identify as transgender, cross-dressers, and those with gender identity disorders as “ill”, enabling them to avail mental health services from both public and private providers.
In response to this arrangement, around 500 protestors raised their voices in Lima, the capital of Peru, to call for the revocation of this recently introduced law.
Soon after the passing of the law, a statement was issued by the Peruvian Ministry of Health opposing the stigmatization of LGBTQ+ individuals. They clarified that the language of the law aims to improve health coverage and does not consider sexual orientation and gender identity as signs of illness. The Ministry condemned the practice of conversion therapy but decided against repealing the decree as it would restrict “the right to care” as offered by the country.
Notably, these protests coincided with the International Day Against Homophobia, an annual event since 2005 that commemorates the removal of homosexuality from the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases on May 17, 1990, where it was previously stated to be a mental illness.
The full details of the story are available on Jurist.org.