Transgender Acceptance

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/06/opinion/transgender-acceptance.html

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To the Editor:

The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology heartily applauds the World Health Organization’s move toward declassifying transgender identity as a mental health disorder in its global list of medical conditions (“W.H.O. Moves to End a Transgender Stigma,” news article, July 27).

As an organization of clinical child and adolescent psychologists who assess and address the psychological needs of children and youth, we strongly believe that the time has come for medical professionals and for society to acknowledge that transgender identity is not a mental illness and should not be pathologized.

We must provide a world for our children in which being themselves doesn’t mean being stigmatized, bullied or segregated; instead it means being accepted, loved and recognized.

MITCH PRINSTEIN

President-elect

Society of Clinical Child

and Adolescent Psychology

Chapel Hill, N.C.