The Peruvian government has officially classified trans and intersex people as “mentally ill,” Telegraph reported.
The health ministry explained that this decision was necessary to ensure that Peru’s public health services could provide complete mental health care for everyone.
According to LGBTQ+ outlet Pink News, the decree is expected to change the language in the Essentials Health Insurance Plan to indicate that trans and intersex people have a mental disorder.
Despite the change, the health ministry assured on Friday that trans and other LGBTQ+ individuals won’t face conversion therapies, as reported by the outlet.
This sparked criticism in a society where gender and LGBT rights endure constant assault. Along with widespread homophobic, transphobic, and gender-based violence, according to the NY Post.
LGBTQ+ activist groups across Peru criticized the decision as a major step backward in the fight for their rights and safety.
“100 years after the decriminalization of homosexuality, the @Minsa_Peru has nothing better to do than to include trans people in the category of mental illnesses,” Jheinser Pacaya, director of OutfestPeru, wrote on X.
Recently, lawmakers banned references to gender equality in school textbooks. This decision has severely impacted classes designed to prevent domestic violence and femicide.
Meanwhile, César Vásquez, the health minister, has not commented on this controversy.
Percy Mayta-Tristán, a medical researcher at Lima’s Scientific University of the South, mentioned that the decree might have been well-intentioned. However, it showed a lack of understanding of the complex issues faced by the LGBT community.
“You can’t ignore the context that this is happening in a super-conservative society. Where the LGBT community has no rights and where labeling them as mentally ill opens the door to conversion therapy.”
