The Peruvian government has officially classified transgender identity and other gender identity disorder as mental illnesses following an update of its Essential Health Insurance Plan.
Signed by President Dina Boluarte and published on May 10, 2024, Supreme Decree No. 009-2024-SA modifies the ministry’s Essential Health Insurance Plan, and included transsexualism, dual role transvestism, gender identity disorder in childhood, fetishistic transvestism, and ego-dystonic sexual orientation under “insurable conditions of the
person with illness.”
The update comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its terms on gender identity-related health in 2019, moving conditions of “gender incongruence” out of being defined as “mental and behavioral disorders,” and into “conditions related to sexual health.”
While addressing public outcry, the Health Ministry published a statement on X, claiming that the classification was meant for insurance coverage.
The ministry also said that “gender and sexual diversity are not diseases,” and that those under the umbrella “should not be subjected to medical treatment or care or so-called conversion therapies.”
The passage of the decree was met with protests from the LGBTQ+ community. People took to the streets in outrage on May 17, 2024, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biophobia.
“We are not mentally ill and we do not suffer from any mental disorder,” Coordinacion Nacional LGTBIQ+ activist Gianna Camacho told AFP.
The decree was also described by Human Rights Watch as “profoundly regressive” in a country that does not support same-sex marriage and for transgender people to change their identity documents.
