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from Political News
Congress To Pass Bill Protecting Individuals With
Gender Identity Disorder As Protected Minority Group
By Mike Hatfield
September 25, 2007 - The House of Representatives is on the verge of passing the H.R. 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and H.R. 2232, the Clarification of Federal Employment Protections Act of 2007.
NARTH's Legal Committee Chair Bill Duncan has described the potential problems with ENDA. This bill will impact all businesses, schools, and other enterprises with 15 or more employees.
Both of these bills will add "sexual orientation" to federal law; H.R. 2015, however, also adds the term "gender identity" to federal law. If signed into law, ENDA will make "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" federally-protected minority classes.
"Gender identity" is defined in ENDA as "the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated birth sex." In addition, "sexual orientation" is defined as "homosexuality, heterosexuality or bisexuality."
What is described in ENDA as a "gender identity" that is different than a person's birth sex is a condition described in psychology and psychiatry as a Gender Identity Disorder (GID). It is a mental condition that is frequently treated with "sexual reassignment surgery." Yet, as Psychology Today has pointed out, "Sex reassignment through surgery and hormonal therapy is an option, but severe problems may persist after this form of treatment. A better outcome is associated with the early diagnosis and treatment of this disorder."
NARTH advisor Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, writing in his essay "The Desire For A Sex Change" noted: "Mutilating surgery and hormone treatments can create the appearance of a male or female body, but it cannot change the underlying reality. It is not possible to change a person's sex."
Dr. Paul McHugh, with Johns Hopkins University, writing in "Surgical Sex," published in First Things (2004), observed that psychiatrists who sought "to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it."
If asked, Dr. McHugh might very well say the same thing to Members of Congress who are determined to make a Gender Identity Disorder a federally-protected minority group under the law.
Additional Reading: Gender Identity Disorders.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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