Articles

What if someone says “I am Napoleon?” On trans people and self-determination

Many laws and policies restricting trans people’s access to legal gender recognition have been based on previous restrictions in psycho-medical knowledge prior to the release of the ICD-11, for example, by justifying it as compliance with the World Health Organization’s previously pathologizing classification. However, after 2019, that reasoning is no longer an acceptable excuse. It is time for all countries around the world to behave coherently with their own tradition of compliance, and to depathologize trans people in accordance with the World Health Organization’s updated classification.

Self-Identification is Not a Matter of Belief

When States refuse to accept and respect individuals’ right to be identified as themselves (which is to say, their right to identity), gross human rights violations occur.