Euro Parliament Doesn’t Want Trans People Classified as Mentally Ill

A resolution passed by the European Parliament has called on the World Health Organization to remove gender identity disorder from their mental and behavioral disorder category.

The WHO's International Classification of Diseases, which currently classifies transgender people as mentally ill, will be released in updated form in 2015.

Emine Bozkurt, a Dutch MEP, said, "Transgender people wishing to live in a body that matches their identity are of course entitled to medical treatment and its benefits, but the negative stigma surrounding them must stop."

Spanish MEP Raul Romeva i Rueda, the vice-president of the LGBT intergroup, agreed, saying the current classification means that transgender people "are not free to decide for themselves, and are often disrespected by the medical profession, their employers and their families."

"This call sends one clear message to the commission and the WHO," he continued, "the pathologization of gender identity must stop."