(De)pathologization of transsexuality in Brazil

between identity self-determination and the right to health

Abstract

the article deals with the pathologization of transgenderity, understood as sociocultural processes, justified by moral subsidies from legal, medical and religious discourses, which corroborated not only the control and marginalization of trans corporalities, but also their inclusion in “identity disorders sexual” (ICD 10 – F64.0). However, the constant demands of social movements for the rights to dignity, identity, privacy, freedom, physical and moral integrity, among others, which range from personality rights to health for this population, led to the depathologization of transsexuality in the 11th revision of the Classification International Disease (ICD), of the World Health Organization (WHO), now being classified as “gender incongruence” (ICD 11 – HA6Z). This change has several repercussions, among them we highlight the new interpretations of the transsexualization process, that is, outpatient and hospital actions to welcome people who wish to undergo gender affirmation procedures. In Brazil, should public funding for these actions be justified from the perspective of the right to identity or health? This is the research problem, which will be conducted using the hypothetical-deductive method and bibliographical review, aiming to investigate, among other things, the normative and deontological assumptions to ensure the public policies necessary for the physical, psychological and moral well-being of the transsexual population.