This And That In The News

An article about Amanda Simpson caught my eye,

Spotlight on Commerce: Amanda Simpson, Senior Technical Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security
June 21, 2011

Guest blog by Amanda Simpson, the Senior Technical Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security.

As the highest ranked technical person in the Bureau of Industry and Security, I focus on policy and export control issues that seek to protect the security of the United States. While Commerce oversees and enforces the Export Administration Regulations regarding exports of dual-use goods and technologies, I work quite a bit with our sister agencies at the Departments of State and Defense that offer advice on dual-use exports but also oversee munitions exports under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
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To me, Pride Month has always meant the opportunity to validate that LGBT persons are strong contributors to our society – in every manner and in every aspect of our society. And with the visibility afforded by the celebration, we can highlight the commonality that our differences bring, that we wish nothing more than to be treated just like everyone else. I celebrate Pride Month by reconnecting with friends I don’t often have the opportunity to see as well as speaking to the greater community about acceptance and how such tolerance benefits everyone.

As one of the first openly transgender appointees, when asked how I got to be where I am and how others may follow, I simply suggest that success requires passion. Passion for what you do and how you do it. Passion for others in your life, whether at work or at home. If you are passionate about who you are and what you can contribute, then you will have no choice but to succeed. With this mindset, you can overcome most anything.

The next item caught my attention was an article on the British Psychological Society web-page about the American Psychiatric Association changes in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) about gender identity.

The British Psychological Society Chastises the American Psychiatric Association on the Failings of the DSM-5

The Society is concerned that clients and the general public are negatively affected by the continued and continuous medicalisation of their natural and normal responses to their experiences; responses which undoubtedly have distressing consequences which demand helping responses, but which do not reflect illnesses so much as normal individual variation.
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The putative diagnoses presented in DSM-V are clearly based largely on social norms, with 'symptoms' that all rely on subjective judgements, with little confirmatory physical 'signs' or evidence of biological causation. The criteria are not value-free, but rather reflect current normative social expectations, Many researchers have pointed out that psychiatric diagnoses are plagued by problems of reliability, validity, prognostic value, and co-morbidity.
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While some people find a name or a diagnostic label helpful, our contention is that this helpfulness results from a knowledge that their problems are recognised (in both senses of the word) understood, validated, explained (and explicable) and have some relief. Clients often, unfortunately, find that diagnosis offers only a spurious promise of such benefits. Since – for example – two people with a diagnosis of ‘schizophrenia’ or ‘personality disorder’ may possess no two symptoms in common, it is difficult to see what communicative benefit is served by using these diagnoses. We believe that a description of a person’s real problems would suffice. Moncrieff and others have shown that diagnostic labels are less useful than a description of a person’s problems for predicting treatment response, so again diagnoses seem positively unhelpful compared to the alternatives. There is ample evidence from psychological therapies that case formulations (whether from a single theoretical perspective or more integrative) are entirely possible to communicate to staff or clients.

We therefore believe that alternatives to diagnostic frameworks exist, should be preferred, and should be developed with as much investment of resource and effort as has been expended on revising DSM-IV. The Society would be happy to help in such an exercise.

These are some of the problems that the trans-community face with being diagnosed with GID. Now if only the APA has the wisdom of the British Psychological Society.

Lastly, an article in the Jurist about Connecticut Anti-Discrimination bill and Jennifer Levi…

Connecticut law offers comprehensive protection for transgender people
June 20, 2011

Jennifer Levi [Director of Transgender Rights Project, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders]: "Recently, the Connecticut Senate passed a bill that adds the phrase "gender identity or expression" to all existing state sex discrimination laws. The Senate's passage followed that of the House of Representatives where the debate had been much lengthier. Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged his support for this legislation which should be signed into law any day now. Governor Malloy's signature will make Connecticut the 15th state to adopt transgender-specific provisions into its non-discrimination laws. Adoption of the legislation is a significant step forward for the transgender community which has struggled recently in getting explicit non-discrimination laws passed in no small part because of the amped up opposition to such legislation from the right.
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The [amendment’s] definition as introduced as a House floor amendment with little debate or discussion about its purpose. Notably, it offers different and non-exclusive methods by which a person in the protected class can establish their gender identity including medically and non-medically based sources. The language intends to capture the various ways in which a gender-related identity may be demonstrated to be "sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose." The term "or" is used in the disjunctive. At least one House member asked to amend the proposed language for the definition to change "can be shown" to "must be shown." That proposal was never even formally advanced to a vote.

In addition to protecting against discrimination based on a gender-related identity, the law will also protect against discrimination based on "appearance and behavior," as well, "regardless of whether that appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth." The bill does not list illustrative methods for demonstrating the person's appearance or behaviors. As a result of the definition, the law will provide comprehensive protections for transgender people regardless of whether or not the person undergoes gender transition and regardless of the person's stage of gender transition."