I know that title sounds dramatic, but bear with me, because transgender lives are at stake.

If you aren’t aware, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced changes to gender non-conformity guidelines.  These guidelines remove “gender identity disorder” (GID) as a “mental disorder”.  Instead, the guidelines have been moved into the sexual health portion of global health guidelines.

At first glance, this seems like a good thing.  There are more than a few trans* activist groups that have worked diligently for this move.  However, I believe that this will make it harder for trans* people (especially people of color and poor trans* people) to access proper medical care.