GID Reform Now Protest At Annual APA Meeting - Speaker Madeline Deutsch, M.D.

by: Autumn Sandeen

Wed May 20, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM EDT

Here is the approximately 7-minute speech of Madeline Deutsch, M.D., that she made to the approximately 150 protesters at the event. A transcription of a large portion of the speech begins below the video.

My name is Madeline Deutsch, M.D., and I am a queer, transgender woman. And I'm here to tell Dr. Zucker and the rest of the world that my identity is not pathological. My identity does not belong miscategorized in your book. We live in a society based on individual liberties and informed consent. Each individual should be allowed to make decisions about how to live their own life.

It is true that transgender people do, in many cases, suffer from other conditions, such as anxiety, depression, panic disorder, etc. But, the question is how much of that is due a stresses of being a transgender person in a transphobic world? My answer: Most, if not all of it.

I look at the world around me, and I see a world full of personality disorders, behavioral disorders, and psychotic disorders, which are undiagnosed, untreated, or unattended to. But no one forces these people into a psychotherapeutic environment. It is time to stop forcing the same on transgender people. It is time to change society, and change the system, rather placing the social, financial, and psychological burden on transgender people.

This reminds me of a Martin Luther King Jr. quotation:

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice that produces beggars needs restructuring.

Resuming the transcript:

Transgender persons who transition have been shown to have [satisfaction and success rates] in up to 99% in some outcome studies. I challenge you Dr. Zucker, Dr. Blanchard, Dr. Lawrence, or anyone else to find other conditions with such his satisfaction and success rates after treatment.

We live in a world where you can walk down any city street, and buy a McDonalds' Big Mac, A pack of cigarettes, a case of beer, and a box of Twinkies. You can do this regardless of your health status, if you have diabetes, or if you have recently have had open heart surgery at the expense of Medicare tax dollars.

In fact, a McDonalds was recently opened in the food court at one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country -- the Cleveland Clinic. Imagine that: In Ohio, transgender people are so pathologied, in part of as the result of the DSM-V categorization, that they are not allowed to change their birth certificate -- ever! Yet, if you have open heart surgery in Ohio, at the expense of taxpayers, you may stop by the hospital cafeteria on your way out for a big make and fries.

We need to change these double standards; we need to change the system.

This reminds me of another Martin Luther King Jr. quotation:

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

[More transcription of the speech below the fold.]