- Alcaraz breezes into third round of Shanghai Masters
- Gaza cultural heritage brought to light in Geneva
- 'Bullet for democracy': Trump returns to site of rally shooting
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
- Tennis world number one Swiatek splits with coach Wiktorowski
Anger in Peru over decree describing transsexuality as 'mental disorder'
The Peruvian government is under fire from LGBTQ+ groups which have called a protest Friday against a new decree listing transsexualism as a "mental disorder."
The government on May 10 updated its list of insurable health conditions -- which since 2021 has offered benefits for mental health treatment -- to include services for transgender people.
In the decree, the health ministry describes the condition as a "mental disorder" -- an obsolete term long officially abandoned by he World Health Organization.
A demonstration has been called for Lima on Friday, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
The ministry has insisted it does not consider gender diversity as an illness, and in a statement expressed "our respect for gender identities and our rejection of the stigmatization of sexual diversity."
It said the decree was meant merely to extend mental health coverage "for the full exercise of the right to health and well-being" of those who want or need it.
Transgender people are those who reject the sex they were assigned at birth. Some opt for surgical or medical intervention.
"We demand the repeal of this transphobic and violent decree, which goes against our trans identities in Peru," activist Gianna Camacho of the Coordinacion Nacional LGTBIQ+ told AFP.
"We are not mentally ill and we do not suffer from any mental disorder," she added.
An article on the website of Human Rights Watch describes the decree as "profoundly regressive" in a country that does not allow same-sex marriage nor for transgender people to change their identity documents.
"It is a decree that takes us back three decades," added Jorge Apolaya, spokesman of the Collective Pride March, a Lima-based rights group.
"We cannot live in a country where we are considered sick," he said.
For Percy Mayta, a medical doctor and activist, "pathologizing" transgender people "opens the door to... conversion therapy" -- which UN bodies have equated to torture and is not illegal in Peru.
In its press statement, Peru's health ministry underlined that "the sexual orientation and gender identity of a person does not in itself constitute a physical or mental health disorder and therefore should not be subjected to medical treatment or care or so-called reconversion therapies."
B.Godinho--PC