A segment on Fox News' Special Report attacked a law in Oregon that allows transgender individuals to receive medical treatments according to their gender identity by calling teens who can seek the treatment “fickle” and falsely claiming that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has labeled gender dysphoria as a mental disorder. But studies show that medical care for transgender individuals is important for their mental health and the APA stopped classifying “gender identity disorder” as a mental disorder in 2012.
In January, Oregon's Medicaid began covering medical treatments for transgender individuals as young as 15 -- the age of medical consent in the state -- to alleviate depression and suicide." Teens 15 and older can receive the treatment without parental consent.
On the July 9 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Bret Baier reported on the law by commenting that 15-year-olds are impressionable and fickle. Fox correspondent Dan Springer then falsely argued that gender dysphoria is classified as a mental disorder by the APA.
A January psychological study that was published in the journal Psychological Science “found that young people who claim a different gender than what was assigned at birth identify as consistently and innately with that gender identity as other kids their age that are not trans.” And in 2012, the APA removed “gender identity disorder” from The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. ThinkProgress noted that the APA has issued statements in support of medical care for transgender individuals and their civil rights:
Following up on guidelines generated by a report on transgender healthcare last month, the American Psychiatric Association has issued official position statements on the care and civil rights of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. The new statements reflect this year's editions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-V) that will identify being transgender as “Gender Dysphoria,” removing the classification of “Gender Identity Disorder.” The APA explained the importance of standing up for the trans community, citing the "significant discrimination, prejudice, and the potential for victimization from violent hate crimes, as well as denial of many basic civil rights, protections, and access to health care, to the severe detriment of their mental health.
Studies found that the rate of suicide attempts in the transgender community are "staggering." According to the LA Times, a “whopping 41% of people who are transgender or gender-nonconforming have attempted suicide sometime in their lives, nearly nine times the national average.” The same study also found that “78 percent who experienced social and family rejection attempted suicide, as did 65 percent who experienced work-based violence and over half who experienced anti-trans bullying at school.”
CORRECTION: The original post stated that the APA stopped listing “gender dysphoria” as a mental disorder in 2012. In fact, the APA stopped listing “gender identity disorder” as a mental disorder, replacing with with the term “gender dysphoria” to describe the clinically significant stress a person experiences when their gender identity does not align with their biological sex.