World Professional Association for Transgender Health
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- Formerly:
- Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (1978–2007)
- Date:
- 1978 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- transgender
- Related People:
- Reed Erickson
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), interdisciplinary professional association founded in 1978 to improve understandings of gender identities and to standardize treatment of transsexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming people.
WPATH was formed by Doctor Harry Benjamin to create an international community of professionals who specialize in treating gender nonconformity. Notably, the association published the first standards of care for the treatment of gender dysphoria, The Harry Benjamin Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, in 1979. Those nonbinding protocols were updated numerous times and remain some of the best-known clinical guidelines for individuals seeking to transition to the opposite sex. The seventh version, Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People (2011), did much to address the concerns of transgender activists who had criticized previous WPATH standards as being overly restrictive and pathological. In addition to loosening the requirements for access to care, that revision established clear advocacy on transgender issues and no longer referred to gender nonconformity as a disorder.
In 2007 the association officially changed its name to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in an effort to shift its focus away from mental illness and instead to the promotion of health and well-being.