My new (somewhat giant) post with Annika on Autostraddle tackles the old standards of care, some of the revisions, and what this means/has meant for trans people seeking medical transition! Please read/share! I think very few people realize how difficult and backwards trans healthcare is!

Autostraddle — Transgender People, Transitioning and Those Darn Standards of Care

For starters, the title was The Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders. It literally positioned counselors, psychologists, doctors, and surgeons as “gatekeepers.” It required a certain amount of psychotherapy and/or full-time living in your desired gender role before you could undergo hormone therapy. Patients’ “eligibility” for medical interventions (hormones or surgery) was “assessed” by their clinicians based on whether they met required criteria.

PS I dorked out and used screencaps from Ghostbusters to illustrate the whole “gatekeeper concept”