1. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities 1 An introduction to transgender issues

2. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities 2 Harry Benjamin 1966 “For the simple man in the street, there are only two sexes; a person is either male or female, Adam or Eve. The more sophisticated realise that every Adam contains elements of Eve and every Eve contains traces of Adam, physically as well as psychologically.” Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

3. 3 Definitions… Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity does not match their birth gender ‘label’. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

4. 4 Definitions… Transsexual people experience strong, ongoing cross-gender identification, and an overwhelming desire to live and be identified as a member of the opposite sex. Often described as feeling they have been ‘born into the wrong body’. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

5. 5 Definitions… Transvestites (or cross-dressers) dre ss in clothes society considers to be the “opposite gender” for a range of reasons, including; emotional satisfaction or comfort, erotic pleasure or simply that dressing allows them to express femininity, or an aspect of their personality. Cross-dressers are generally content with their birth gender and have no wish to alter the physical characteristics of their bodies. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

6. 6 Definitions… Intersex is a generalised term that describes a wide range of conditions in which people are born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit with typical definitions of female or male. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

7. 7 Definitions… Gender Queer (or third gender) people feel that they do not fit – or wish to fit - into society’s traditional gender binary (male and female) system. Gender queer perspectives are in part a reaction to societal pressures to conform to certain types of male or female behaviour in order to be accepted or to feel ‘acceptable’. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

8. 8 Definitions… Drag is essentially about entertainment through portrayals of the opposite gender with an emphasis on performance and fun. Although Drag is often included under the ‘transgender umbrella’, many drag artists would not define themselves as transgender. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

9. 9 Legal protections include The Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 The Gender Recognition Act 2004 Transsexual people will have legal protection in the provision of goods, facilities and services no later than December 2007. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities

10. 10 Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities Gender Identity clinics in Scotland Dr Susan Carr The Gender Clinic The Sandyford Initiative 6 Sandyford Place Sauchiehall Street Glasgow Dr Lyndsey Myskow Sexual Problems Clinic Reproductive Health OP Dept Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 51 Little France Crescent Edinburgh Dr John S. Callender Royal Cornhill Hospital Block A Clerkseat Building Aberdeen Dr Gordon McKenna Highland Sexual Health Raigmore Hospital Old Perth Road Inverness

11. Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities 11 Further information Addressing LGBT Health Inequalities Press for Change www.pfc.org.uk Gender Trust www.gendertrust.org.uk Depend www.depend.org.uk FTM Network www.ftm.org.uk Mermaids www.mermaidsfreeuk.com Beaumont Society www.beaumontsociety.org.uk21

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