Protest after Peru classifies transsexuality as mental disorder

"It is a decree that takes us back three decades," said 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. Transgender people are those who reject the sex they were assigned at birth. Some opt for surgical or medical intervention. 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.