IJ TRANSGENDER - London Congress - Abstract - Law, Transsexualism and Transgender: What Rationale for Legal Policy Now?

Editors:
Friedemann Pfäfflin,
Ulm University, Germany

Walter O. Bockting,
University of Minnesota, USA

Eli Coleman,
University of Minnesota, USA

Richard Ekins,
University of Ulster at Coleraine, UK

Dave King,
University of Liverpool, UK

Managing Editor:
Noelle N Gray,
University of Minnesota, USA

Editorial Assistant:
Erin Pellett,
University of Minnesota, USA

Editorial Board

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ISSN 1434-4599

XVI Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
17 - 21 August 1999, London

Reflections on "Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment" 1969 -1999

Law, Transsexualism and Transgender: What Rationale for Legal Policy Now?

Swartz, Louis H., School of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo, NY, USA.

The classical medical model of transsexualism has resulted in three decades of mixed but modestly favorable legal response in the U.S., with somewhat similar results in several other common law countries. That model, and the legal rationale for piecemeal change founded upon that model, are briefly described. The classical medical model is now under attack from professionals and lay persons within an expanding transgender movement. Some make cogent criticisms. However, these critics and advocates, and their various constituents, appear to have conflicting agendas. Moreover, apart from attacking conventional notions of gender identity, they have not yet put forth viable legal rationales to accompany their various programs for change. The classical medical model and its support in legal reasoning may now have become obsolete, perhaps threatening legal gains which have already taken place. The author reflects upon what may turn out to be the consequences for legal policy concerning transsexualism under these changed conditions.