TRANSGENDER:
THE LAST MINORITY GROUP
Thomas James III, MD
A
merica has been a country of diversity. New identified groups in the
United States face antagonism then
tolerance before moving to celebration. Look
at European ethnic groups like Italians, Irish,
Jews and Asians who have made such transitions. Much of US history involved waves of
immigrants from different countries coming
to our shores, facing bigotry before assimilation. In the midpoint of the past century,
society’s focus has shifted to large sub-populations within the overall
population of our country. Civil rights, the women’s movement,
and more recently the LGBT population (lesbian/gay/bisexual/
transgender) have through activism, campaigns for equality, and
simple fellow-citizenship led us as a nation to question our values
and to consider and accomplish change.
The term LGBT is itself a collection of various groups and diagnoses. In 2012, the Fifth Edition of the Diagnosis and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) revised the terminology
for individuals who are transg