Peru identifies transgender, nonbinary people as 'mentally ill'

The Peruvian government has officially classified those who identify as transgender, intersex, or nonbinary as "mentally ill."

The country's health ministry explained that it made the decision so health services could “guarantee full coverage of medical attention for mental health” for the transgender community, according to The Telegraph.

Those who identify as transgender or in the LGTBQ community will not have to undergo conversion therapy due to this decision.

Activist groups slammed the decision on the social media platform, X. 

“100 years after the decriminalization of homosexuality, the @Minsa_Peru has nothing better to do than to include trans people in the category of mental illnesses,” Jheinser Pacaya, director of OutfestPeru wrote on social media. 

Other groups argued that this decision was a step backwards for LGBTQ rights, according to The New York Post.