Approved by the Joint Reference Committee, July 2011
Approved by the Board of Trustees, September 2011

After the announcement of the DSM-5 Work Group membership in May 2008, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) received many inquiries regarding the workgroup named to address the entities included under Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in versions III through IVTR of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders™ (DSM). These inquiries most often dealt with treatment controversies regarding GID, especially in children, rather than issues related specifically to the DSM text and diagnostic criteria. In addition, the APA Committee on Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Issues had previously raised concerns about the lack of evidence-based guidelines for GID, and questions about whether such guidelines could and should be developed.