It is exactly a decade ago that Sexual and Relationship Therapy published a special issue entitled “Gender Variance and Transgender Identity”, which was guest edited by Walter Bockting, former Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Transgenderism (IJT). In his editorial Bockting wrote “[this issue] is comprised of a collection of articles that reflect a transition in this growing field from a disease-based to an identity-based model of transgender health. The disease-based model assumes that normative gender identity development has been compromised and that the associated distress can be alleviated by establishing congruence between sex, gender identity and gender role, if necessary through hormonal and surgical sex reassignment. The identity-based model assumes that gender variance is merely an example of human diversity and that the distress transgender individuals might experience results from social stigma attached to gender variance. The latter model views transgender people as having an experience, identity and sexuality distinct from those of both non-transgender women and men. This paradigm shift forms the context for nine peer reviewed articles….” (Bockting, 2009).
This special issue consists of more than double the amount of contributions than a decade ago, and concerns the area of nonbinary and genderqueer transgender health. Clearly a reflection of progress, progression and promise, albeit at a moderate pace. There is nevertheless reason for optimism. The multidimensionality and heterogeneity of gender identities and the idea that one’s gender identity can be a mix of both being a man and a woman, being somehow beyond the gender binary, or something completely else is increasingly acknowledged and recognized. (author introduction)