title: The right to health care for transsexual people in Cuba.
abstract: Gender identity is a sociocultural construct based (in nearly every society) on a binary norm: female and male. Transsexual individuals suffer from intense family and social discrimination because they express a dissident sexuality incongruent with this norm. They assert they feel trapped in a body that does not belong to them, so they seek help from health professionals to modify their bodies, to "adapt their bodies to their minds." This essay discusses health care for transsexual persons in Cuba from a human rights perspective that does not pathologize their gender identification.
authors.affiliation: National Sex Education Center, Havana, Cuba. aroqueg@infomed.sld.cu
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roque
authors.forename: R Mayra
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D003462:Cuba; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D057829:Gender-Affirming Procedures; D014189:Transsexualism