World Health Organization Doubles Down on “Sexual Health,” Transgenderism

By and Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | January 11, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 12 (C-Fam) The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on world leaders to “counteract conservative opposition” to sexual rights and to “enact progressive legislation” as a “human rights imperative,” including repealing laws that criminalize homosexuality, sex work and HIV transmission.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reaffirmed his commitment to advancing the “sexual” component of “sexual and reproductive health” in a WHO Bulletin dated January 1.  The bulletin, which officially communicates the position of the international health agency, declares that “sexual health” includes “gender-affirming care” and the affirmation of “sexual rights” among other controversial claims must be treated human rights obligations and “not fringe social issues.”

The bulletin sends a strong message that the WHO is committed to promoting transgenderism under the banner of “sexual health,” abortion as a human right, and the notion of “sexual rights.” It is the highest level endorsement that this controversial social agenda has received, even though it includes issues that are hotly contested in most countries and within the international community.

Conservative countries will criticize the bulletin as unfounded because the UN General Assembly or the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health Organization, have repeatedly rejected the notion of “sexual rights” and the specific controversial issues promoted in the bulletin.

The bulletin reflects the wording and concerns of a WHO press release with a message from Pascale Allotey, the director of the UN’s multi-agency “Human Reproduction Programme” last year. Her message responded to a question about what would happen “if we simply removed sexual from “SRH” and focused on reproductive health, ensuring a non-controversial agenda” focused on maternal health. Her message appeared to respond to a memo from Zambia’s health ministry opposing the use of the phrase “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (SRHR) because “the inclusion of the words ‘sexual’ and rights in the same phrase is inclusion of [LGBTQ] rights.”

The concept of “sexual rights” has been rejected in UN negotiations since the mid-1990s, when the terms “sexual and reproductive health” and “reproductive rights” entered the UN lexicon, and only with caveats that they did not include a human right to abortion or homosexual/transgender issues.

In recent years, UN agencies and progressive countries have been redefining “sexual and reproductive health” to include those very elements excluded by UN member states back then. Among these are abortion rights, homosexual issues, and even hormones and surgeries for people who identify as transgender, including for minors. Because UN agencies and progressive Western countries cannot achieve this redefinition legally, they do it unilaterally in their programming. The bulletin specifically calls for more research on “gender-affirming care,” but ongoing WHO processes leave no doubt as to where the WHO is headed.

The WHO is currently working on a new guideline on transgender health expected to endorse transgender hormone and surgery for minors. The group that will draft the guideline are exclusively transgender activists. Even UN human rights experts are calling into question its legitimacy.

The WHO already laid the groundwork for this guideline in its updated diagnostic manual, which went into effect in 2022.  The new manual removed “transsexualism” from its chapter on mental disorders. The new concept of “gender incongruity” was added to a new chapter on “sexual health” instead. It is no longer classified as a mental disorder.  In this way, those who identify as transgender can obtain a diagnosis—essential for obtaining medical procedures and drugs—without the “stigma” of a disorder.

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