World Professional Association for Transgender Health

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and gender dysphoria, and creating standardized treatment for transgender and gender variant people. WPATH was founded in September 1979 by endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, with the goal of creating an international community of professionals specializing in treating gender variance.

Membership
Professionals include anyone working in disciplines such as medicine, psychology, law, social work, counseling, psychotherapy, family studies, sociology, anthropology, speech and voice therapy and sexology. Non-professionals may also join, paying the same membership fee, but without voting privileges. The organization is funded by its membership and by donations and grants from non-commercial sources.

Regional organizations
WPATH is affiliated with several regional organizations, including the European Professional Association for Transgender Health, the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health and ASIAPATH.

Standards of Care
WPATH publishes the Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, educates professionals and consumers, sponsors scientific conferences, and provides ethical guidelines for professionals. The first version of the Standards of Care were published in 1979. WPATH released Version 8, the latest edition, in 2022. Previous versions were released in 1979 (1st), 1980 (2nd), 1981 (3rd), 1990 (4th), 1998 (5th), 2001 (6th),  and 2012 (7th).

Background
Medical treatment for gender dysphoria was publicized in the early 1950s by accounts such as those of Christine Jorgensen.

In 1966, Harry Benjamin published The Transsexual Phenomenon, arguing that since there was no cure for transsexualism, it was in the best interests of transsexuals and society to aid in sex reassignment and in the same year the John Hopkins Gender Clinic was opened by John Money. In 1969, Richard Greene and Money published Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment, a multidisciplinary volume exploring instructions on medical care as well as social and clinical aspects, dedicating it to Benjamin. The same year, the 1st International Symposium on Gender Identity was held in London; Reed Erickson, a wealthy transgender man, funded interdisciplinary professionals via the Erickson Educational Foundation. The 4th conference, taking place in 1975, was the first to use Benjamin's name in the title.

During this period, the majority of literature on gender diversity was pathologizing, positing dysfunctional families as the causes of dysphoria and recommending reparative therapy and psychoanalysis, such as Robert Stoller' work. Others such as George Rekers and Ole Ivar Lovaas recommended behavioral treatments to extinguish cross-sex identification and reinforce gender-normative behaviors.

1979-2000
The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association and Standards of Care (SOC) were conceived during the 5th International Gender Dysphoria Symposium (IGDS) in 1977. The organization was named after Harry Benjamin, one of the earliest physicians to work with transgender people, and supported a mixture of psychological and medical treatment.

The founding committee was entirely American and consisted of Jack Berger, Richard Green, Don Laub, Charles Reynolds Jr., Paul A. Walker, Leo Wollman, and transgender activist Jude Patton with Walker serving as president; The first SOC committee included all founding committee members with the exception of Patton. The initial Standards of Care, The hormonal and surgical sex reassignment of gender dysphoric persons, were published in 1979 and served both as clinical guidelines for treating patients and to protect those who provided the treatments. The Articles of Incorporation were approved in 1979 at the 6th IGDS and HBIGDA was legally incorporated 7 months later. HBIGDA played a large role in the addition of Gender Identity Disorder to the DSM-III in 1980.

Versions 2, 3, and 4 of the SOC were published in 1980, 1981 and 1990 respectively, continuing to use the same name. The first 4 versions of the SOC set strict eligibility requirements, requiring evaluations from separate mental health professionals and compulsory psychotherapy, and relied on professional consensus.

The 5th version, published in 1998, was titled the "Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders" to be consistent with the DSM-III. It recommended but did not require psychotherapy and stated that while GID was a mental disorder, that was not a license for stigma.

Presidents

 * Paul A. Walker, Ph.D., 1979–1981
 * Donald R. Laub, M.D., 1981–1983
 * Milton T. Edgerton, M.D., 1983–1985
 * Ira B. Pauly, M.D., 1985–1987
 * Aaron T. Bilowitz, M.D., 1987–1989
 * Jan Walinder, M.D., 1989–1991
 * Leah Schaefer, Ed.D., 1991–1995
 * Friedmann Pfaefflin, M.D. 1995–1997
 * Richard Green, J.D., 1997–1999
 * Alice Webb, DHS, 1999
 * Eli Coleman, Ph.D., 1999–2003
 * Walter Meyer III, M.D., 2003–2005
 * Stan Monstrey, M.D., 2005–2007
 * Stephen Whittle, OBE, 2007–2009
 * Walter O.Bockting, Ph.D., L.P., 2009–2011
 * Lin Fraser, Ed.D., 2011–2013
 * Jamison Green, Ph.D., 2013–2015
 * Gail Knudson, M.D., FRCPC, 2016–2018
 * Vin Tangpricha, M.D., Ph.D., 2018–2020
 * Walter Pierre Bouman, M.D., Ph.D., 2020–2022
 * Marci Bowers, M.D., 2022–2024

Public Statements
The organisation has issued a variety of public statements over the years, since its first in 2009 titled: "WPATH response to Alberta, Canada's Decision to Delist Sexual Reassignment Surgery as a Covered Medical Benefit", and its most recent on 11 April 2024 titled: "PATH letter to Elected Officials in Japan to amend the “Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Act” following the Supreme Court judgment in 2023"; and in the intervening years a number of letters to USA organisations and medical bodies, as well as international ones including Republic of Kazakhstan and Russia (2020), Australia and UK (2021).