Fact-check: Ramaswamy’s false, outdated claim on transgenderism as 'disorder'
PolitiFact rated Ramaswamy’s claim false after he introduced it at the second primary debate.
![PHOTO: Truth-o-meter showing "false."](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/c1df1787-b8ea-4533-80ff-a21c710953fc/tom_ruling_false_1692394646300_hpEmbed_9x8.jpg)
In the past, the medical community used to view the experience of being transgender as a "disorder," but they no longer agree on that categorization. In the last decade, diagnostic manuals published by the World Health Organization and American Psychiatric Association contained updated language to clarify that being transgender is not a mental illness.
Experts told us that persistent gender dysphoria can cause other mental health issues, but it is not itself a mental health disorder.
-Analysis by Katie Sanders of PolitiFact