Medical BiasBy the 1980s, the Clarke had become a major gatekeeper for the transgender community in Ontario. The approval process was years long, arduous, and strictly maintained. Their guidelines on how a transgender person behaved was frequently arbitrary. Personal factors such as sexuality or attractiveness were considered before being approved.
This forced transgender patients to lie about themselves and hide parts of their identities in order to get past the psychologists and sexologists at the Clarke. This could go on for years before patients could get the healthcare they desperately needed. The Clarke quickly developed a reputation of being very conservative among transgender communities. |
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry Brochure. Rupert Raj Fonds. F0021-2-039. Courtesy of The ArQuives.
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