Russian Official Says Transgender People Can Continue Driving

By On Top Magazine Staff
Published: January 15, 2015

A Russian official has said that transgender people in Russia will not be barred from driving under new road safety regulations announced last week.

The AP reported that the regulations prohibit transsexuals, transvestites and others with sexual “disorders” from getting behind the wheel of a car, ostensibly for medical reasons.

But Oleg Salagai, spokesman for the Health Ministry, told Thomson Reuters Foundation that the changes would affect only those suffering from chronic or prolonged mental disorders with severe or persistent symptoms or, according to Salagai, less than one percent of patients in the category.

Authorities based in part their regulations on “mental and behavioral disorders” defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).

A WHO spokesperson told the AP that it had not endorsed this use of its classifications.

“That is certainly not the intent of WHO's classifications,” said Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO's mental health department.

Saxena said that the classifications were meant to provide uniform diagnoses around the globe.

WHO is expected to revise its International Classification of Diseases in 2017.