(Feb. 17, 2010) The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published in the official gazette of February 10, 2010. (Décret 2010-125 du 8 février 2010 portant modification de l'annexe figurant à l'article D. 322-1 du code de la sécurité sociale relative aux critères médicaux utilisés pour la définition de l'affection de longue durée «affectations psychiatriques de longue durée», LEGIFRANCE, http://legifrance.gouv.fr/ (File: les autres textes législatifs et réglementaires) (last visited Feb. 16, 2010).)
The Minister of Health, Roselyne Bachelot, had announced on May 16, 2009, the day before the annual International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) was held, that gender identity disorder would no longer be considered a psychiatric disorder in France. Joël Bedos, the French representative at IDAHO, noted that France was the first country in the world to not consider gender identity disorder a mental illness. (Le transsexualisme n'est plus une maladie mentale in France, LE MONDE.FR, Feb. 12, 2010, available at http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/02/12/le-transsexualisme-n-es
t-plus-une-maladie-mentale-en-france_1305090_3224.html.)