Harry Benjamin Standards of Care
Standards of Care (2026) discarded corrugated plastic construction sign in poplar wood frame
The Harry Benjamin Standards of Care (also known as The Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People or SOC) were established in 1979 by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). These guidelines have been updated multiple times, most recently in September 2022. While the guidelines, named after German-American endocrinologist and sexologist Harry Benjamin, are intended to give healthcare providers standardized treatment methods for transgender individuals, the various iterations have come under criticism over the years from international transgender healthcare advocates for ideological discrepancies between (mostly non-transgender) healthcare providers and the transgender patients they serve. This can lead to transgender individuals seeking gender-affirming care to feel confined to needing to perform a "correct" way of being transgender in order to receive affirming care, and can and often do impact quality and receiving of treatment and insurance coverage.
