Toward version 7 of the world professional association for transgender health's standards of care

This article reviews the history of the development of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's (WPATH) Standards of Care (SOC) (formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association). In considering the next revision of the SOC, a number of articles were commissioned to examine various parts of the current WPATH SOC and review the literature pertaining to those sections. These papers were designed to (a) review the evidence (and provide us with references); (b) point out where research is lacking and needed; and (c) make possible recommendations (significant and cosmetic) to the SOC based upon new evidence. This article reviews the process of developing Version 7 of the SOC and introduces the first set of articles pertaining to epidemiology, cultural considerations, nomenclature, and diagnoses.