This presentation highlights the ethical imperative for psychology professionals
to provide inclusive, context-aware, accessible, intersectional and competent
(mental) healthcare for sexually and gender-diverse clients. Towards this end, it
is important to understand local and international trends in human rights
violations against LGBTQIA+ people. Applying the revised Psychological
Society of South Africa Affirmative Practice Guidelines in working with
sexually and gender-diverse clients, I consider ethical and legal considerations
in upholding human rights and challenging discriminatory practices, minimising
economic and structural barriers to competent care, and bridging the gap
between policy and lived reality. When working with sexually and genderdiverse
clients, psychology professionals, among others, have a responsibility
to: i) uphold autonomy, dignity, and informed consent; ii) move away from
deficit-based models toward strengths-based, affirmative practices that
recognise resilience and community-based coping strategies, and respect selfdetermination
and lived experience; iii) understand the psychological impact of
social and structural violence; iv) recognise and actively oppose overt and
covert forms of conversion efforts; and v) understand the compounded
challenges faced by the sexually and gender-diverse, in general, and in
particular those clients with intersecting marginalised identities, such as race,
gender, disability, and socioeconomic status.