Congressional Democrats are fighting to block the implementation of a new rule unveiled by the Trump administration that critics say would result in widespread discrimination against trans people seeking shelter.
Over 140 members of Congress signed a July 30 letter stating that a unveiled proposal allowing homeless shelters to refuse access to trans people on the basis of their gender identity “weakens protections for transgender individuals experiencing homelessness, essentially empowering federally funded emergency homeless service providers to discriminately turn them away.”
“This type of discriminatory policy is always inappropriate and unjust,” reads the 12-page statement. “Proposing a rule that targets an already marginalized group is especially egregious as we are amidst a global pandemic, where economic, health, and housing insecurity are at an all-time high.”
Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was moving forward with plans to amend the 2016 Equal Access Rule passed under the Obama White House, which extended protections to trans people looking for shelter in gender-segregated facilities. In a statement released alongside the rule change, HUD Secretary Ben Carson claimed the decision would “empower shelter providers to set policies that align with their missions, like safeguarding victims of domestic violence or human trafficking.”
A 28-page document which spells out the proposed changes claims that women’s shelters have the right to “decline to accommodate a person who identifies as female but who is a biological male.” However, it says that shelters who refuse entry on the basis of “biological sex cannot deny accomodation to “a person who identifies as male but who is a biological female.”
The 122 U.S. House Representatives and 23 Senators who signed onto the July 30 letter argue that the rule “directly targets a group that has historically and disproportionately suffered from the hardships of homelessness.
“Transgender individuals are far more likely than the general population to experience homelessness and discrimination while seeking emergency sheltering services,” they write. “According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, nearly one-third of transgender people experience homelessness at some point in their life and 70 percent reported mistreatment in shelter due to their gender identity. Only 50 percent of the LGBTQ+ population lives in states prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
The letter was organized by Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (New Jersey), Joe Kennedy (Massachusetts), Jennifer Wexton (Virginia), and Senator Brian Schatz (Hawaii). They were joined by colleagues like House Rep. Maxine Waters (California) and Senators Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Kamala Harris (California), and Bernie Sanders (Vermont) — who, like the organizers, are all Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents. No Republicans signed onto the statement.
In a press release published alongside the letter, Wexton claims the HUD policy will “put lives at risk at a time when access to safe housing is absolutely vital.”
“For more than a year now, Secretary Carson has cited no real evidence nor provided any credible justification for this rule change,” she said. “This policy is nothing more than a license for shelter providers to discriminate against transgender Americans.”
Following that letter’s issuance, Congressional leaders say they are doing everything they can to ensure the rule doesn’t take effect on September 22 — 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. As Bloomberg was the first to report, Rep. Mike Quigley “introduced an appropriations bill last week that would defund the rule before it can be implemented.” In a press call, Quigley referred to the pending rule change as “just staggering in its cruelty and capriciousness.”
“No one should be discriminated against, especially not at such a time of dire need,” Quigley said. “The individuals being targeted in this rule already face the possibility of being forced to sleep on the street.
The legislation is, however, unlikely to pass before the November presidential elections, as Bloomberg notes.
Carson has continually dismissed criticism of HUD’s decision to strike trans-inclusive protections from the Equal Access Rule — arguing, for instance, that the Supreme Court’s recent decision on LGBTQ+ workplace protections doesn’t apply to homeless shelters. “Everyone deserves equal rights, but in ensuring such is received, we must consider the whole picture,” he said in a response to the letter.
The HUD Secretary landed in hot water last year when he reportedly claimed that “big, hairy men” were attempting to sneak into women’s shelters during a meeting with staffers at the San Francisco office. The rule change published on July 24 relied on similar rhetoric, saying that shelter employees are free to use “factors such as height, the presence (but not the absence) of facial hair, the presence of an Adam’s apple, and other physical characteristics that are indicative of a person’s biological sex” when determining who is allowed to access gender-segregated spaces.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
