The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed new rules that would allow federally funded shelter and transitional housing providers to discriminate on the basis of gender.
Under the proposal, homeless shelters and other housing providers could ban transgender people who do not match their assigned sex at birth from same-sex facilities.
The rule removes all references to “gender” and “sexual identity” from HUD regulations and replaces them with “sex,” as defined in an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last year. The order stipulates that federal agencies will recognize gender assigned at birth only on government-issued documents and for purposes of accessing government services and housing options.
The rule also allows shelter operators to segregate facilities by biological sex and require proof of a person’s birth sex before admission.
Previously, the Obama administration prohibited federal agencies from engaging in anti-LGBTQ housing discrimination and required shelters to allocate housing based on people’s gender identity under equal access rules. During his first term, President Trump sought to roll back those protections by allowing discrimination against transgender people in shelters.
The proposed change appears to be religiously motivated, as HUD Secretary Scott Turner cited his own religious beliefs opposed to gender identity when announcing the rule.
“God created two genders, male and female,” Turner said. “The left’s fight against biological reality through radical gender ideology is no longer a priority.”
Last year, Turner reportedly directed HUD to stop enforcing protections against discrimination based on gender identity. National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The proposed rule must undergo a 60-day public comment period before being finalized by HUD. Most housing advocates believe the administration will move forward with the rule despite public opposition.
said Hannah Adams, senior staff attorney at the National Housing Law Project. 19th He said the proposed rules would be “incredibly damaging” to transgender people experiencing homelessness.
“This is a truly cruel and violent rule that will result in countless transgender people being denied shelter when they need it, and in many cases will likely not even choose to access shelter for fear of discrimination, harassment, or violence,” Adams said.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
