SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
LGBTQ+ activists from the National Center for Transgender Equality, partner organizations, and their supporters hold a 'We Will Not Be Erased' rally in front of the White House Oct. 22, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
'Dangerous and Disgraceful': HUD Proposal Would Let Homeless Shelters Turn Away Trans People
Critics condemned the proposal as "yet another example of tragic cruelty of this administration."
May 22, 2019
In what advocates for LGBTQ rights condemned as "yet another dangerous and disgraceful attack on transgender people from the Trump administration," the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced a proposal to allow taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to turn away trans individuals.
"When shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
--Ian Thompson, ACLU
"This is a heartless attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our society," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), said in a statement denouncing the plan.
HUD's new proposal would revise the Equal Access Rule, first published in 2012, that bars housing programs from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
If the revision takes effect, operators of federally funded sex-segregated shelters can consider factors such as "privacy, safety, practical concerns, religious beliefs" and sex designations on government documents when making a determination about a person's sex for housing purposes.
In a Twitter thread Wednesday, NCTE noted the high rates of trans individuals who experience homelessness in their lifetimes and the "disproportionate levels of discrimination" they face at shelters.
\u201cHere are the facts:\n\n \ud83d\udea8 1 in 3 trans people have been homeless in their lives\n \ud83d\udea8 70% of trans people who have used a shelter have experienced harassment \n \ud83d\udea8 This is a heartless move against some of our society\u2019s most vulnerable.\n\n#SheltersSaveLives #WontBeErased\u201d— National Center for Transgender Equality (@National Center for Transgender Equality) 1558538642
"Many transgender and non-binary people experience pervasive discrimination in the workplace and in housing, made even more heartbreaking by violence and rejection at home," Ian Thompson, senior legislative representative for the ACLU, said in a statement. "For transgender people, particularly trans youth of color and black trans women who experience homelessness at appallingly high rates, the crisis is especially dire, and has led to a devastating and largely unaddressed epidemic of violence and death."
Thompson warned that "when shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
\u201cHUD just attacked trans people in a serious way. If shelters can turn away trans people based on religious or moral objections we will see more trans death, more murders of trans people on the streets, more Black trans women will die. This is all happening every day.\u201d— Chase Strangio (@Chase Strangio) 1558542880
The proposal came just a day after HUD Secretary Ben Carson told House lawmakers the Trump administration had no plans to change federal rules designed to protect LGTBQ people from housing discrimination.
\u201cBREAKING: Yesterday @HUDgov Sec. Ben Carson testified before Congress that he wouldn't change the rules protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing. Today, HUD announced they are proposing a rule to allow anti-trans discrimination in shelters. He lied.\u201d— Sharita Gruberg (@Sharita Gruberg) 1558539707
Given Carson's comments Tuesday followed by the new proposal from the agency he runs, Keisling said, "Secretary Carson's actions are contrary to the mission of his Department and yet another example of tragic cruelty of this administration."
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
In what advocates for LGBTQ rights condemned as "yet another dangerous and disgraceful attack on transgender people from the Trump administration," the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced a proposal to allow taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to turn away trans individuals.
"When shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
--Ian Thompson, ACLU
"This is a heartless attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our society," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), said in a statement denouncing the plan.
HUD's new proposal would revise the Equal Access Rule, first published in 2012, that bars housing programs from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
If the revision takes effect, operators of federally funded sex-segregated shelters can consider factors such as "privacy, safety, practical concerns, religious beliefs" and sex designations on government documents when making a determination about a person's sex for housing purposes.
In a Twitter thread Wednesday, NCTE noted the high rates of trans individuals who experience homelessness in their lifetimes and the "disproportionate levels of discrimination" they face at shelters.
\u201cHere are the facts:\n\n \ud83d\udea8 1 in 3 trans people have been homeless in their lives\n \ud83d\udea8 70% of trans people who have used a shelter have experienced harassment \n \ud83d\udea8 This is a heartless move against some of our society\u2019s most vulnerable.\n\n#SheltersSaveLives #WontBeErased\u201d— National Center for Transgender Equality (@National Center for Transgender Equality) 1558538642
"Many transgender and non-binary people experience pervasive discrimination in the workplace and in housing, made even more heartbreaking by violence and rejection at home," Ian Thompson, senior legislative representative for the ACLU, said in a statement. "For transgender people, particularly trans youth of color and black trans women who experience homelessness at appallingly high rates, the crisis is especially dire, and has led to a devastating and largely unaddressed epidemic of violence and death."
Thompson warned that "when shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
\u201cHUD just attacked trans people in a serious way. If shelters can turn away trans people based on religious or moral objections we will see more trans death, more murders of trans people on the streets, more Black trans women will die. This is all happening every day.\u201d— Chase Strangio (@Chase Strangio) 1558542880
The proposal came just a day after HUD Secretary Ben Carson told House lawmakers the Trump administration had no plans to change federal rules designed to protect LGTBQ people from housing discrimination.
\u201cBREAKING: Yesterday @HUDgov Sec. Ben Carson testified before Congress that he wouldn't change the rules protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing. Today, HUD announced they are proposing a rule to allow anti-trans discrimination in shelters. He lied.\u201d— Sharita Gruberg (@Sharita Gruberg) 1558539707
Given Carson's comments Tuesday followed by the new proposal from the agency he runs, Keisling said, "Secretary Carson's actions are contrary to the mission of his Department and yet another example of tragic cruelty of this administration."
In what advocates for LGBTQ rights condemned as "yet another dangerous and disgraceful attack on transgender people from the Trump administration," the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday announced a proposal to allow taxpayer-funded homeless shelters to turn away trans individuals.
"When shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
--Ian Thompson, ACLU
"This is a heartless attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our society," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), said in a statement denouncing the plan.
HUD's new proposal would revise the Equal Access Rule, first published in 2012, that bars housing programs from discriminating against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
If the revision takes effect, operators of federally funded sex-segregated shelters can consider factors such as "privacy, safety, practical concerns, religious beliefs" and sex designations on government documents when making a determination about a person's sex for housing purposes.
In a Twitter thread Wednesday, NCTE noted the high rates of trans individuals who experience homelessness in their lifetimes and the "disproportionate levels of discrimination" they face at shelters.
\u201cHere are the facts:\n\n \ud83d\udea8 1 in 3 trans people have been homeless in their lives\n \ud83d\udea8 70% of trans people who have used a shelter have experienced harassment \n \ud83d\udea8 This is a heartless move against some of our society\u2019s most vulnerable.\n\n#SheltersSaveLives #WontBeErased\u201d— National Center for Transgender Equality (@National Center for Transgender Equality) 1558538642
"Many transgender and non-binary people experience pervasive discrimination in the workplace and in housing, made even more heartbreaking by violence and rejection at home," Ian Thompson, senior legislative representative for the ACLU, said in a statement. "For transgender people, particularly trans youth of color and black trans women who experience homelessness at appallingly high rates, the crisis is especially dire, and has led to a devastating and largely unaddressed epidemic of violence and death."
Thompson warned that "when shelters are allowed to turn transgender people away--a policy that is sanctioned by a government that continues to push the lie that the mere existence of trans people threatens the privacy and safety of others--deadly violence against the trans community on the streets will rise."
\u201cHUD just attacked trans people in a serious way. If shelters can turn away trans people based on religious or moral objections we will see more trans death, more murders of trans people on the streets, more Black trans women will die. This is all happening every day.\u201d— Chase Strangio (@Chase Strangio) 1558542880
The proposal came just a day after HUD Secretary Ben Carson told House lawmakers the Trump administration had no plans to change federal rules designed to protect LGTBQ people from housing discrimination.
\u201cBREAKING: Yesterday @HUDgov Sec. Ben Carson testified before Congress that he wouldn't change the rules protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing. Today, HUD announced they are proposing a rule to allow anti-trans discrimination in shelters. He lied.\u201d— Sharita Gruberg (@Sharita Gruberg) 1558539707
Given Carson's comments Tuesday followed by the new proposal from the agency he runs, Keisling said, "Secretary Carson's actions are contrary to the mission of his Department and yet another example of tragic cruelty of this administration."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.