HUD Moves to Allow Anti-Trans Discrimination in Federally Funded Homeless Shelters

July 1, 2020 4:00 pm

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development today released a proposed rule to roll back protections for transgender people experiencing homelessness, allowing taxpayer-funded shelters to turn away transgender people based on a number of factors, including the shelter provider’s religious views.

LaLa Zannell, Trans Justice Campaign Manager for the American Civil Liberties Union, had the following response:

“In the midst of the highest unemployment rates our country has seen in decades, Trump is proposing a rule that would allow federally funded homeless shelters to turn people away based on sex. This new rule would be particularly dangerous for the Black and Brown transgender women who face extraordinarily high rates of unemployment and homelessness at any time, and particularly in this economic crisis.

“Housing Secretary Ben Carson: Where should the Black and Brown trans women who have faced discrimination at work and violence in their homes and the streets go after we have been turned away from shelters?

“Shelters funded by taxpayers should be open to all — period. We should all tell the Trump administration that this proposed rule is not only wrong but deadly.”

A 60-day comment period on the proposed rule will start in the coming days.

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