(CN) – The federal government announced plans Wednesday to roll back protections for homeless transgender people by allowing federally funded shelters to deny services for religious reasons.
Advocacy groups call the plan a prime example of discrimination and a move to mandate anti-transgender policies.
In the proposed rule, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says it will allow shelter operators to develop their own policy that “considers an individual’s sex for the purposes of determining accommodation within such shelters and for purposes of determining sex for admission to any facility or portion thereof.”
The proposal would dampen the Equal Access Rule, which bars shelters and programs from discriminating based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposed rule change would hamper access to HUD programs, shelter space and other federal services for transgender people.
A day before the proposed rule change, HUD Secretary Ben Carson told a House committee he did not anticipate any changes to the rule.
Advocacy groups say the rule change is another example of anti-transgender discrimination by the Trump administration and another attempt to permit discrimination in the name of religion at the cost of taxpayer-funded programs.
“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,” said senior legislative representative Ian Thompson with the American Civil Liberties Union in a statement.
National Center for Transgender Equality executive director Mara Keisling called the proposed rule “a heartless attack on some of the most vulnerable people in our society.”
Keisling added: “The programs impacted by this rule are life-saving for transgender people, particularly youth rejected by their families, and a lack of stable housing fuels the violence and abuse that takes the lives of many transgender people of color across the country.”
According to the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign, 29 transgender people were killed in the United States due to violence in 2017. At least 128 transgender people have been killed since 2013 across 87 cities and 32 states – and about 80% percent were people of color.
“The impact of this policy change will be swift and sharp. More trans people, mostly young trans women of color, will be forced back on the streets where they will face an increased risk of violent crimes, including death,” the group said in a statement.
A year ago, advocacy groups sued HUD and Carson over the suspension of the fair housing rule, referred to by some as an anti-segregation rule. But a federal judge ruled the agency can withdraw parts of the Obama-era rule, which was meant to address historic segregation in housing within towns and cities.
An email to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for comment on Wednesday’s proposed rule change was not immediately answered.
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