Trump Administration to Allow "Trans Refusal" at Shelters
July 8, 2020The Trump administration announced it is a step closer to changing the Obama era rules on refusal of service, moving closer to allowing homeless shelters to refuse to take in trans people.
The Government changes to the Equal Access Rule will allow homeless shelters to accept people according to their gender identity or “biological sex” (presumably meaning sex assigned at birth). Therefore, under the new rule, a homeless shelter for women will be allowed to refuse trans women, as a shelter for men would be allowed to refuse trans men.
The announcement, though, says that shelters “must not discriminate based on sexual orientation or transgender status.” Since the Trump administration does not use the generally accepted vocabulary for discussing trans issues it is unclear what exactly this sentence means. As ‘LGBTQ Nation’ reports, this sentence might mean that a shelter that only accepts people assigned female at birth would not be allowed to refuse trans men.
The release also states that shelters that accept trans people have to provide alternatives for cisgender “persons who have concerns with being housed with persons of a different biological sex,” because the HUD policy is based on the idea that trans equality harms cisgender people.
The announcement also says the rule change will allow shelters to set policies for “safeguarding victims of domestic violence or human trafficking,” implying that trans women are a special threat to cisgender women who have been victimised.
Trans activists have denounced the rule change, saying that trans people have a greater need for homeless shelters and that the policy will lead to transgender and non-binary people being denied access to those shelters.
“One in three transgender Americans has been homeless at some point in their lives, and this proposal would have them sleep on the street rather than get help,” wrote National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling in a statement.
“The difference between being sheltered and unsheltered is especially dangerous for transgender homeless persons, particularly transgender persons of color, who face harassment and threats from private individuals, as well as elevated rates of policing and violence within police custody. When combined with President Trump’s recent policy proposals to increase criminalization of homelessness, while cutting HUD’s affordable housing budget and rolling back support for Housing First, it is clear that getting transgender persons off the street and out of harm’s way is a matter of life and death.”
Read related myGwork articles here:
Trump Administration is Fighting to Make it Legally OK to Fire A Person For Being Transgender
Keep up to date with the latest myGnews