State AGs condemn HUD rule allowing shelters to serve people on basis of biological sex

Two dozen state Attorneys General are condemning a proposal from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that would loosen Obama-era federal protections for homeless transgender individuals.

The proposed HUD rule would allow single-sex homeless shelters to establish policies based on biological sex, which the 24 attorneys general argue could lead to discrimination against transgender men and women. House Democrats have proposed legislation that would halt the HUD proposal. 

In a letter addressed to HUD Secretary Ben Carson the attorneys general argue that the HUD proposal could lead to violations of federal and state discrimination laws. 

“HUD offers no valid justification for undoing the protections enumerated in the previous versions of this rule, the Proposed Rule is arbitrary and capricious, and will cause irreparable harm to transgender and gender nonconforming persons, particularly youth,” they wrote.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement that “instead of confronting the pandemic, the Trump Administration continues to demonize and punish the most vulnerable among us.” 

Carson and other Republicans have said the HUD proposal protects women in homeless shelters from being harassed by “non-transgender, biological men” who abuse the self-identification standard. Becerra noted that there is no evidence to suggest that is an existing issue in homeless shelters.

“We’re calling on Secretary Carson to immediately withdraw this discriminatory proposal,” he added. “Nobody should be forced out onto the street because of the Trump Administration’s bigotry.”