The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) last week proposed new non-discrimination
protections for transgender and gender non-conforming people.
If adopted, the rule would require
sex-specific shelters to house transgender people to their gender
identity.
Transgender rights advocates applauded
the proposed change.
“Transgender people's live are at
risk all over the country today because shelters refuse to house them
appropriately,” Lisa Mottet, deputy executive director of the
National Center for Transgender Equality, said in a press release.
“This action by HUD advances a common-sense approach that has
worked in many communities for over a decade.”
Rea Carey, executive director of the
National LGBTQ Task Force, said that the rule change was especially
important for LGBT people of color, who “disproportionately
experience discrimination in accessing housing and shelter programs
and services,” and transgender youth.
“While transgender and gender
non-conforming youth represent less than one percent of the general
population, a recent study found that 6.8% of youth experiencing
homelessness identify as transgender or gender non-conforming,”
Carey said.
“We welcome HUD Secretary Julian
Castro’s announcement about an essential policy that will help
reduce the experience of discrimination against transgender and
gender non-conforming people in HUD programs by clarifying how
transgender and gender non-conforming people should be accommodated
in shelters and other HUD programs,” she said.
The announcement came on Friday, also
the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day set aside to
remember the victims of transphobic violence.