Today, during Congressional budget hearings for their respective agencies, both Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made botched attempts to justify their rollbacks of nondiscrimination protections for transgender people.
In an exchange with Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL), Sec. Carson said that protecting transgender people's equal access to homeless shelters is a “very complex issue” with the potential to “impede the rights of one for the sake of the other,” suggesting that there is a clash between the rights of women and the rights of transgender people. In doing so, Sec. Carson invoked a tired trope that has been thoroughly debunked by organizations that advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, including rape crisis centers and shelters, as well as organizations that advocate for women’s rights generally.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on Capitol Hill, in response to a question from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) about the recent revelation of the Department of Education’s inaction on discrimination complaints by transgender students, Sec. DeVos falsely claimed that the Department of Education has “continued to protect the rights of students as defined under Title IX,” referring to the law that protects students from gender-based discrimination. On the contrary, two federal circuit courts—the second-highest courts in the country—have ruled that Title IX does cover transgender students.
NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling issued the following statement:
Sec. Carson and Sec. DeVos have once again made it clear that they neither know the facts about transgender people and the law as it applies to us, nor will they commit to protecting us.
Regarding Sec. Carson’s comments, anti-discrimination policies that help ensure equal access to homeless shelters are incredibly necessary. The transgender community faces an alarmingly high rate of homelessness—nearly a third (30 percent) of respondents to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey had been homeless. Those who try to access shelters are more likely than not to face harassment, assault, or to simply be turned away at the door. Seventy percent of USTS respondents who had stayed in a shelter in the year before taking the survey reported some kind of mistreatment.
And Sec. DeVos’ remarks were disappointing, though unsurprising. Since last year, the Department of Education has repeatedly and willfully turned a blind eye to federal court decisions, to the needs of school administrators, and to the needs of all students—including transgender students.
We thank our allies in Congress, including Congressman Quigley and Congressman Pocan, for ensuring that Congress and federal agencies continue to have conversations about protections for transgender people.
