Fresh off promoting "LGBTQ for Trump" tees for Pride month, President Donald Trump's administration is targeting transgender people...again.
The Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule that would woefully walk back an Obama-era regulation defining sex-based discrimination to include gender identity. The definition relates to section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination in healthcare on civil rights grounds.
“Sex means a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth," the department proposed. "The sex listed on a person’s birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person’s sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence.”
The move horrified and further mobilized transgender activists.
Today, for the first time in my life that I remember, in response to the news, I simply flomped down in a chair and… https://t.co/nzR2HLhoxX— Jennifer Finney Boylan 🐕 (@Jennifer Finney Boylan 🐕) 1558721553.0
⚠️ Trans lives are in danger. The new rule by @HHSgov makes it legal for medical providers to discriminate agains… https://t.co/3t02BZJvnJ— TransgenderLawCenter (@TransgenderLawCenter) 1558718967.0
Happy Pride month from the administration selling pride merch. https://t.co/ANEgFtjbVM— Eliel Cruz (@Eliel Cruz) 1558718340.0
What's more, the move is only the latest development in what has been an onslaught of discriminatory, harmful policies targeting the transgender community.
Just yesterday, the Trump administration proposed a rule allowing homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people.
At 19 I was fired from my job for being trans & became homeless. Women’s shelters rejected me because of my assigne… https://t.co/77EZcsDKo5— Ashlee Marie Preston (@Ashlee Marie Preston) 1558567773.0
Here are the facts: 🚨 1 in 3 trans people have been homeless in their lives 🚨 70% of trans people who have used… https://t.co/IeJ8RiiaFK— National Center for Transgender Equality (@National Center for Transgender Equality) 1558538642.0
Three transgender women were violently murdered this week.