The Trump Administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has proposed a rule that would eliminate federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people across all HUD-funded housing programs, including housing choice vouchers, public housing, project-based rental assistance, and FHA-insured mortgages. The consequences for shelter residents would be especially severe: the proposed rule would mandate that HUD-funded shelters place individuals based on a rigid biological definition of sex, allow shelter staff to demand unspecified proof of a person's sex with no defined limits, and conflict with Massachusetts state law, which already prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing.

Before federal equal access protections existed, nearly half of transgender people who tried to use a shelter were turned away or placed in a facility inconsistent with their gender identity. More than half experienced harassment. One in four was physically assaulted. This proposed rule would return us to those conditions.

Contact your state legislators using this form and ask them to sign on to the Dear Colleague letters circulated by Sen. Cyr and Rep. Montano opposing HUD's proposed Equal Access Rule revisions before the June 29 public comment deadline!