EPIC Joins Coalition Against HUD’s Proposed Reductions of LGBTQ+ Protections in Equal Access Rule 

On June 29, EPIC joined the National Women’s Law Center and 24 other gender justice and civil rights organizations in strenuously opposing an anti-transgender rule recently proposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

HUD’s proposal would revise the 2016 Equal Access Rule, rolling back protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for those staying in federal funded shelters and other housing. 

It would require all HUD Community Planning and Development programs to “place, serve, and accommodate” tenants based on their birth sex, which the Trump Administration has inaccurately defined under two immutable categories: male and female. 

The proposed rule also encourages shelters and public housing to “sex screen” women to confirm that their gender identity matches their biological sex, and for housing providers to require “reasonable assurances or evidence to establish” their sex, raising significant physical privacy and safety concerns. 

In the comments, the coalition urged HUD to abandon its misguided and harmful proposal, explaining that it’s arbitrary and capricious on multiple grounds, including its failure to consider the harms that will arise when shelters “sex screen” tenants. The comments also allege that the proposal violates the Administrative Procedure Act and conflicts with the Fair Housing Act’s nondiscrimination mandate and the Violence Against Women Act.  

EPIC has long worked to protect the privacy rights of individuals and marginalized communities, including the LGBTQ+ community, and urges HUD to withdraw this proposal and instead enforce the Equal Access Rule.