The Trump regime launched at least three attacks on transgender rights this week including a new proposal unveiled this morning that would roll back regulations intended to prevent discrimination in health care.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a draft proposal this morning that would remove transgender individuals from regulations that prevent discrimination based on "sex."
One rule, finalized Tuesday, would let health care workers recuse themselves from treating transgender patients on religious grounds, and a draft rule issued Wednesday would let homeless shelters turn away transgender people.
The 204-page proposal released Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services would change the way discrimination “on the basis of sex” is defined. Instead of stating that this includes transgender patients or abortion-related care, the term “sex” would be open to interpretation — thus removing those explicit protections.
These assaults on transgender rights, particularly the effort to block transgender people from accessing homeless shelters, will absolutely lead to the deaths of transgender Americans if they become law. Moreover, I think we can reasonably state that the cruelty is the point.
Republicans want transgender people to die.
These narrow readings of the law which are literally predicated on the obvious meaning of a single word are not serious legal opinions. This is a regime using whatever means it has to enable discrimination and force certain Americans to remain in the shadows or out of public life.
If you are someone who believes in the Constitution or at least the Fourteenth Amendment which states that we're entitled to "equal protection under the law," enabling discrimination in publicly-funded programs has to be unconstitutional.
It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court sees it that way, but no one should hold their breath.