Feds Take Action Against LGBT Housing Discrimination

via Advocate, by Neal Broverman

Speaking Saturday at the Creating Change conference in Baltimore, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan promised new rules against LGBT discrimination in housing and lending.

The rule prohibits owners and operators of HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing from inquiring about an applicant or occupant's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Also, lenders offering Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages cannot discriminate against LGBT people  in their borrowing practices, and cannot ask about their orientation or gender identity.

The narrow definition of "family," sometimes used as a way to discriminate against gay or transgender people in HUD voucher programs, will now not take into account marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

The new rules will be published next week and go into effect 30 days after.

"Enacting a rule is not enough. Training and education are essential to ensuring rules are followed in communities across the country," Donovan said at the conference.

"And so, HUD and its fair housing partners will work to provide guidance and training on the substance of this rule – and the impact it will have for both how we administer HUD programs and also how we enforce our nation’s fair housing laws more broadly."

HUD's new rules, which piggyback on already-existing LGBT friendly practices, were heralded by the HRC, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Donovan also spent much time in his speech reminding attendees of President Obama's accomplishments, including ending "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," enacting the Matthew Shepard hate crimes law, expanding hospital visitation rights, and banning transgender discrimination in federal employment.


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New Report Finds Rampant Health Care Discrimination Against Transgender Individuals

Talk about the need for cultural competency, a new study out today finds that transgender and gender non-conforming people face rampant discrimination in health care settings, are regularly denied needed care, and experience a range of health risks because they are transgender or gender non-conforming, according to a report of over 6,450 transgender and gender non-conforming people. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey: Report on Health and Health Care was released nationally today by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Key findings include:

* Nearly 1 in 5, 19%, reported being refused care outright, because they were transgender or gender non-conforming;

* Survey participants reported very high levels of postponing medical care when sick or injured due to discrimination and disrespect (28%);

* Harassment: 28% of respondents were subjected to harassment in medical settings;

* Significant lack of provider knowledge: 50% of the sample reported having to teach their medical providers about transgender care;

* Despite barriers, the majority have accessed some form of transition-related medical care; but only a minority has had any surgery, despite the fact that a strong majority stated wanting to have it someday;
* Respondents reported over four times the national average of HIV infection, 2.64% in our sample compared to 0.6% in the general population, with rates for transgender women at 3.76%, and with those who are unemployed (4.67%) or who have engaged in sex work (15.32%) even higher;

* Over a quarter of the respondents misused drugs or alcohol specifically to cope with the discrimination they faced due to their gender identity or expression;

* A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population.


Read the entire report here.

New Survey Finds Bullying Rampant Among Gender Non-Conforming Individuals

More than half of transgender and gender non-conforming people who were bullied, harassed or assaulted in school because of their gender identity have attempted suicide, according to just-released findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality.

"From our experience working with transgender people, we had prepared ourselves for high rates of suicide attempts, but we didn't expect anything like this," says Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "Our study participants reported attempting suicide at a rate more than 25 times the national average." Forty-one percent of all respondents reported that they had attempted suicide, compared with a national estimated rate of 1.6 percent.

Read the rest at NCTE.