Text of US HR 1209 (2022)

IV 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. 1209 Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender and nonbinary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 28, 2022 Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. TORRES of New York, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BASS, Mr. BLU- MENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Ms. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. BROWNLEY, Ms. BUSH, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CON- NOLLY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DEAN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. JONES, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PA- NETTA, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. PORTER, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Ms. WILSON of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Edu- cation and Labor, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, and Over- sight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 1209 IH RESOLUTION Recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights to protect and codify the rights of transgender and non- binary people under the law and ensure their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security. Whereas an estimated 1,400,000 transgender adults live in the United States; Whereas title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires equal treatment under the law regardless of sex; Whereas the Supreme Court affirmed in Bostock v. Clayton County that Federal protection against discrimination on the basis of sex includes protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity; Whereas despite these protections, transgender people still ex- perience discrimination in medical care, employment, housing, education, lending, and other basic necessities; Whereas the right of transgender and nonbinary people to seek lifesaving, gender-affirming care and counseling is under threat across the Nation; Whereas transgender and nonbinary people face significant barriers to legal recognition of their truest selves on gov- ernment documentation and identification; Whereas transgender and nonbinary people experience dis- proportionately high rates of poverty, homelessness, vio- lence, and suicide; and Whereas transgender and nonbinary people detained in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers are especially vulnerable to violence and abuse and are often deprived VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 1209 IH of gender-affirming supplies and care: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep- 1 resentatives that— 2 (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to 3 protect the rights of transgender and nonbinary peo- 4 ple as outlined in this Transgender Bill of Rights 5 by— 6 (A) ensuring transgender and nonbinary 7 people have equal access to services and public 8 accommodations that align with their gender 9 identity by— 10 (i) amending the Civil Rights Act of 11 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the 12 basis of sex, including gender identity and 13 sex characteristics in public accommoda- 14 tions and federally funded programs and 15 activities; 16 (ii) expanding the definition of public 17 accommodation to address the full range of 18 places and services that members of the 19 general public utilize; 20 (iii) explicitly clarifying that it is ille- 21 gal to discriminate on the basis of sex, in- 22 cluding gender identity or sex characteris- 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 1209 IH tics in public accommodations and services 1 on religious grounds; and 2 (iv) amending Federal education laws 3 to ensure that they protect students from 4 discrimination based on sex, including gen- 5 der identity and sex characteristics, and 6 guarantee students’ right to— 7 (I) participate in sports on teams 8 that best align with their gender iden- 9 tity; and 10 (II) use school facilities that best 11 align with their gender identity; 12 (B) ensuring transgender and nonbinary 13 people can care for themselves and their fami- 14 lies by fully codifying the Bostock decision by— 15 (i) eliminating hiring and employment 16 discrimination and workforce exclusion by 17 amending title VII of the Civil Rights Act 18 of 1964 to explicitly clarify that employers 19 may not discriminate on the basis of actual 20 or perceived gender identity or sex charac- 21 teristics; 22 (ii) amending the Fair Housing Act to 23 explicitly clarify that it prohibits all forms 24 of sex discrimination, including on the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 1209 IH basis of gender identity or sex characteris- 1 tics; 2 (iii) codifying the Housing and Urban 3 Development Department’s Equal Access 4 Rule requiring equal access to HUD hous- 5 ing programs without regard to a person’s 6 actual or perceived gender identity; and 7 (iv) amending the Equal Credit Op- 8 portunity Act to explicitly clarify that it 9 prohibits all forms of sex discrimination, 10 including on the basis of gender identity or 11 sex characteristics; 12 (C) recognizing the right to bodily auton- 13 omy and ethical health care for transgender and 14 nonbinary people by— 15 (i) strengthening, implementing, and 16 enforcing prohibitions on discrimination in 17 the provision of health care on the basis of 18 sex, including on the basis of actual or per- 19 ceived gender identity or sex characteris- 20 tics; 21 (ii) eliminating unnecessary govern- 22 mental restrictions on the provision of, and 23 access to, gender-affirming medical care 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 1209 IH and counseling for transgender and non- 1 binary adults, adolescents, and children; 2 (iii) ensuring that health care pro- 3 viders following standards of care for 4 transgender and nonbinary people are not 5 targeted for criminal or civil penalties or 6 professional discipline; 7 (iv) expanding access to providers 8 with competency serving transgender and 9 nonbinary patients, including by recruiting 10 and training more health care providers to 11 provide appropriate care; 12 (v) codifying Roe v. Wade, guaran- 13 teeing the right to abortion, and codifying 14 the right to reproductive health care such 15 as birth control and fertility treatments for 16 everyone, including transgender and non- 17 binary people; and 18 (vi) banning the use of forced surgery 19 that violates medical ethics and human 20 rights on intersex children and infants; 21 (D) providing accessible avenues for legal 22 recognition of transgender and nonbinary iden- 23 tities by— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 1209 IH (i) eliminating gender identification 1 requirements on government documents 2 that are unnecessary to determine the 3 identity of the holder or otherwise irrele- 4 vant to the purpose of the document; 5 (ii) eliminating burdensome barriers 6 to updating sex and names on passports, 7 Social Security cards, and other forms of 8 government identification and records, per- 9 mitting, where possible, changes on self-at- 10 testation alone; 11 (iii) requiring that an ‘‘X’’ marker be 12 available on government identification and 13 records that still require gender; and 14 (iv) eliminating the Federal require- 15 ment to list a gender on State identifica- 16 tion; 17 (E) strengthening the safety of 18 transgender and nonbinary people by— 19 (i) investing in community services to 20 prevent intimate partner, family, and com- 21 munity violence against transgender and 22 nonbinary people and expand services for 23 transgender and nonbinary survivors; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 1209 IH (ii) investing in mental health services 1 and suicide prevention programs designed 2 for transgender and nonbinary people; 3 (iii) banning fraudulent and harmful 4 so-called ‘‘conversion therapy’’ practices; 5 (iv) ensuring robust regulations and 6 procedures that affirm that claims for im- 7 migration relief or asylum based on perse- 8 cution related to gender, sexual orienta- 9 tion, gender identity, and sex characteris- 10 tics are protected grounds in the context of 11 asylum adjudications; and 12 (v) exploring policies and practices 13 that would improve the safety of 14 transgender and nonbinary individuals in- 15 carcerated in jails, prisons, and immigra- 16 tion detention facilities and ensure that 17 those populations have access to appro- 18 priate services and commissary items; and 19 (F) actively enforcing the civil rights of 20 transgender and nonbinary people by all gov- 21 ernment agencies including by— 22 (i) requiring the Attorney General to 23 designate a liaison within the Civil Rights 24 Division of the Department of Justice 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HRES 1209 IH dedicated to advising on and overseeing en- 1 forcement of the civil rights of transgender 2 and nonbinary people; and 3 (ii) appropriating the funds necessary 4 to fully staff and support the enforcement 5 of these rights across agencies; 6 (2) the actions listed above are only the first 7 steps toward transgender equality; 8 (3) to carry out the goals above, Federal agen- 9 cies must collect gender identity and sex characteris- 10 tics information on a voluntary, confidential basis 11 solely for equity and public health purposes in key 12 Federal surveys; 13 (4) the Federal Government must make an on- 14 going commitment to the rights of transgender and 15 nonbinary people; and 16 (5) policies concerning transgender rights must 17 be led and informed by transgender communities, in 18 particular Black and indigenous women who face 19 heightened risk of violence, poverty, discrimination, 20 and other harm due to their intersecting identities. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Jun 28, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR1209.IH HR1209 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS