[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 269 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 269

 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

                             March 30, 2023

   Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Ms. Jacobs, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Takano, Mr. 
    Cicilline, Ms. Adams, Mr. Allred, Ms. Balint, Ms. Barragan, Mr. 
Blumenauer, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Bowman, Ms. Brown, Ms. Bush, Mr. Carson, 
Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Casar, Mr. Casten, Ms. Castor of Florida, 
Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Crockett, Mr. Davis 
of Illinois, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeGette, Mr. DeSaulnier, Mr. 
    Doggett, Ms. Escobar, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans, Mrs. 
  Fletcher, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garamendi, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. Robert 
 Garcia of California, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Green of 
Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Higgins of New York, Mr. Ivey, Ms. 
 Jackson Lee, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Mr. Keating, 
Mr. Khanna, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Mr. 
Larsen of Washington, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Ms. Lee of California, 
 Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Matsui, Mrs. McClellan, 
   Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGarvey, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Meng, Ms. Moore of 
 Wisconsin, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Mullin, Mr. Nadler, Mrs. Napolitano, Ms. 
   Norton, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ms. Omar, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Payne, Ms. 
 Pingree, Ms. Porter, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Raskin, Ms. Ross, 
Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. 
  Smith of Washington, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. 
 Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Trone, Mr. 
Vargas, Ms. Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mrs. Watson Coleman, 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 Education and the Workforce, Energy 
and Commerce, Financial Services, and Oversight and Accountability, 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

_______________________________________________________________________

                               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 nonbinary people under the law and ensure 
 their access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security.

Whereas an estimated 1,600,000 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 experience 
        discrimination in medical care, employment, housing, education, lending, 
        and other basic necessities;
Whereas State lawmakers introduced more than 300 bills attacking the rights of 
        LGBTQI+ people and transgender people in particular in the first 6 weeks 
        of 2023;
Whereas the right of transgender and nonbinary people to seek lifesaving, 
        gender-affirming care is under threat across the Nation;
Whereas the provision of best-practice age-appropriate gender-affirming health 
        care is endorsed by--

    (1) the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry;

    (2) the American Academy of Family Physicians;

    (3) the American Academy of Nursing;

    (4) the American Academy of Pediatrics;

    (5) the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists;

    (6) the American College of Physicians;

    (7) the American Counseling Association;

    (8) the American Heart Association;

    (9) the American Medical Association;

    (10) the American Nurses Association;

    (11) the American Osteopathic Association;

    (12) the American Psychiatric Association;

    (13) the American Psychological Association;

    (14) the American Public Health Association;

    (15) the American Society of Plastic Surgeons;

    (16) the Endocrine Society;

    (17) the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health;

    (18) the Pediatric Endocrine Society;

    (19) the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine;

    (20) the World Medical Association; and

    (21) the World Professional Association for Transgender Health;

Whereas transgender and nonbinary people face significant barriers to legal 
        recognition of their truest selves on government documentation and 
        identification;
Whereas transgender and nonbinary people experience disproportionately high 
        rates of poverty, homelessness, violence, and suicide;
Whereas transgender and nonbinary people detained in jails, prisons, and 
        immigration detention centers are especially vulnerable to violence and 
        abuse and are often deprived of gender-affirming resources and health 
        care;
Whereas transgender people make unique, valuable contributions to American 
        society and culture worth honoring and celebrating;
Whereas transgender people have existed throughout history across the globe, 
        demonstrating resilience, bravery, and authenticity; and
Whereas transgender people are parents, siblings, children, chosen family, and 
        friends deserving of human dignity and support: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Federal Government has a duty to protect the rights 
        of transgender and nonbinary people as outlined in this 
        Transgender Bill of Rights by--
                    (A) ensuring transgender and nonbinary people have 
                equal access to services and public accommodations that 
                align with their gender identity by--
                            (i) amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
                        to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, 
                        including gender identity and sex 
                        characteristics in public accommodations and 
                        federally funded programs and activities;
                            (ii) expanding the definition of public 
                        accommodation to address the full range of 
                        places and services that members of the general 
                        public utilize;
                            (iii) explicitly clarifying that it is 
                        illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex, 
                        including gender identity or sex 
                        characteristics in public accommodations and 
                        services on religious grounds; and
                            (iv) amending Federal education laws to 
                        ensure that they protect students from 
                        discrimination based on sex, including gender 
                        identity and sex characteristics, and guarantee 
                        students' right to--
                                    (I) participate in sports on teams 
                                and in programs that best align with 
                                their gender identity;
                                    (II) use school facilities that 
                                best align with their gender identity;
                                    (III) have their authentic identity 
                                respected in the classroom; and
                                    (IV) have access to curriculum and 
                                books that accurately portray the 
                                substantive history and identity of 
                                LGBTQ+ people and Black, Indigenous, 
                                and people of color;
                    (B) recognizing the right to bodily autonomy and 
                ethical health care for transgender and nonbinary 
                people by--
                            (i) strengthening, implementing, and 
                        enforcing prohibitions on discrimination in the 
                        provision of health care on the basis of sex, 
                        including on the basis of actual or perceived 
                        gender identity or sex characteristics;
                            (ii) eliminating unnecessary governmental 
                        restrictions on the provision of, and access 
                        to, gender-affirming medical care and 
                        counseling for transgender and nonbinary adults 
                        and youth;
                            (iii) ensuring that health care providers 
                        following standards of care for transgender and 
                        nonbinary people are not targeted for criminal 
                        or civil penalties or professional discipline;
                            (iv) protecting children from forceful 
                        removal from supportive homes;
                            (v) protecting providers of gender-
                        affirming care, reproductive health care, and 
                        abortion health care from threats and acts of 
                        violence related to their work;
                            (vi) expanding access to providers with 
                        competency serving transgender and nonbinary 
                        patients, including by recruiting and training 
                        more health care providers to provide 
                        appropriate care;
                            (vii) expanding telehealth access to 
                        provide patients in rural and other underserved 
                        locations better access to health care 
                        services;
                            (viii) codifying Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing 
                        the right to abortion, and codifying the right 
                        to reproductive health care such as 
                        contraceptives and assistive reproductive 
                        technology for everyone, including transgender 
                        and nonbinary people; and
                            (ix) banning the use of forced surgery that 
                        violates medical ethics and human rights on 
                        intersex children and infants;
                    (C) ensuring transgender and nonbinary people can 
                care for themselves and their families by fully 
                codifying the Bostock decision by--
                            (i) eliminating hiring and employment 
                        discrimination and workforce exclusion by 
                        amending title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 
                        1964 to explicitly clarify that employers may 
                        not discriminate on the basis of actual or 
                        perceived gender identity or sex 
                        characteristics;
                            (ii) amending the Fair Housing Act to 
                        explicitly clarify that it prohibits all forms 
                        of sex discrimination, including on the basis 
                        of gender identity or sex characteristics; and
                            (iii) amending the Equal Credit Opportunity 
                        Act to explicitly clarify that it prohibits all 
                        forms of sex discrimination, including on the 
                        basis of gender identity or sex 
                        characteristics;
                    (D) providing accessible avenues for legal 
                recognition of transgender and nonbinary identities and 
                guaranteeing full participation in civil life by--
                            (i) eliminating Federal gender 
                        identification requirements on government 
                        documents that are unnecessary to determine the 
                        identity of the holder or otherwise irrelevant 
                        to the purpose of the document;
                            (ii) eliminating burdensome barriers to 
                        updating sex and names on passports, Social 
                        Security cards, and other forms of Federal 
                        Government identification and records, 
                        permitting, where possible, changes on self-
                        attestation alone;
                            (iii) requiring that an ``X'' marker be 
                        available on Federal Government identification 
                        and records that still require gender;
                            (iv) requiring States to permit voters to 
                        update their name and gender on their voter 
                        registration and vote on the same day of 
                        Federal elections; and
                            (v) making explicit that existing Federal 
                        statutes prohibiting sex discrimination in jury 
                        service also prohibit discrimination based on 
                        gender identity and sex characteristics;
                    (E) strengthening the safety of transgender and 
                nonbinary people by--
                            (i) investing in community services to 
                        prevent intimate partner, family, and community 
                        violence against transgender and nonbinary 
                        people and expand services for transgender and 
                        nonbinary survivors;
                            (ii) investing in mental health services 
                        and suicide prevention programs designed for 
                        transgender and nonbinary people;
                            (iii) banning fraudulent and harmful so-
                        called ``conversion therapy'' practices;
                            (iv) ensuring robust regulations and 
                        procedures that affirm that claims for 
                        immigration relief or asylum based on 
                        persecution related to gender, sexual 
                        orientation, gender identity, and sex 
                        characteristics are protected grounds in the 
                        context of asylum adjudications; and
                            (v) exploring policies and practices that 
                        would improve the safety of transgender and 
                        nonbinary individuals incarcerated in jails, 
                        prisons, and immigration detention facilities 
                        and ensure that those populations have access 
                        to gender-affirming care, appropriate services, 
                        and commissary items; and
                    (F) actively enforcing the civil rights of 
                transgender and nonbinary people by all government 
                agencies including by--
                            (i) requiring the Attorney General to 
                        designate a liaison within the Civil Rights 
                        Division of the Department of Justice dedicated 
                        to advising on and overseeing enforcement of 
                        the civil rights of transgender and nonbinary 
                        people; and
                            (ii) appropriating the funds necessary to 
                        fully staff and support the enforcement of 
                        these rights across agencies;
            (2) the actions listed above are only the first steps 
        toward transgender equality;
            (3) to carry out the goals above, Federal agencies must 
        collect gender identity and sex characteristics information on 
        a voluntary, confidential basis solely for equity and public 
        health purposes in key Federal surveys;
            (4) the Federal Government must make an ongoing commitment 
        to the rights of transgender and nonbinary people; and
            (5) policies concerning transgender rights must be led and 
        informed by transgender communities, in particular Black and 
        Indigenous women who face heightened risk of violence, poverty, 
        discrimination, and other harm due to their intersecting 
        identities.
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