[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 58 (Thursday, March 30, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1099-S1100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SENATE RESOLUTION 144--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 SAFETY

  Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Warren, Ms. 
Hirono, and Ms. Smith) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

                              S. Res. 144

       Whereas an estimated 1,600,000 transgender adults live in 
     the United States;
       Whereas title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
     U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) requires equal treatment under the law 
     regardless of sex;
       Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed in 
     Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020), 
     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--
       (1) medical care;
       (2) employment;
       (3) housing;
       (4) education;
        (5) lending; and
       (6) 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 United States;
       Whereas the provision of best-practice, age-appropriate, 
     gender-affirming health care is endorsed by the American 
     Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American 
     Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of 
     Nursing, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American 
     College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American 
     College of Physicians, the American Counseling Association, 
     the American Heart Association, the American Medical 
     Association, the American Nurses Association, the American 
     Osteopathic Association, the American Psychiatric 
     Association, the American Psychological Association, the 
     American Public Health Association, the American Society of 
     Plastic Surgeons, the Endocrine Society, the National 
     Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, the 
     Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Society for Adolescent 
     Health and Medicine, the World Medical Association, and the 
     World Professional Association for Transgender Health;
       Whereas transgender and nonbinary people--
       (1) face significant barriers to legal recognition of their 
     truest selves on government documentation and identification;
       (2) experience disproportionately high rates of poverty, 
     homelessness, violence, and suicide; and
       (3) 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 and nonbinary people--
       (1) make unique, valuable contributions to American society 
     and culture worth honoring and celebrating;
       (2) have existed throughout history across the globe, 
     demonstrating resilience, bravery, and authenticity; and
       (3) 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 Senate that--
       (1) the Federal Government has a duty to protect the rights 
     of transgender and nonbinary people by implementing a 
     ``Transgender Bill of Rights'' that includes--
       (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 (42 U.S.C. 2000a 
     et seq.) 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 those 
     laws protect students from discrimination based on sex, 
     including gender identity and sex characteristics, and 
     guarantee the rights of students 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 LGBTQI+ 
     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 for 
     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 competent health care providers 
     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, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), 
     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 judgment 
     of the Supreme Court of the United States in Bostock v. 
     Clayton County, Georgia, 140 S. Ct. 1731 (2020) by--
       (i) eliminating hiring and employment discrimination and 
     workforce exclusion by amending title VII of the Civil Rights 
     Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) 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 (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) 
     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 (15 U.S.C. 
     1691 et seq.) 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 are 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;

[[Page S1100]]

       (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 of transgender and nonbinary 
     individuals 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 
     whose job is 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 in this resolution are only the 
     first steps toward transgender equality;
       (3) to carry out the goals in this resolution, 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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