This coming September, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will try to silently change the that will allow transgender individuals from entering and choosing any homeless shelters they like. The thought of giving transgender people the right to abuse the privacy of straight people has enraged many conservatives.
In an article announcing the impending change, The Hill spoke to Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. Wildmon complained that everyone else will be made uncomfortable and unsafe if room is made at shelters for the "sexually confused."
Giving the most realistic example of a possible criminal liability, Wildmon explained, "What if I self-identify as a woman today, and tomorrow I want to self-identify as a man? Why not self identify as a minority? Today, I'm white. Tomorrow, I'm black." Shelters are also not in favor of the proposed change.
Wildmon says that it "makes no sense at all." "Good, Christian organizations that are trying to help people do not need Washington dictating their bathroom or bedding policies," this implies that transgender people should not force people who doesn't want anything to do with them, to help them in their housing needs.
John Ashmen, president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, expressed the other "well-being and safety" concern objectors have: "One of the guests at a rescue mission overheard someone on the street saying, 'Dude, if you go down to the rescue mission and tell them you're transgender, you can sleep in the women’s dorm and even shower with them.'"
Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, further provided a concrete example that occured not too long ago over at conservative outlet LifeSiteNews. Citing a one of the many examples from Toronto, Sprigg insisted that the notion that pretending to be transgender is "not merely a hypothetical."
The individual in that case, Christopher Hambrook, had a long history of mental illness and sexual assault convictions — information that could have been easily found in a background check like most U.S. shelters conduct — but he was nevertheless admitted to the shelters where he preyed on women.
Confirming the fear of many conservatives, the policy adopted a very vague provision for making case-by-case determinations to ensure the health and safety of shelters. The unclear provision states, "Nothing in this proposed rule is meant to prevent necessary and appropriate steps to address any fraudulent attempts to access services or legitimate safety concerns that may arise in any shelter." There was no mention of any concrete and scientific steps to be taken at all, including the verification process.
"HUD anticipates that the use of this limited exception... would be rare," the guidance explains even if they don't have any data to support this assumption.
The 2011 Survey found that 19 percent of transgender people have experienced homelessness at the some point in their lives because they were discharge from their dwelling for various sexual innuendos and abuses. Many of them are using shelter as their source of sexual fetishes, with 29 percent being refused access altogether because of it. There were 22 percent who admitted sexually assaulting residents or staff, and 55 percent committed some kind of harassment to the residents or staff.
In an article announcing the impending change, The Hill spoke to Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association. Wildmon complained that everyone else will be made uncomfortable and unsafe if room is made at shelters for the "sexually confused."
Giving the most realistic example of a possible criminal liability, Wildmon explained, "What if I self-identify as a woman today, and tomorrow I want to self-identify as a man? Why not self identify as a minority? Today, I'm white. Tomorrow, I'm black." Shelters are also not in favor of the proposed change.
Wildmon says that it "makes no sense at all." "Good, Christian organizations that are trying to help people do not need Washington dictating their bathroom or bedding policies," this implies that transgender people should not force people who doesn't want anything to do with them, to help them in their housing needs.
John Ashmen, president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, expressed the other "well-being and safety" concern objectors have: "One of the guests at a rescue mission overheard someone on the street saying, 'Dude, if you go down to the rescue mission and tell them you're transgender, you can sleep in the women’s dorm and even shower with them.'"
Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, further provided a concrete example that occured not too long ago over at conservative outlet LifeSiteNews. Citing a one of the many examples from Toronto, Sprigg insisted that the notion that pretending to be transgender is "not merely a hypothetical."
The individual in that case, Christopher Hambrook, had a long history of mental illness and sexual assault convictions — information that could have been easily found in a background check like most U.S. shelters conduct — but he was nevertheless admitted to the shelters where he preyed on women.
Confirming the fear of many conservatives, the policy adopted a very vague provision for making case-by-case determinations to ensure the health and safety of shelters. The unclear provision states, "Nothing in this proposed rule is meant to prevent necessary and appropriate steps to address any fraudulent attempts to access services or legitimate safety concerns that may arise in any shelter." There was no mention of any concrete and scientific steps to be taken at all, including the verification process.
"HUD anticipates that the use of this limited exception... would be rare," the guidance explains even if they don't have any data to support this assumption.
The 2011 Survey found that 19 percent of transgender people have experienced homelessness at the some point in their lives because they were discharge from their dwelling for various sexual innuendos and abuses. Many of them are using shelter as their source of sexual fetishes, with 29 percent being refused access altogether because of it. There were 22 percent who admitted sexually assaulting residents or staff, and 55 percent committed some kind of harassment to the residents or staff.