Chip Roy: “I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for yielding. In 2016, HUD published a final rule, the Equal Access in…”

“I thank the gentleman from South Carolina for yielding. In 2016, HUD published a final rule, the Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual's Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs rule requiring Community Planning and Development- funded single-sex projects ``to provide all individuals, including transgender individuals and other individuals who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, with access to programs, benefits, services, and accommodations in accordance with their gender identity without being subjected to intrusive questioning or being asked to provide documentation.'' This rule prohibits a HUD-funded shelter from providing for single- sex facilities based on an individual's gender at birth. There are other rules that were put in place in the Obama administration, similarly. None of these rules recognize that housing programs, particularly faith-based facilities, ability to distinguish between genders and an individual's marital status; both rules placing vulnerable women at risk. This administration announced a proposed rule that ``permits shelter providers to consider a range of factors in making such determinations, including: privacy, safety, practical concerns, religious beliefs, any relevant considerations under civil rights and nondiscrimination authorities . . . `' I could go on. It is a commonsense rule.…”