CLGS PRESS RELEASE

13 June 2020

The CLGS Transgender Roundtable, a program of the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS), deplores the recent decision of the Trump administration to deny the civil rights of Transgender people by allowing medical professionals, hospitals, and insurance companies to discriminate on the basis of gender identity.

In an announcement made on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre, a sacred day of remembrance and mourning for LGBTQ people throughout the world, and during a week when two more Trans Women of Color were murdered in the United States, Trump issued this abhorrent declaration which will result in the loss of health care for countless numbers of Transgender people in our country.

As Trans people of faith and allies, we believe that full and equal access to medical care is a basic human right.  Moreover, when medical professionals, health care facilities, and insurance providers are allowed – and, in this case, even encouraged – to discriminate on the basis of the gender identity of patients, it serves to attack the basic human dignity of an already-marginalized group of people in our society.

Every person in the United States, including every Trans person, has the right to live a life free from discrimination of any sort.  With this recently-announced regulatory change, the Trump administration has demonstrated once again its contempt for those it considers not worthy of equal access to health care.  We call upon all Americans of good will to join us in demanding that our federal representatives work tirelessly to overturn this discriminatory and despicable policy as quickly as possible.

Rev. Jakob Hero-Shaw | Coordinator,  The CLGS Transgender Roundtable

Bernard Schlager, PhD | Executive Director, The Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS)