What This Bill Does
This resolution states that the federal government has a duty to develop and implement a "Transgender Bill of Rights." The resolution expresses the Senate's view that the government should protect transgender and nonbinary people's rights in areas including medical care, housing, jobs, education, and legal documents. This is a resolution expressing the Senate's position, not a law that changes rules immediately.
##
Who It Affects
- Transgender and nonbinary people living in the United States
- Federal government agencies and courts
- Employers covered by federal civil rights laws
- Healthcare providers
- Schools and educational institutions
- Housing providers
- State officials managing voter registration and government documents
- Law enforcement and detention facility staff
##
Key Provisions
- The federal government should amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sex characteristics in public accommodations and federally funded programs (Sec. 1(A)(i))
- The government should eliminate unnecessary restrictions on access to gender-affirming medical care and counseling for transgender and nonbinary adults and youth (Sec. 1(B)(ii))
- The government should amend federal civil rights laws to explicitly clarify that employers cannot discriminate based on gender identity or sex characteristics in hiring and employment (Sec. 1(C)(i))
- The government should eliminate burdensome barriers to updating sex and names on federal identification documents like passports and Social Security cards, allowing changes through self-attestation where possible (Sec. 1(D)(ii))
- Federal agencies should collect information about gender identity and sex characteristics on a voluntary and confidential basis only for equity and public health purposes in key surveys (Sec. 3)
##
What Changes
Not specified in bill text. (This resolution expresses the Senate's position on what should happen, but does not itself change any laws or rules.)
##
Important Definitions
- **Gender-affirming care**: Medical care and counseling designed to support transgender and nonbinary people, endorsed by major medical organizations according to the bill
- **Gender identity**: A person's internal sense of their gender
- **Sex characteristics**: Physical traits related to sex
- **Nonbinary**: A term for people whose gender identity falls outside the traditional categories of male or female
- **Public accommodations**: Businesses and places that serve the general public (the bill says the definition should be expanded to address the full range of places and services members of the public use)
##
III
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. RES. 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 security.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH 30, 2023
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
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 non-
binary 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 (42 U.S.C.
2000e et seq.) requires equal treatment under the law re-
gardless 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
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•SRES 144 IS
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 at-
tacking 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, gen-
der-affirming health care is endorsed by the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Amer-
ican Academy of Family Physicians, the American Acad-
emy 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 Amer-
ican Medical Association, the American Nurses Associa-
tion, the American Osteopathic Association, the American
Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological As-
sociation, the American Public Health Association, the
American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the Endocrine So-
ciety, the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in
Women’s Health, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, the
Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, the World
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•SRES 144 IS
Medical Association, and the World Professional Associa-
tion 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 pov-
erty, homelessness, violence, and suicide; and
(3) detained in jails, prisons, and immigration deten-
tion centers are especially vulnerable to violence and
abuse and are often deprived of gender-affirming re-
sources 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
(1) the Federal Government has a duty to pro-
2
tect the rights of transgender and nonbinary people
3
by implementing a ‘‘Transgender Bill of Rights’’
4
that includes—
5
(A) ensuring transgender and nonbinary
6
people have equal access to services and public
7
accommodations that align with their gender
8
identity by—
9
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•SRES 144 IS
(i) amending the Civil Rights Act of
1
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.) to prohibit
2
discrimination on the basis of sex, includ-
3
ing gender identity and sex characteristics,
4
in public accommodations and federally
5
funded programs and activities;
6
(ii) expanding the definition of public
7
accommodation to address the full range of
8
places and services that members of the
9
general public utilize;
10
(iii) explicitly clarifying that it is ille-
11
gal to discriminate on the basis of sex, in-
12
cluding gender identity or sex characteris-
13
tics, in public accommodations and services
14
on religious grounds; and
15
(iv) amending Federal education laws
16
to ensure that those laws protect students
17
from discrimination based on sex, includ-
18
ing gender identity and sex characteristics,
19
and guarantee the rights of students to—
20
(I) participate in sports on teams
21
and in programs that best align with
22
their gender identity;
23
(II) use school facilities that best
24
align with their gender identity;
25
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•SRES 144 IS
(III) have their authentic identity
1
respected in the classroom; and
2
(IV) have access to curriculum
3
and books that accurately portray the
4
substantive history and identity of
5
LGBTQI+ people and Black, Indige-
6
nous, and people of color;
7
(B) recognizing the right to bodily auton-
8
omy and ethical health care for transgender and
9
nonbinary people by—
10
(i) strengthening, implementing, and
11
enforcing prohibitions on discrimination in
12
the provision of health care on the basis of
13
sex, including on the basis of actual or per-
14
ceived gender identity or sex characteris-
15
tics;
16
(ii) eliminating unnecessary govern-
17
mental restrictions on the provision of, and
18
access to, gender-affirming medical care
19
and counseling for transgender and non-
20
binary adults and youth;
21
(iii) ensuring that health care pro-
22
viders following standards of care for
23
transgender and nonbinary people are not
24
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•SRES 144 IS
targeted for criminal or civil penalties, or
1
for professional discipline;
2
(iv) protecting children from forceful
3
removal from supportive homes;
4
(v) protecting providers of gender-af-
5
firming care, reproductive health care, and
6
abortion health care from threats and acts
7
of violence related to their work;
8
(vi) expanding access to competent
9
health care providers serving transgender
10
and nonbinary patients, including by re-
11
cruiting and training more health care pro-
12
viders to provide appropriate care;
13
(vii) expanding telehealth access to
14
provide patients in rural and other under-
15
served locations better access to health
16
care services;
17
(viii) codifying Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S.
18
113 (1973), guaranteeing the right to
19
abortion, and codifying the right to repro-
20
ductive health care such as contraceptives
21
and assistive reproductive technology for
22
everyone, including transgender and non-
23
binary people; and
24
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•SRES 144 IS
(ix) banning the use of forced surgery
1
that violates medical ethics and human
2
rights on intersex children and infants;
3
(C) ensuring transgender and nonbinary
4
people can care for themselves and their fami-
5
lies by fully codifying the judgment of the Su-
6
preme Court of the United States in Bostock v.
7
Clayton County, Georgia, 140 S. Ct. 1731
8
(2020) by—
9
(i) eliminating hiring and employment
10
discrimination and workforce exclusion by
11
amending title VII of the Civil Rights Act
12
of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) to ex-
13
plicitly clarify that employers may not dis-
14
criminate on the basis of actual or per-
15
ceived gender identity or sex characteris-
16
tics;
17
(ii) amending the Fair Housing Act
18
(42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) to explicitly clar-
19
ify that it prohibits all forms of sex dis-
20
crimination, including on the basis of gen-
21
der identity or sex characteristics; and
22
(iii) amending the Equal Credit Op-
23
portunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.) to
24
explicitly clarify that it prohibits all forms
25
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•SRES 144 IS
of sex discrimination, including on the
1
basis of gender identity or sex characteris-
2
tics;
3
(D) providing accessible avenues for legal
4
recognition of transgender and nonbinary iden-
5
tities and guaranteeing full participation in civil
6
life by—
7
(i) eliminating Federal gender identi-
8
fication requirements on government docu-
9
ments that are unnecessary to determine
10
the identity of the holder or are otherwise
11
irrelevant to the purpose of the document;
12
(ii) eliminating burdensome barriers
13
to updating sex and names on passports,
14
Social Security cards, and other forms of
15
Federal Government identification and
16
records,
permitting,
where
possible,
17
changes on self-attestation alone;
18
(iii) requiring that an ‘‘X’’ marker be
19
available on Federal Government identi-
20
fication and records that still require gen-
21
der;
22
(iv) requiring States to permit voters
23
to update their name and gender on their
24
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•SRES 144 IS
voter registration and vote on the same
1
day of Federal elections; and
2
(v) making explicit that existing Fed-
3
eral statutes prohibiting sex discrimination
4
in jury service also prohibit discrimination
5
based on gender identity and sex charac-
6
teristics;
7
(E)
strengthening
the
safety
of
8
transgender and nonbinary people by—
9
(i) investing in community services to
10
prevent intimate partner, family, and com-
11
munity violence against transgender and
12
nonbinary people and expand services for
13
transgender and nonbinary survivors;
14
(ii) investing in mental health services
15
and suicide prevention programs designed
16
for transgender and nonbinary people;
17
(iii) banning fraudulent and harmful
18
so-called ‘‘conversion therapy’’ practices;
19
(iv) ensuring robust regulations and
20
procedures that affirm that claims for im-
21
migration relief or asylum based on perse-
22
cution related to gender, sexual orienta-
23
tion, gender identity, and sex characteris-
24
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•SRES 144 IS
tics are protected grounds in the context of
1
asylum adjudications; and
2
(v) exploring policies and practices
3
that
would
improve
the
safety
of
4
transgender and nonbinary individuals in-
5
carcerated in jails, prisons, and immigra-
6
tion detention facilities, and ensure that
7
those populations of transgender and non-
8
binary individuals have access to gender-
9
affirming care, appropriate services, and
10
commissary items; and
11
(F) actively enforcing the civil rights of
12
transgender and nonbinary people by all gov-
13
ernment agencies including by—
14
(i) requiring the Attorney General to
15
designate a liaison within the Civil Rights
16
Division of the Department of Justice
17
whose job is dedicated to advising on and
18
overseeing enforcement of the civil rights
19
of transgender and nonbinary people; and
20
(ii) appropriating the funds necessary
21
to fully staff and support the enforcement
22
of these rights across agencies;
23
(2) the actions listed in this resolution are only
24
the first steps toward transgender equality;
25
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•SRES 144 IS
(3) to carry out the goals in this resolution,
1
Federal agencies must collect gender identity and
2
sex characteristics information on a voluntary, con-
3
fidential basis solely for equity and public health
4
purposes in key Federal surveys;
5
(4) the Federal Government must make an on-
6
going commitment to the rights of transgender and
7
nonbinary people; and
8
(5) policies concerning transgender rights must
9
be led and informed by transgender communities, in
10
particular Black and Indigenous women who face
11
heightened risk of violence, poverty, discrimination,
12
and other harm due to their intersecting identities.
13
Æ
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