Elizabeth Warren warns new Trump federal housing rule could put LGBTQ+ people on the street

Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is leading a group of Senate Democrats in accusing the Trump administration of quietly using a proposed housing rule to strip LGBTQ+ people of federal protections, including by removing “sexual orientation” from Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations and allowing shelter providers to scrutinize the sex of people seeking a place to sleep.In a letter sent Wednesday morning to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and obtained by The Advocate, Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon led 22 of their Senate colleagues in calling on HUD to withdraw its proposed “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions” rule. Signers include U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the first out lesbian elected to the Senate, as well as prominent Democratic Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Adam Schiff of California, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.The senators argue that the proposal goes beyond President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting so-called “gender ideology” by striking sexual orientation protections without making that change clear to the public.Related: Donald Trump attacks trans women in Women’s History Month proclamationA housing fight inside a housing crisis“The Trump Administration would rather you didn’t notice that it’s enabling housing discrimination against the LGBTQ community by quietly removing sexual orientation and gender identity from its list of protected characteristics,” Warren told The Advocate in an email statement. “LGBTQ Americans, who are disproportionately at risk of homelessness, deserve a safe place to call home.”The warning comes just days after the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan housing affordability package co-led by Warren and Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South