Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley delivered an epic takedown of HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday for promoting discrimination against transgender people at federally funded homeless shelters.
CNN reports: The dust-up came during a House Appropriations Committee hearing in which Quigley of asked Carson about a rule proposed by HUD last year that would allow federally funded homeless shelters that have single-sex facilities or areas separated by sex — like bathrooms and sleeping quarters — to establish policy that could result in transgender people being barred or mistreated. During Wednesday’s hearing, Quigley argued Carson was saying “that if someone doesn’t like someone else in that shelter, for whatever reasons, that you can allow discrimination against those people.” … Carson told Quigley during Wednesday’s hearing that he wants “everybody to be taken care of,” and later asked the congressman, who he said was “passionate” about the issue, to provide a “solution.” “Not as passionate as the people on the street,” Quigley shot back. “The law says you can’t discriminate. That’s my solution.”
Last year, Quigley co-authored a resolution condemning Carson’s “transphobic history.”
NBC reported: The move comes two weeks after Carson reportedly disparaged transgender women in comments at HUD’s office in San Francisco. Carson, according to The Washington Post, complained to staff members that society could no longer differentiate between men and women and called transgender women who may seek services from homeless or crisis shelters “big hairy men.” HUD oversees, among other things, federally funded shelters for the country’s homeless, which includes a disproportionate number of transgender people. … “At a minimum, he owes an apology to the staff he subjected to his bigoted remarks, to trans individuals around the country, and to the entire LGBT community,” Quigley wrote. “It is clearer than ever that Secretary Carson’s bigoted views make him unfit to lead HUD and the record must reflect that this Congress does not condone such intolerance.”
