WHEREAS, the United Federation of Teachers has always supported and stood up for equity, equality, and justice for all people, and

WHEREAS, in 2016 former president Barack Obama's administration changed federal health care guidelines outlined in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to expand sex-based protections to include protections based on gender identity, "which may be male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female," and

WHEREAS, on June 12, 2020, just two weeks into Pride Month — and on the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting — the Trump administration announced that it is changing Obama-era health care protections for transgender people, a rule that will impact their ability to fight against discrimination by doctors, medical facilities and health insurance providers, and

WHEREAS, on June 12, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a statement saying the final rule is based on "the plain meaning of the word 'sex' as male or female and as determined by biology" and also argued that health care based on sex assigned at birth, rather than gender identity, is necessary for health care, and insinuated that transgender health care may be confusing for providers, and WHEREAS, the director of HHS office for Civil Rights, Roger Severino, stated, “HHS respects the dignity of every human being”, and

WHEREAS, on June 12, 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union responded to the Trump Administration’s announcement, by tweeting the rule "will embolden health care discrimination against transgender people, those seeking reproductive health care, and many other individuals who need health care — all while a global pandemic is occurring," and

WHEREAS, transgender individuals have for a long time, faced discrimination in health care; according to the U.S. Transgender Survey, 25% of the 28,000 individuals (7,000) who took the survey reported that they have experienced an insurance issue because of their gender identity and even more reported that they have been verbally harassed, been denied treatment or sexual health screenings, or had health care provider who did not know how to medically treat transgender individuals, and

WHEREAS, according to the survey, those who are transgender are more likely among the general U.S. population to be uninsured, and

WHEREAS, HRC, Lambda Legal, and other LGBTQIA+ organizations have announced plans to sue the Trump Administration for “attempting to remove basic health care protections from vulnerable communities including LGBTQ people”, and

WHEREAS, in this June alone, the transgender and gender non-conforming community additionally have had a multitude of attacks, and

WHEREAS, on June 6, 2020, world renown author, JK Rowling, best-selling author of the Harry Potter series, tweeted a series of transphobic tweets, and

WHEREAS, the Trump administration “has been working to pursue a narrow definition of sex as biologically determined at birth, and to tailor its civil rights laws to meet it. Access to school bathrooms would be determined by biology not gender identity. The military would no longer be open to transgender service members. Civil rights protections would not extend to transgender people in hospitals and ambulances” NY Times, June 16, 2020), and

WHEREAS, HHS made its announcement in the same week when two black transgender women, Dominique Fells and Riah Milton, were murdered, and

WHEREAS, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), transwomen of color – particularly Black transgender women – are disproportionately affected by fatal violence, with at least 14 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been violently killed since the year’s start, and

BE IT THERE RESOLVED that the United Federation of Teachers opposes and unequivocally condemns the transphobic health policies of the Trump Administration, and transphobia in all the institutions in which we work, and

RESOLVED that the UFT urges all politicians, celebrities and public figures to refrain from rhetoric, actions and/or policies that will directly jeopardize the safety, livelihood, and well-being of our transgender staff-members, students, and patients — all of whom deserve the human right to feel safe and respected in the schools, clinics, and hospitals in which we work, and

RESOLVED, that the UFT continues to increase and strengthen its relationships with those local LGBTQIA+ organizations who share our UFT beliefs, missions, and policies in regards to the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly for our members, students, and patients, and encourage our state and national affiliates to do the same on their levels, and

RESOLVED, that the UFT will work with its state and national affiliates — NYSUT, AFT, and NEA and other LGBTQIA+ allies — to support the work being done to ensure that the rights of the transgender and non-gender conforming community will be equitable to all other protected classes.