IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 545 

Recognizing the violence and other challenges faced by transgender women 

of color in America. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 

Mr. ELLISON (for himself, Ms. LEE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. POCAN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. TAKANO, and Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Education and 

the Workforce, Financial Services, and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the violence and other challenges faced by 

transgender women of color in America. 

Whereas there is a long history of violence targeting 

transgender women of color in America, and much of it 

goes unreported or is reported inaccurately; 

Whereas 2016 was the deadliest year on record for 

transgender people in the United States, with 21 murders 

of transgender women in 2016, almost all of whom were 

transgender women of color, and there had been 18 as 

of September 6, 2017, almost all of them, transgender 

women of color; 


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Whereas transgender women of color experience discrimination in educational settings and are expelled from school 

at twice the rate of the nontransgender population; 

Whereas transgender women of color are more likely to experience violence, including in prisons and immigration detention facilities; 

Whereas discriminatory attitudes toward the transgender 

community foster high rates of violence, homelessness, 

and economic instability; 

Whereas transgender women of color who do not have access 

to safe education, employment, and housing due to a lack 

of availability, targeted support programs, training, or affordability are forced into unregulated economies that 

place them in vulnerable situations; 

Whereas African-American transgender women of color experience unemployment two to three times higher than 

nontransgender African-American people in the United 

States population according to a 2015 U.S. Transgender 

Survey (‘‘USTS’’) of over 25,000 transgender people 

across the United States; 

Whereas respondents to the USTS who were currently working in the underground economy were three times more 

likely than nontransgender people to have been expelled 

from school; 

Whereas transgender women of color are substantially more 

likely to report being homeless because of being 

transgender; 

Whereas transgender women of color, including American Indian (59 percent), African-American (51 percent), multiracial (51 percent), and Middle Eastern (49 percent), experienced especially high rates of homelessness; 


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Whereas transgender women of color are more likely to receive unequal treatment or service than White 

transgender people; 

Whereas transgender women have repeatedly stated that 

when police officers knew or thought they were 

transgender, the officers maliciously and frequently referred to them as the wrong gender, verbally harassed 

them, or physically attacked them; 

Whereas transgender women of color, including American Indian (74 percent), multiracial (71 percent), Latina (66 

percent), and African-American (61 percent) respondents 

to the USTS were more likely to have experienced one or 

more forms of mistreatment; 

Whereas transgender women of color were more likely to report that an officer assumed they were sex workers, including African-American (33 percent), multiracial (30 

percent), Latino (25 percent), American Indian (23 percent), and Asian (20 percent); and 

Whereas transgender women of color, including AfricanAmerican (9 percent) and American Indian (6 percent) 

women, were more likely to have been incarcerated in the 

past year (Figure 14.11 of the U.S. Transgender Survey), than were respondents who had been homeless in 

the past year (7 percent): Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives encour2 ages the development of policies that support transgender 

3 women of color and the transgender community, includ4 ing— 

5 (1) developing a public education campaign to 

6 dispel myths and to humanize transgender people; 


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1 (2) ending the school-to-prison pipeline that oc2 curs when mistreatment, harassment, and physical 

3 violence are not addressed, or due to the harsh dis4 ciplinary policies that disproportionately effect 

5 transgender students; 

6 (3) developing antidiscriminatory employment 

7 practices and promote policies for accepting and in8 clusive work environments; 

9 (4) ending aggressive police tactics that dis10 proportionately target transgender people, and edu11 cating law enforcement about common 

12 antitransgender biases and practices to ensure 

13 transgender people are safer when interacting with 

14 law enforcement; 

15 (5) ensuring access to affordable education; 

16 (6) ensuring access to affordable housing; 

17 (7) ensuring access to inclusive, comprehensive 

18 health care for transgender people; 

19 (8) developing affirming policies and procedures 

20 to safeguard incarcerated transgender people from 

21 violence and abuse in Federal, State, and local cus22 tody and immigration detention; 

23 (9) ending the practice of placing transgender 

24 people in solitary confinement; 


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1 (10) ending the practice of immigration deten2 tion for vulnerable populations, including 

3 transgender people; 

4 (11) developing policies and procedures to swift5 ly accept transgender people seeking asylum in the 

6 United States; and 

7 (12) ending the law enforcement practice of ra8 cial profiling. 

Æ 


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