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. KEN-
NEDY, 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 pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee 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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•HRES 545 IH 
Whereas transgender women of color experience discrimina-
tion 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 expe-
rience violence, including in prisons and immigration de-
tention 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 af-
fordability are forced into unregulated economies that 
place them in vulnerable situations; 
Whereas African-American transgender women of color expe-
rience 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 work-
ing 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 In-
dian (59 percent), African-American (51 percent), multi-
racial (51 percent), and Middle Eastern (49 percent), ex-
perienced especially high rates of homelessness; 
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•HRES 545 IH 
Whereas transgender women of color are more likely to re-
ceive 
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 re-
ferred to them as the wrong gender, verbally harassed 
them, or physically attacked them; 
Whereas transgender women of color, including American In-
dian (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 re-
port that an officer assumed they were sex workers, in-
cluding African-American (33 percent), multiracial (30 
percent), Latino (25 percent), American Indian (23 per-
cent), and Asian (20 percent); and 
Whereas transgender women of color, including African- 
American (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 Sur-
vey), than were respondents who had been homeless in 
the past year (7 percent): Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives encour-
ages the development of policies that support transgender 
women of color and the transgender community, includ-
ing— 
(1) developing a public education campaign to 
dispel myths and to humanize transgender people; 
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•HRES 545 IH 
(2) ending the school-to-prison pipeline that oc-
curs when mistreatment, harassment, and physical 
violence are not addressed, or due to the harsh dis-
ciplinary policies that disproportionately effect 
transgender students; 
(3) developing antidiscriminatory employment 
practices and promote policies for accepting and in-
clusive work environments; 
(4) ending aggressive police tactics that dis-
proportionately target transgender people, and edu-
cating 
law 
enforcement 
about 
common 
antitransgender biases and practices to ensure 
transgender people are safer when interacting with 
law enforcement; 
(5) ensuring access to affordable education; 
(6) ensuring access to affordable housing; 
(7) ensuring access to inclusive, comprehensive 
health care for transgender people; 
(8) developing affirming policies and procedures 
to safeguard incarcerated transgender people from 
violence and abuse in Federal, State, and local cus-
tody and immigration detention; 
(9) ending the practice of placing transgender 
people in solitary confinement; 
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