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The newly sworn-in Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Scott Turner issued an order directing his department to halt any pending or future enforcement actions related to the 2016 rule entitled “Equal Access in Accordance with an Individual’s Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs.”

In a press statement, HUD said Turner’s action was designed to “ensure housing programs, shelters and other HUD-funded providers offer services to Americans based on their sex at birth: male or female.” While HUD’s Equal Access Rule prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status, the 2016 rule allowed individuals to self-identify their gender without regard to their biological sex.

Turner’s order stated the 2016 rule “limited the rights and abilities of HUD-funded establishments, including shelters, from challenging an individual’s self-identification, allowing biological men to enter shelters intended for women impacted by trauma, domestic abuse and violence.” Turner declared the 2016 rule “tied housing programs, shelters and other facilities funded by HUD to far-left gender ideology.”

“We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on Jan. 20 when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government,” Turner announced. “This means recognizing there are only two sexes: male and female. It means getting government out of the way of what the Lord established from the beginning when he created man in His own image. Moreover, this is just the first of many examples of how, starting on day one, HUD is going back to work for the American people and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars. There will be more where this came from.”