Recent guidance addressing U.S. Health and Human Services employees concerning gender policies has U.S. Senator James Lankford and others raising concerns. The group has sent a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra about the next guidance called, “Gender Identity Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policy for Employees and Applicants.”
“According to the Guidance, failure to use the preferred names and pronouns an individual asks to be addressed with ‘contribute[s] to an unlawful hostile work environment.’ Notably, your Guidance states that the Department cannot ‘require a legal change of name or gender marker, medical certification, or other documentation.’ In other words, anyone can change their names and pronouns and compel coworkers to use that name or pronoun, or face disciplinary action,” the Senators wrote.
“Perhaps more egregious than the Guidance’s position on compelled speech related to pronoun usage is the policy on bathroom, locker room, and lactation room usage. According to the Guidance, HHS will ‘ensure there are no barriers to equally accessing restrooms, locker rooms, lactation rooms, or other personal care spaces.’…Including lactation rooms in this same Guidance is blatantly offensive—males cannot breastfeed their children, and claiming to be female does not change that reality. The only reason for including this in the Guidance is to continue to push a radical agenda in every facet of the federal workplace,” the Senators continued.
Lankford was joined by U.S. Senators Jim Risch, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, Steve Daines, and Ted Cruz.
Lankford is the chair of the Senate Values Action Team.
