Whereas the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is responsible for safeguarding and serving the most vulnerable among us; Whereas the Secretary of HUD, Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., made statements to HUD employees in San Francisco regarding transgender people; Whereas in those statements, Secretary Carson referred to transgender women as big, hairy men and accused them of pretending to be women to access women’s shelters; Whereas those statements are incredibly disrespectful and reflect bigoted, outdated thinking that is both offensive and counterproductive to the mission of the agency; Whereas the Washington Post has reported that Secretary Carson has repeatedly mocked transgender people in internal meetings in Washington ; Whereas it is the responsibility of the Secretary of HUD, an agency with more than 8,000 employees, to ensure a welcoming work environment that fosters productivity on behalf of the American people; Whereas the Secretary’s comments and cavalier attitude toward those that HUD is supposed to help has created a divisive and demoralizing atmosphere which does not best serve the American people; Whereas a HUD employee was reportedly applauded as she walked out in protest from Secretary Carson’s remarks; Whereas these most recent comments are not the first actions that Secretary Carson has taken that show a basic disrespect toward LGBTQ people; Whereas, in 2015, then-Presidential candidate Carson said, I do not appreciate using our military as a laboratory for social experimentation. The last thing we need to be doing is saying, What would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon? Give me a break. Deal with the transgender thing somewhere else.