Should Women Fleeing Violence Be Forced to Share Shelters with Men?
By Lauren Bone, WoLF Legal Director
WoLF Supports HUD Proposal Restoring Sex-Based Protections for Women's Shelters
Imagine escaping domestic violence, finally reaching what you believe is a safe women's shelter, and being told you must share sleeping quarters, bathrooms, and other intimate spaces with a man.
For many women, that isn't hypothetical. Under current federal regulations, many HUD-funded women's shelters have been required to admit men who identify as women, even when doing so compromises the privacy, dignity, and sense of safety of female residents.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has now proposed reversing that policy. The Women's Liberation Front (WoLF) recently submitted a public comment strongly supporting the proposal, which would restore sex-based protections for women's shelters and replace references to "gender identity" with clear, biologically based definitions of sex.
As HUD itself recognizes, forcing women to choose between sharing intimate spaces with men and remaining homeless is no choice at all. The proposed rule recognizes what women in crisis have always known: sex matters. Women's shelters exist for a reason. Many women who seek emergency housing are escaping male violence, sexual assault, trafficking, or domestic abuse. More have experienced homelessness, addiction, or severe trauma. They deserve spaces where they can recover without being required to share sleeping quarters, bathrooms, or other intimate facilities with men. Even the possibility that men may be housed alongside them can discourage women from seeking shelter, leaving them even more vulnerable.
WoLF strongly supports two key aspects of HUD's proposal.
The rule would replace references to subjective concepts such as "gender identity" with objective, biologically based definitions of sex. Civil rights laws protecting women were enacted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex—not gender identity. Returning to clear, sex-based language helps preserve the legal protections women fought to secure.
The proposal would once again allow federally funded women's shelters to limit admission to women. This recognizes both the purpose of single-sex shelters and the reality that women have legitimate privacy and safety interests that cannot be dismissed as prejudice.
As our comment explains, this issue is not theoretical.
The comment also discusses the tragic case of Harvey Marcelin, a convicted murderer and sex offender who identified as transgender and was placed in a women's shelter in New York City pursuant to policies requiring placement based on gender identity. Marcelin later murdered fellow shelter resident Susan Leyden. While this was an extreme case, it illustrates a broader problem: policies that prioritize gender identity over sex can prevent shelter staff from exercising sound judgment when assessing risk.
On a related note, one of the most troubling aspects of the public comment process has been watching well-funded, influential organizations that claim to represent women’s interests actively oppose restoring sex-based protections for women's shelters. Women fleeing abuse and homelessness deserve better than being told their privacy and safety concerns are discriminatory.
Sadly, the opposition to HUD's proposal is consistent with a broader pattern. Too many legacy women's organizations have embraced policies that subordinate women's sex-based rights to gender identity ideology—even when those policies undermine women's safety, privacy, and dignity. Last year, WoLF addressed this growing divide in its Declaration of No Confidence in the Leadership of Legacy Women's Organizations, calling on organizations that claim to represent women either to recommit to protecting women's rights or to stop claiming to speak on women's behalf.
Unlike these other “women’s” organizations, WoLF recognizes that:
Women's shelters exist for a reason. They are not arbitrary exclusions; they serve women recovering from male violence.
The proposal doesn't "ban" anyone from shelter. It restores sex-based placement while leaving other shelter options available. Individuals will continue to have access to shelters designated for their sex, and to mixed-sex facilities.
Words in law matter. Replacing "sex" with "gender identity" wasn't just semantic—it changed who the law protects and how women's rights are enforced.
WoLF appreciates HUD's willingness to revisit this issue through the formal rulemaking process and urges the Department to finalize the proposal.
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