Pronouns, Bathrooms, Reality: Cruz, Rubio Blast HHS Secretary for New Rules

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), James Lankford (R-OK), and other upper chamber Republicans sent a scathing letter to Secretary Xavier Becerra of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In their correspondence, they accused HHS of compelling the speech of its employees regarding pronouns, limiting religious freedoms, and endangering women.

In the letter, the senators shared their concerns with the notion that failing to use “preferred names and pronouns” creates an “unlawful work environment” for HHS employees.

“We write out of deep concern over Guidance you issued entitled ‘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,’” wrote the senators.

Moreover, Senators Cruz, Rubio, and others added that without requiring documentation of name or pronoun changes, the “unlawful” workplace becomes chaotic and without fair order.

“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,” said the senators.

Furthermore, the Republican senators mentioned that the “compelled speech related to pronoun usage” isn’t even what they believe to be the worst of the policy initiatives from Secretary Becerra and HHS.

“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,” concluded the senators.

Joining Cruz and Rubio were Senators Jim Risch (R-ID), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Steve Daines (R-MT).