Going Backward

Carson Drops Anti-Discrimination Message From HUD Mission Statement

Previously promised communities “free from discrimination.”

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is altering his department’s mission statement to remove a promise of striving to create inclusive communities without discrimination, the Huffington Post reports. The department’s new mission statement reads: “HUD’s mission is to ensure Americans have access to fair, affordable housing and opportunities to achieve self-sufficiency, thereby strengthening our communities and nation.” It’s quite different from the previous statement, which included a promise of “inclusive” communities which are “free from discrimination.” A memo sent to HUD staff said the new mission statement had been designed “in an effort to align HUD’s mission with the secretary’s priorities and that of the administration.” Carson has previously been criticized for saying that he doesn’t believe LGBT Americans deserve “extra rights.”