Assembly Passes Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act
March 2nd, 2010
Yes, despite all the drama surrounding the the resident of the Executive Mansion the legislature is in session. Sure the Senate is in a bit of a deadlock while it waits for the March 16 special election to fill Hiram Monserrate’s seat, but legislators are still showing up to work.
In fact the Assembly kept up a legislative tradition it has observed for the past few years — it passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act. The bill is intended to protect transgender New Yorker’s from discrimination.
According to the Assembly press office the bill would, ” include transgender people within the protections provided by the Human Rights Law and prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression. Often targets for intolerance and outright bias, transgender people whose gender identity, appearance and behavior differ from those attributed to their sex at birth are vulnerable to hate crimes and face discrimination in housing, employment, credit and public accommodation.”
Its unclear what sort of support the legislation will enjoy in the Senate.
This is an important and overdue protection of human rights, said Assemblyman Richard Gottfried of Manhattan. The experiences of transgender individuals and the discrimination they face, are unique, and should be specifically identified and unambiguously rejected in our states civil rights laws, just like discrimination based on age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, race, disability or ethnicity.
By David King on March 2, 2010, 6:36 pmIn category: Albany,Civil Rights,Eye on Albany | 1 Comment »
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:28 pm
“Its unclear what sort of support the legislation will enjoy in the Senate.” Why is that? Hasn’t the Empire State Pride Agenda and Sen Duane told us this bill has the votes it needs in the past? Or have they squandered that support in their ill advised pursuit of a marriage bill that they knew would lose?
ESPA and the NYS Senate finally need to stand up and do the right thing. The gender variant people of New York State have had to wait far too long for the same protections the GLB community have had for 8 years now. This needs to get done NOW!