New York is one of only three states which protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but not on the basis of gender identity. The other two are Wisconsin and New Hampshire.
Partially that is because too many people believe that the protections afforded to LGB people automagically extend to transgender people. But the law knows what we have have been enunciating for years: sexual orientation and gender are not the same.
Sexual orientation is about who you desire to go to bed with. Gender identity is about who we go to bed as. In other words, sex is between our legs. Gender is between our ears.
Well, once again the state of New York has a chance to remedy their deficiency. The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) is once again being brought forward. GENDA has passed the State Assembly seven times over the past decade, but has never passed in the Senate.
People are up against their ability to be themselves. And that's really what it comes down to. And the ability to be oneself is something most of us can't imagine.
--Matthew Crehan Higgins, Pride Center of Western New York.
GENDA is being co-sponsored by State Senator Tim Kennedy.
GENDA will help ensure that all New Yorkers have the same protections under the law. Protections against discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and even access to credit. It's simply a matter of human rights.
--Kennedy
97% of transgender people have been mistreated or harassed about their gender on the job. 26% have lost a job because of anti-transgender bias. 75% of transgender children in New York report being harassed in school.
People make jokes, people do things to address their own comfort - or I think their own insecurities - and sometimes that comes out directed at the person who is making the transition.
--Crehan Higgins
Trans New Yorkers are still vulnerable to discrimination in their homes, at workplaces, and in public. Without a statewide bill that protects everyone from discrimination, trans New Yorkers are placed at significant disadvantages.
--Nathan Schaefer, Empire State Pride Agenda
City and County statutes protect 60% of transgender people in the state, but they are inconsistent and there are an estimated 23,000 transgender people who are unprotected.
a poll commissioned by ESPA disclosed that 78% of New Yorkers support passing a law that protects transgender people from discrimination "in employment, housing, public accommodations and other areas of everyday life"
I’m hopeful members in every state stand up for basic rights. With the governor's support, the Assembly has passed it seven times, every year we’ve pushed it a little farther. We are closer than we’ve been. But we don’t have the commitments yet that add up to passage.
--State Senator Daniel Squadron, sponsor of the bill
Cuomo's support has been, at best, tepid.
New York State prides itself in on its self proclaimed status of diversity and inclusion.
Yet for many New Yorkers these words to not match the reality of our lives. Many New Yorkers still live in poverty, discrimination, social injustice and a legal system that systematically and disproportionately targets people of color in a wide range of legal, social and economic issues.
New York State’s Human Rights Law specifically states that it is illegal to discriminate against any person on the basis of an individual’s age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, marital status, or disability.
Yet even today, New York State has failed to ensure the security, basic human rights, freedoms and protections for the transgender community residing in this state.
--Kelly Metzger