It’s on the A-GENDA
Activists after last year’s GENDA victory. Can GENDA become law this year?
The New York State Assembly passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) for the second year in a row on Tuesday in a vote of 97-38. Advocates who have worked on this bill are extremely optimistic that the Senate will pass the legislation this year, finally making discrimination on the basis of gender expression and identity illegal in New York. The bill passed after a 15 minute debate (as opposed to the hour and a half last year).
Transgender people would particularly benefit from the law which bans discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations and other areas protected by the state human rights law. “The experience of transgender individuals, and the discrimination they face, are unique, and should be specifically identified and unambiguously rejected in our State’s civil rights laws, just like discrimination based on age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, race, disability, or ethnicity,” said Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, sponsor of the Assembly bill. A.5710. Senator Tom Duane sponsors the Senate companion, S. 2406.
Although the fight for marriage equality has grabbed mainstream headlines this year, passing GENDA is another important issue for LGBT activists and one we are likely to win. While three Senate Democrats are against GENDA, New York Transgender Rights Organization (NYTRO) Director JoAnne Prinzavelli said she is confident that the there are at least four Republicans in support of GENDA to offset them. “I don’t want to say who because I don’t want to upset the apple cart,” Prinzavelli said.
Right-on Republicans?
Republicans have already shown their willingness to support the bill. In the Assembly, one-third of Republicans voted in favor of GENDA both this year and last year. Last year, during the contentious debate, Republican Assemblymember Joel Miller gave one of the most persuasive arguments for passing GENDA. “As a dentist, if a patient told me he was in pain, it’s my job to understand he’s in pain,” Miller said last June. “It’s time to recognize the human experience is supposed to recognize all kinds of experiences and that people of transgender experience are facing more hardship than those who think they will be hurt by this new law.”
The bill must get through the Investigations and Government Operations committee before going to the Rules committee. Activists are lobbying those members during Empire State Pride Agenda’s lobby day on Tuesday, April 28. And Duane said he’s going to push GENDA’s introduction in the Senate.
“Bringing GENDA to the floor of the Senate, six years after the passage of SONDA, is a priority for me this legislative session,” Duane said.
A bipartisan effort
The bill actually passed by a wider margin in the Assembly this year than last year, although two more members voted no. One of them was Assembly Member Anthony Seminerio who voted for the bill last year but against it this year.
New York City, Buffalo, Syracuse Ithaca, and Suffolk County all protect individuals on the basis of gender identity. This fact has made it possible for a transgender woman verbally assaulted by a New York City Transit Authority employee to sue under New York City human rights’ law. GENDA’s passage will extend these rights throughout the state.
Posted on April 22, 2009 at 10:11 pm
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