Get your ow
n diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry

7:58 a.m. - Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002
NY Don't (Heart) MsLeslie
For Immediate Release: Dated December 19, 2002

From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)

Contacts: Robyn Walters, Seattle, Washington

NTAC Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas

Contact Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

Contact Phone: 832-483-9901

360-437-4091

Website: http://www.ntac.org

NEW YORK SENATE: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO STATE'S GAYS, LESBIANS

TRANSGENDERS LEFT OUT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTIONS

In a day that saw transgender and religious-right protesters standing

cheek-to-jowl on the steps of the state capitol, taking shots against

"special rights," and occasionally taking on each other, the New York State

Senate passed the Sexual Orientation Non Discrimination Act (SONDA) on

December 17, 2002. Republican Gov. George Pataki signed the historic

gay-rights bill on Tuesday evening just hours after the GOP-controlled state

Senate approved the measure.

SONDA, passed as Senate Bill 720 (SB 720), extends the state's civil rights

laws to make discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing,

employment, education, health care and other public services illegal. With a

vote of 34-26, New York now joins eleven other states and the District of

Columbia with sexual orientation nondiscrimination laws.

The successful bill was sponsored by Sen. Nancy Hoffmann (R-Syracuse) and

urged onto the floor as the favored bill by Senate Speaker Joseph Bruno

(R-Saratoga Springs). But SB 720 was unusual in that even though the bill

did not cover parts of the community - as did the Democrat sponsored SB 1985

- the Republican leadership ignored charges of "special rights over equal

rights" and pressed forward with the bill. Traditionally, Republicans have

criticized enacting protections for GLBT citizens as supporting "special

rights."

The Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), New York's largest gay-rights group,

savored the victory. ESPA, which endorsed Gov. Pataki in his bid for a third

term, met privately late last week with Republican Sen. Bruno, who agreed

earlier to bring SONDA up for a vote in this month's special session.

Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan), sponsor of the competing SB 1985 which

mirrored the Republican version except for its inclusion of "gender identity

or expression," was not invited to the meeting. This caused concern and

suspicion among Democrats, the transgendered and transgender-inclusive

portions of the gay and lesbian community.

Sen. Daniel Hevesi (D-Queens) called the SONDA vote "simply reprehensible."

"The way this bill came to the floor today was not through some Democratic

process," said Hevesi, who voted for SONDA but wanted it amended to include

protection for transgender individuals. "It was a deal made solely for

political expediency."

"I'm disappointed," said Chelsea Goodwin, a former board member of the

National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC). "I want to send a message

that backroom political deals that extend to some of us - but not all of us -

are not acceptable and will not be tolerated!"

Some of the transgenders angered at the perceived "backroom deal" were part

of a contingent outside of the state capitol building, protesting the

incomplete protections. At times, both groups chanted the same "no special

rights" mantra; and at other times, the two groups clashed. In the end, both

groups' concerns - like themselves - were left outside in the cold Christmas

air.

Matt Foreman, executive director of ESPA, hailed SONDA as "one of the

broadest anti-gay discrimination laws in the nation." Both Foreman and Sen.

Bruno appeared pleased with the successful results.

"The bill still needs to be revised" said Kristina Vega transgender activist

from New York. "We have always been left out and we are tired."

"It's disheartening that once again Mr. Foreman has placed transgendered

people at the bottom of his agenda," said Denise Ives, a lesbian activist

from Greenwich Village. Ives, and her partner, Jeanine Presa, who was

recently fired from ABP Investments in New York when they discovered she was

a lesbian, were not pleased with ESPA's support in their case, or the

political expediency of their endorsed bill. Ives considered it "not much of

a victory because people can still be harmed" by discrimination.

"I feel great about SONDA passing, said Sen. Duane, who introduced the

amendment to extend SONDA to cover gender identity and expression, "but I

feel like I have to get up tomorrow and fight again because not everyone got

covered." Sen. Duane's bill failed with a 19-41 margin, which attracted no

Republican votes. The GOP's version of SONDA had 21 Democrats and 13

Republican Senators voting for the measure.

As a good portion of the queer community enjoys an early Christmas

celebration, transgender activists have resigned themselves to the fact that

the journey just got tougher, and the fight will continue for some time to

come. Already, there is call for beginning work on a GENDA bill, which will

copy the SONDA bill with the Sexual Orientation language amended to gender

identity and expression.

"It's not upstate, downstate, Republican, Democrat, black, white, straight,

gay," said an obviously pleased Gov. Pataki after the SONDA victory. "We're

one New York."

With the transgender and intersexual community still on the outside, looking

in, the governor's statement is curious. It begs the question: when will it

be "one New York?"

- 30 -

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a

�501(c)(4) civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the

right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and

work without fear of violence or discrimination.

0 comments so far

previous - next

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!