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Empire State Pride Agenda thinks that the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) (A.5710/Gottfried)(S.2406/Duane) can pass this winter, so wipe that Cheetos smear from your mug and get to work!
GENDA has enough support to be passed by the Senate and the Assembly and signed into law within the next few weeks. The Assembly has passed GENDA twice already. The remaining hurdle is the Senate, where our public scorecard shows that GENDA has the support it needs to pass. The time is NOW to kick off our final push to bring GENDA to the floor of the Senate for a vote to end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers.We need you to take action NOW. With just two phone calls to Senators, you can help us win:
1. Call Senator Tom Duane, lead sponsor of GENDA, at (518) 455-2451. Ask Senator Duane to bring the bill to the floor for a vote in February.
2. Call your own Senator to tell them that you expect them to bring GENDA to the floor and vote in support of it. You can find your State Senator’s Albany phone number here. Here are some talking points for your calls:
1. Remember to tell your Senator the number of the GENDA bill (S.2406).
2. Ask your Senator to vote for GENDA, and if you are able to attend a legislative meeting, ask to meet with him or her to discuss the urgency of passing this bill right away.
3. Tell them about the urgent need for GENDA:
o Due to difficulty with job discrimination, one-fifth of transgender New Yorkers have incomes below $10,000 a year.
o 28% of transgender New Yorkers have experienced a serious physical or sexual assault motivated by hate.4. Remind them that GENDA enjoys broad support statewide, including:
o 78% of New York voters
o Unions representing 2.1 million working New Yorkers
o 30 Fortune 500 companies based in cities like Rochester, Corning, New York City and White Plains
o 547 clergy and lay leaders representing over 20 different denominationsWorking together, we can win! Start making those phone calls now!
GENDA would amend the state’s human rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression, providing crucial civil rights protections for transgender New Yorkers by banning discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life. It would also add gender identity and expression to the state’s bias crime laws to help protect transgender people from violence. Last month, Governor Paterson signed an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and expression for state employees-but our work isn’t over until ALL New Yorkers are protected by a comprehensive law banning discrimination against transgender people.
16 Comments
I find it oddThat Rhode Island of all places has had full EHCNDA for LGB since 1996, and for T since 2001. Yet NY is just now getting around to the T part?
every state is different.some passed genda right off the bat, others split it into separate lgb and t efforts. some accomplished this over a decade ago, others only recently. go figure.
sighThe least they could do after that cowardly display on the marriage bill. Watch the people who will vote for this but voted against marriage, these are the spineless cowards that will not do whats right because they fear not getting reelected.
Let’s hope it passes!Then maybe Connecticut will pass its bill before the short session ends in May. We’re such followers here, we do what New York does.
i would be thrilled…if some legislators who voted against marriage vote for genda and gets it passed. absolutely thrilled. the two issues are different and offer different hurdles to passage, so i will praise any legislator who votes for either (and of course lionize whoever votes for both).
really?you certainly didn’t follow new york when it came to your supreme court’s marriage decision and marriage legislation. and thank heavens connecticut hasn’t followed new york into that embarrassing senate coup/meltdown that happened this summer.
Remember the NH voteNarrowly in favour of Gay Marriage : Unanimously against giving T’s the same human rights that GLBs have had for a decade.
Tom Duane?Not to be a downer, but if passage of GENDA depends on Senator Duane being a competent and effective legislator, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. He showed during the marriage equality debate that he’s borderline incompetent and, in fact, an embarrassment to the community. Did anyone else see his rambling, incoherent remarks celebrating passage, right before the Senate rejected the bill by a healthy margin? He had no idea what was happening on his own bill in his own chamber, nor the communication skills to effectively advocate for it.
You mean…He’s a Democrat.
I believe you’re misrepresenting that vote.Ever heard of procedural votes? However, if you want to wallow in total defeatism and be as destructively divisive as possible, I can’t stop you.
you’re helping crush any enthusiasm to get this passed, again.why? what are you so bitter about that you can’t stand to see americans working for justice? you have helped poison the enthusiasm in several diaries i’ve posted recently related to the promotion of t legislation or marriage equality in a state still working on t protections. why? why are you being so destructive? whose side are you on?
Enthusiasm?You may portray Zoe’s comments “crushing enthusiasm”, but I’d just call it being realistic myself. It may strike you as being pessimistic, but, as has already been pointed out, Sen. Duane hasn’t got the best track record on being effective, and when’s the last time the Democrats have done any of the things they’ve told us they would, anyway?
I am strongly in favour of GENDAand will call my behind off to try and get it, but as of now we are at least three votes short in the Senate…ESPA and Senator Duane’s math skills remain problematic.
Two words stand in the way of GENDA: Ruben Diaz
which democrats are you talking about?if you mean the democrats in new york, it looks to me like they’re actually listening to the need for this legislation. the democrats (and some republicans) in washington state got us full domestic partnerships, anti-discrimination and hate crimes protections recently. the democrats (and some republicans) in nevada just created full domestic partnerships. the democrats in california have passed about 50 pro-lgbt bill, including marriage legislation (twice). the democrats (and some republicans) in massachusetts voted to kill the anti-equality constitutional amendment. the democrats in maine have passed non-discrimination, domestic partnership and marriage laws. the democrats in vermont and new hampshire have some the same.
i could go on and on. the democrats are not perfect, but neither are they all rovian monsters. when you want to criticize “democrats”, try to be more specific.
Diagnosing the problem is the first stepWe have to tread a fine line between hopelessness and pollyanna-ish optimism.
First: nothing is hopeless, not completely. As long as we keep going in the right direction, however slowly, we’ll get there in the end. If stymied in one area, we move to another. Never give up, never give in, never surrender.
But there has been far too much un-evidenced optimism. Why were we stung by Obama’s lack of action? The signs were there. We preferred not to see them. So we did sweet fanny adams. When the DNC policy platform on GLB(t) issues was weakened well before the election, we just assumed everything would turn out right anyway.
Fact: the last time the GOP had a majority as great as 59:41 was in the 1920′s. They managed to do a few things despite that. More in fact than the Dems have managed with a 60:40 majority.
“I belong to no organised party: I am a Democrat” – Will Rogers (died 1935)
state lawis passed by state legislators, so pan-century discussion about congressional democrats seems really out of the scope of this diary. how again is it related to passing genda in new york?