May 23, 2008
GENDA MOVES FORWARD
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Thank you Assemblyman Lentol! |
For the first time in five years of trying, the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act (A6584) passed through the New York State Assembly's Codes committee, chaired by Assemblymember Joseph Lentol, by a vote of 16-2. The next stop is the Assembly floor. GENDA, as the bill is known, would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression in health care, housing, employment, and public accommodations.
GENDA has more than 70 co-sponsors in the Assembly, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has repeatedly blocked it from coming to the floor for a vote. GENDA activists are genuinely optimistic that this year could be different. Sign up with the Empire State Pride Agenda to know when you need to call your Assemblymembers to tell them to act immediately and bring this bill to a vote in the Assembly. On a strategically chosen day to be announced very soon, members of the Assembly will hear directly from the 78 percent of New Yorkers who support transgender equality and the passage of GENDA. To get in on the action, sign up for the Statewide Call-In Day for Transgender Equality by clicking on the GENDA Call-In Day box on the Pride Agenda website: prideagenda.org.
"This is a special day for transgender people and their allies," said director of the New York Transgender Rights Organization Melissa Sklarz. "Transgender people can even hope and think about lobbying the State Senate to make the bill the law of the state and to increase civil rights protection for trans-and gender-variant people in New York," Sklarz said. Advocates have been waiting for the Democratic-controlled Assembly to pass GENDA before pushing the bill to the Senate, which has a slim Republican majority.
Response from the Assembly for GENDA have thus far been overwhelmingly positive. "I am happy that once again members of the Codes Committee stood up for equality," Lentol said. Other members that voted in favor of the bill were Philip Boyle, James Brennan, Vivian E. Cook, Steven Cymbrowitz, Tom Kirwan, Charles Lavine, Daniel J. O'Donnell, N. Nick Perry, J. Gary Petrlow, Dede Scozzafava, Michele Titus, Helene Weinstein, Mark Weprin, Keith Wright and Kenneth Zebrowski. If any folks in this bipartisan group are your representatives, call to say thanks! Asssemblymembers David Townsend and George Amedore voted against GENDA, so if either of these men represents you, also call with a piece of your mind.