This story appeared in the April 15, 2003 edition of the Albany Times-Union. You can follow these developments at transgenderlaw.org
Activists return to lobby for
law
By Elizabeth Benjamin
Transgender New Yorkers returned to the Capitol Monday seeking protections they fought for last year when the state Legislature approved a landmark gay rights bill.
Three dozen activists lobbied lawmakers for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, making it illegal to discriminate based on "gender identity or expression" in employment, housing, education and credit.
The legislation would apply to anyone "having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance behavior or expression ... different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth."
That definition encompasses a wide variety of people, from effeminate men and manly or "butch" women to cross-dressers and people who have undergone or are in the process of obtaining sex-change surgery.
"This is not complicated, this is about basic human rights," said Sen. Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, the state Senate's GENDA sponsor and also its only openly gay member.
Aspokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said that he "opposes discrimination in any form," and "looks forward" to seeing the bill. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, did not return a call for comment.
Last year, Bruno agreed to bring a gay rights bill -- the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act -- up for a vote after Senate leaders had refused to do so for 31 years. The measure, already approved by the Assembly, was passed and signed into law by Republican Gov. George Pataki.
The move was widely seen as a quid pro quo among Bruno, Pataki and the state's largest gay rights group, the Empire State Pride Agenda, which endorsed the governor's successful bid for a third term. All sides rejected that scenario.
The Pride Agenda's refusal to add transgender protections to SONDA for fear of it failing in the Senate caused a rift between the gay and transgender communities. That rift appeared healed, or at least on the mend, on Monday when Ross Levi, the Pride Agenda's legislative counsel, pledged to fight for GENDA.
SONDA was almost derailed last year when Sen. David Paterson, D-Harlem, then newly elected as Senate minority leader, threatened to withhold support if transgender people were excluded. He voted for the bill, but promised to continue to fight for transgender protection.
"If we don't pass this, I will never feel that my leadership was a success," he said on Monday.
