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Friday, May 09, 2008
It’s alive!?! Is it possible that GENDA is seeing movement in the Assembly? The bill enjoys wide support, but unlike the two other LGBT bills in Albany—marriage equality and the anti-bullying Dignity for All Students Act—GENDA has not passed the Democratic Assembly (no bill has come up for a vote on the Senate).
The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act would outlaw discrimination against transgender people in areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, education and credit. GENDA basically adds gender identity and expression to New York State’s human rights laws. Unlike Federal versions of similar bills, GENDA includes more than just employment protections. “Public accommodations,” for example, include public restrooms—a topic in headlines once again with the Khadijah Farmer lawsuit at West Village eatery Caliente Cab Company. (See the story here.)
In the Assembly, GENDA has 74 co-sponsors. Gay advocacy group Empire State Pride Agenda reported on its legislative scorecard this week that 94 Assembly members would vote for GENDA if it were brought to the floor. A bill needs 74 to pass.
Furthermore, Pride Agenda commissioned a poll in February that found 78 percent of New Yorkers supported transgender non-discrimination.
So what’s the holdup?
According to one common theory, Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver decides what bills move; therefore, should be lobbied directly—obviously he personally is against GENDA, otherwise he’d bring it up, right?
Wrong. Remember what we learned in the marriage equality debate this time last year? Silver will bring to the floor whatever the majority Democratic members want, regardless of his personal stance (for the record, he did vote for marriage equality.)
Another theory has upstate Assembly members claiming that they don’t have transgender constituents—“It’s a New York City thing! And the city already has laws protecting them, so why pass a statewide bill?”—which would mean the upstate lawmakers need more education.
Wrong. Again, look at ESPA’s numbers: 94 votes from Assembly members and support from the populace.
So what do we do? Whom do we call?
Go to Assembly members who are likely to influence Silver—in this case, gay ally Dick Gottfried and openly gay Deborah Glick and Daniel O’Donnell.
“People in the Assembly who are identified as leaders on these issues need to be the ones responsible to push the speaker to push this bill for a vote,” Pride Agenda’s executive director Alan Van Capelle told The Blade during the groups lobby effort in Albany earlier this month. “It isn’t enough for those three to be supportive of the bill. The community needs to ask, ‘What specifically are you doing to help Speaker Silver bring this bill to floor for a vote?’”
Van Capelle ticked off a list detailing work the community at large has done in order to do to pass GENDA. “They’ve gone into labor unions and asked them to write and adopt resolutions to support GENDA—and nearly half a million New Yorkers are in labor unions that have done so. They’ve gone to their corporations and asked them to amend their corporate policies to reflect gender identity and expression—and more New York–base corporations are doing so. They’ve gone to pulpits and asked laymembers and clergy to support GENDA. They’ve gone to Assembly and ask them to sponsor it, and asked them while they were thanking them for voting for marriage. They’ve done everything.”
The good news is that after Pride Agenda’s lobby day, GENDA passed the Assembly’s Government Operations Committee and is now headed for the Codes Committee.
How far will GENDA make it before the legislative session ends June 23? And who determines that?
Van Capelle answers: “The responsibility now on whether or not this bill goes to floor for vote rests in hands of Gottfried, O’Donnell and Glick.”
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