PRESS RELEASE

MPIRE

TATE

RIDE

GENDA

Press Contacts: Josh Meltzer (212) 627-0305

NYS Assembly passes bill banning transgender discrimination

Assembly vote important step in putting pressure on Senate to act

Albany, New York, June 3, 2008 –

Today the New York State Assembly voted 102-33 to amend the state’shuman rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression. The bill(A.6584a), known as the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) bans discrimination againsttransgender people in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life.“The Assembly has solidly demonstrated once again that it is the leader on civil rights and providing equalityfor our community where it didn’t exist before in New York,” said

Empire State Pride Agenda ExecutiveDirector Alan Van Capelle

. “We thank Assemblymember Richard Gottfried for his sponsorship and steadfastsupport of this bill. We also thank Speaker Silver and the Assembly Majority, the 74 cosponsors and the 102Assemblymembers who passed this bill and understand the importance of providing an umbrella of anti-discrimination protection for all New Yorkers.”First introduced in 2003, GENDA has a record 74 co-sponsors this year in the Assembly, up from 69 last year.The Pride Agenda, the over 200 organizational members of the GENDA Coalition and the LGBT communityhave been working closely with Assemblymember Gottfried and other Assembly supporters to build themomentum for passage that resulted in today’s vote.“Transgender New Yorkers are in constant fear that they will lose their jobs, get kicked out of their home, or simply be denied service when they go into a restaurant. It goes without saying that these members of our community should be able to go about the business of living their lives openly and without fear,” said PrideAgenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle.Transgender activist Melissa Sklarz of New York City said about today’s vote, “Thank you New York StateAssembly for standing up to say ‘no’ to discrimination against transgender New Yorkers. I can think of yearsof personal struggle in the job market and workplace without any legal protection and am now hopeful thatthere is a real chance that the next generation of transgender New Yorkers will not face these same difficulties.”In terms of the Senate, the Pride Agenda’s Van Capelle said, “We now look to the New York State Senate toclose this gaping hole in the New York State Human Rights Law. Governor Paterson has already said that hewill sign this bill into law once the Senate acts.”“My message to the Senate Majority is this: It’s now time to do what 78 percent of New York voters believe isthe right thing to do and end this discrimination once and for all this year. Thirteen other states already havelaws providing protections based upon gender identity and expression, along with 96 cities and counties. Wealso know that the private sector is far ahead of government with 153 Fortune 500 companies, including 26

MORE________

16 West 22

Street New York, NY 10010 (212) 627-0305 (212) 627-4136