New York Governor David Paterson Signs Executive Order Protecting Transgender State Workers From Discrimination
Posted: 16th Dec 2009 Author: Michelle Penny Topics: Politics
Governor David Paterson has today signed an Executive Order which acts to prohibit and legally protect state employees in New York from discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
Playing a huge part in making this a reality is the gay rights organization Empire State Pride Agenda who have been working with the Governor’s Office from the election of Governor Spitzer in 2006, through to today and the announcement by Governor Paterson. Speaking about the impact of the signing, the Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle said, “This Executive Order sends a strong message that it is simply not acceptable to discriminate against someone because they fail to live up to another person’s expectations on whether they act masculine or feminine enough. Hiring and promoting decisions should be made based upon qualifications and performance and not on anything else. New York now begins to catch up to where many other states have been for quite a while.”
The signing of the Executive Order makes New York the eighth state to have an Executive order protecting public employees, with another 12 states and the District of Columbia having comprehensive laws which prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
Marking a huge step forward for the LGBT community in New York, there could soon be more to come now that the New York’s Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which has been twice passed by the State Assembly, is before the State Senate. Acting to amend the state’s human rights law this would extend the prohibition of discrimination based upon gender identity and expression beyond public sector employment, and into the private sector, housing, public accommodations and credit sectors. On top of this it would also expand the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender people.
The Empire State Pride Agenda will continue to work with the Governor’s office to get GENDA passed, and are asking that the LGBT community thank Governor Paterson for the signing of the Executive Order and his continued support of the LGBT community. Simple to do, but sure to make a huge difference, the Pride Agenda have made this super easy by putting together a pre-prepared (but editable) email for you to send on their website.
