It took 15 years but lawmakers in New York State have just voted to protect the civil rights of transgender people. The Legislature also voted to ban harmful and dangerous ex-gay “conversion therapy.” Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign both bills.
The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) expands New York’s Human Rights Law to ban discrimination on the basis of gender identification or expression in areas of employment, education, credit, and housing, as the NY Daily News reports.
Capital Tonight’s Nick Reisman posted video of the moment GENDA passed:
GENDA “would also update the state’s hate crimes law to include offenses motivated by a person’s gender identify or expression.” It has been introduced in every New York State legislature since 2003. Over the years Senate Republicans were able to vote it down.
NY State Senate Republicans also were able to quash a ban on conversion therapy over the years. But after Democrats won the Senate in November, both bills passed on Tuesday.
“Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice,” Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, the bill’s sponsor, said, as the Times-Union reports. “It is built on the denial of LGBTQ people’s basic humanity, jeopardizes young people’s mental health, and is a perversion of mental health professionals’ mission to help.”
New York becomes the 15th state (and D.C.) to ban conversion therapy.
State Senator Brad Hoylman joined the celebration on Twitter:
HRC’s Charlotte Clymer notes, “Elections matter!”
Lambda Legal: