From the Empire State Pride Agenda:

The New York State Assembly has passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) for the third time. The Pride Agenda thanks the Assembly for once again taking a stand in support of transgender rights. We will post the final vote tally on “The Agenda” blog tomorrow.

Now, it’s time for the Senate to act! The Pride Agenda will be launching a GENDA Call-In Day to Senators statewide next week. Click here to tell your friends to sign up for our Action Alerts today so that they will hear from us next week when it’s time to take action!
The Pride Agenda just released the following statement regarding the Assembly’s passage of GENDA:

Today the New York State Assembly voted by an overwhelming bipartisan margin to amend the state’s human rights law to include anti-discrimination protections based upon gender identity and expression. The bill (A.5710), known as the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), bans discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, credit and public accommodations. It also expands the state’s hate crimes law to explicitly include crimes against transgender people. The Assembly has now passed the bill by large bipartisan margins the past three years; Governor Paterson has also said he will sign GENDA into law should the Legislature send it to him.

“Transgender New Yorkers shouldn’t have to live in fear that they lack basic protections and could lose their job or be denied a lease on an apartment or service in a restaurant just because of who they are,” said Interim Executive Director Joe Tarver. “In passing this bill, the Assembly continues to demonstrate its leadership on civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) New Yorkers. We thank Assemblymember Richard Gottfried for his sponsorship and support of this bill, as well as the Assemblymembers who voted to pass it.”

“The State Senate remains the only obstacle to passing GENDA. It is now time for the Senate to follow the Assembly’s lead and end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers once and for all by passing GENDA,” said Tarver. “Transgender New Yorkers can’t—and shouldn’t have to—wait any longer.”

Transgender people face severe discrimination in New York. A 2009 needs assessment of New York State’s LGBT community conducted for the Pride Agenda found that 20.7% of transgender New Yorkers have incomes of under $10,000 a year, and one-third are or have been homeless at one time; 28.4% have experienced a physical or sexual assault motivated by transphobic or homophobic violence that was serious enough to require medical care.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive laws banning discrimination based upon gender identity and expression, covering public and private sector employment as well as other areas of everyday life. Eight additional states including New York have executive orders covering public employees only.

According to a March 2008 Global Strategy poll, 78 percent of registered New York voters support passing a bill to protect transgender people. This support is strong across the state, including upstate (74%), New York City (79%) and the downstate suburbs (82%); and among Democrats (86%), Republicans (67%) and Independent voters (78%) alike.

New York, if you’re trying to get us back by proving you can have as much snow as Wisconsin, it’s not going to work.

This guy’s trip – being carried entirely by volunteers from one end of Manhattan to the other – is no surprise to me. Eh, homesick: I hate it. But keep up the good work, NYers. I am kinda curious what neighborhood he got through fastest (& my guess is the Upper West Side, full of guilty liberals). For the record: I would have said yes.

This is exactly the kind of thing I don’t want to know about: Steve Severin of the Banshees has written scores for surrealist silent films & will be performing at Galapagos. Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet and Dulac’s The Seashell & The Clergyman are two of the films.

This Wednesday, December 16 at the LGBT Center in New York City, Governor David Paterson will announce a major policy affecting transgender civil rights in New York. The Pride Agenda has been working on this issue since Governor Spitzer was elected and has continued to work on it with Governor Paterson. Please join us for this important event if you are able.

What: Governor Paterson to announce major policy on transgender rights
Where: LGBT Community Center , 208 West 13th St. ( Manhattan )
When: This Wednesday, December 16 at 10:30 AM (doors open at 10:00 AM)

Having our community and our allies show up in large numbers for this significant moment is the best way we can thank Governor Paterson for his work moving LGBT equality forward. We hope to see you there! If you can join the Pride Agenda at this event, please RSVP to Matt Brunner at mbrunner@prideagenda.org or (212) 627-0305.

A graduate student in journalism at CUNY recently wrote a cool article / multimedia presentation on the recent changes to the name change laws in New York State. Our own Caprice Bellefleur, the veteran mod of the mHB forums, who works with the Name Change Project, was interviewed.

A New York County appeals court ruled on October 21 that a transgender person does not need a doctor’s note to change his or her name. This decision reversed a Civil Court denial of a name-change petition. (See here for more information.)

The decision could impact all of New York state, Caprice Bellefleur said by email. Bellefleur is a volunteer lawyer for the West Village Trans-Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal assistance to transgender people seeking to legally change their names. “Any decision that eases the [name-change] process can be used to argue for the same result across the state,” said Bellefleur.

So do go check it out.

Tales of Workplace Transitions
Thursday, October 29, 6PM, Free
6PM Cocktail Reception; 7PM Panel

Join us for a panel discussion concerning successful workplace transitions for transgender employees. Panelists will include: Stephanie Battaglino, Assistant Vice President; Communications Director of New York Life; Tony Ferraiolo, Manufacturing Supervisor for Madison Company; M. Dru Levasseur, Staff Attorney for Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.; and Margaret S. Stump, PhD, Chief Investment Officer at Quantitative Management, a subsidiary of Prudential. Our panelists will discuss their personal experiences transitioning, how their transitions were handled and what they did to facilitate at their respective places of business. Jennifer Brown, Co-Director of Out & Equal Metro New York, will serve as moderator. Register now.

More…

Damn, Jim Carroll died. I missed the news probably because he died on 9/11 this year, & that’s the day I avoid the news (because every clever media asshole thinks it’s a good idea to replay footage that still traumatizes me). Still, it’s fitting that this NYC icon died on 9/11, in a weird way; Jim Carroll might have died of a lot of things in his life – drugs, alcoholism, AIDS – but he didn’t. He made it to 60 & had a heart attack.

Have people seen this video of Tom Duane arguing to cap the cost of shelters? It’s amazing.

As if timed exactly to make me nuts, there will be a film festival that intersects gender and South Asia. Really, I’m not kidding. I’m flabbergasted at how unfair this is.

The press release is below the break.

More…

Good news for the T in NYC: Court rules unanimously NYCTA not exempt from transgender protections

The Appellate Division, Second Department (“Appellate Division”) upheld the lower court’s ruling in Bumpus v. New York City Transit Authority, refusing to dismiss the case against a Transit worker who, Plaintiff Tracy Bumpus avers, launched a sustained and vicious transphobic assault on her at a Brooklyn subway station. In that February 2008 ruling, Justice Robert J. Miller explained, “The Human Rights Law affords protection to transgender people in New York City. By riding the subway, a transgender person doesn’t become less of a person and lose the protection of the Human Rights Law.”

In this case, the law actually makes sense.

From TLDEF:

We’re sad to bring you the news of another brutal attack on a transgender woman, this one coming during the height of LGBT Pride month. On June 19, 2009, at approximately 2:30 am, Leslie Mora was walking home from a nightclub on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens when she was accosted by two men who brutally beat her with a belt. They stopped only when a passing motorist threatened to call the police.

Throughout the attack, Leslie’s assailants called her a “faggot” in Spanish. The attack left Leslie with multiple injuries, including bruises all over her body, and stitches in her scalp. Police called to the scene found Leslie nearly naked and bleeding on the sidewalk. They also recovered a belt buckle from the assailants that was covered in blood.

We want you to know that we’re working with Leslie to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice.

The full story, along with other resources, photos of Leslie Mora, at TLDEF’s site.

JD Freeman of the Alabama Gender Alliance sent me a copy of a letter he wrote to The Advocate:

Dear Editor -

Regarding this article:
http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid90450.asp

Here you have a self-identified transgender person, and you have refused to honor that person’s affirmed gender, making the bigoted editorial choice to call Kimah a man and to apply the masculine pronouns “he” and “him”.

You should know better. How are we to achieve liberation when our own publications mistreat us?

It’s time for me to renew my subscription. Guess you don’t need my money after all.

I’m copying GLAAD. Clearly, you need to re-read their media guide. I’m also copying NCTE and every major trans blog.

You owe Kimah an apology.

J D ‘Ox’ Freeman
President
Alabama Gender Alliance

NY residents: Sign up for the STATEWIDE CALL-IN DAY FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY:

We need your help pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a bill that would make it illegal in New York State to fire someone, evict them, or deny credit or admission to school solely based on their gender expression.

On April 21st, 2009 the NYS Assembly passed the GENDA bill for the second time, 97-38.

Now the NYS Senate needs to hear from voices all across NYS that GENDA matters and needs to come to the floor for a vote before the end of session on June 21st. If you sign up, you will be notified of when you need to call your senators.

Fivethirtyeight.com has done a breakdown of the possible same sex marriage vote for the NY Senate. Basically, there are probably 20 definites, & then a bunch of solid Nos, & then a bunch of undecideds. If your rep is on this list, CALL HIM OR HER RIGHT AWAY.

Even if these people aren’t your reps, you should call them & tell them to vote YES & stop embarassing the good residents of NYS by being so ass-backwards, already.

UNDECIDED, LEANING YES (1)
55. James Alesi, R-Upstate (East Rochester) link

UNDECIDED OR UNKNOWN (11)
1. Kenneth LaValle, R-Long Island (Port Jefferson) link
2. John J. Flanagan, R-Long Island (East Northport) link
3. Brian X. Foley, D-Long Island (Blue Point) link
4. Owen H. Johnson, R-Long Island (West Babylon) link
8. Charles Fuschillo, R-Long Island (Merrick) link
13. Hiram Monserrate, D-NYC (Jackson Heights) link
15. Joseph Addabbo, Jr., D-NYC (Ozone Park) link
19. John Sampson, D-NYC (Brooklyn) link
27. Carl Kruger, D-NYC (Brooklyn) link
36. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, D-Westchester (Williamsbridge) link
40. Vincent Leibell, R-Westchester (Patterson) link

UNDECIDED, LEANING NO (5)
6. Kemp Hannon, R-Long Island (Garden City) link
24. Andrew Lanza, R-NYC (Staten Island) link
45. Betty Little, R-Upstate (Queensbury) (conflicting reports suggest opposition and that she’s ‘within reach’)
49. David Valesky, D-Upstate (Oneida) (officially undecided; constituent e-mail hints at opposition)
57. Catharine Young, R-Upstate (Olean) link

It’s damned pathetic that same sex marriage isn’t a done deal in NYS yet, but senators are still waffling? Get with the program, folks. You’re on the wrong side of history. (via Queerty)

Thank you, Brian Williams. The point he made tonight on Olbermann — that 9/11 was 10 minutes ago to the people who experienced it first-hand — is only too true. I have no doubt that tons of people are upping their anti-anxiety meds and having those awful apocalyptic nightmares again as a result of this stupidity.

I remember flying from Denver a few years ago & hearing a security officer ask a flyer about their anti-anxiety meds, wanting to know if they were because he was a nervous flyer. He answered something more along the lines, “No, I’m just from New York” and a moment later, in an aside to his wife, “We are all on anti-anxiety meds.”

Yeah. We are. I don’t expect ever to have the same feelings about fall that I did before 2001.

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City invite you to Christine Jorgensen Reveals: A very special benefit performance supporting the work of Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund and PFLAG New York City

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

The Lion Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street (Between 9th and 10th Avenues)

Tickets are $40, and you can buy them here.

& Now Kim’s is going to Italy, since no one in NYC came up with a proposal to keep Mr. Kim’s remarkable collection here.

I’m starting to feel like I’m living in Venice in the late 17th Century (which was, ironically, founded on St. Mark’s Day, in Saint Mark’s Square, while Kim’s is leaving its location on Saint Mark’s Place.)

I’m very proud of my hometown for being kick-ass in an emergency, as always. I’ve lived through more than one in NYC – 9/11, the blackout – but those shoes of those people lined up on the plane’s wings in the Hudson – which had to be downright frigid yesterday – is remarkable. They didn’t have a lot of time with the water at 32 degrees and the air at 20; hypothermia would have happened pretty damn fast.

Go ferry operators, coast guard, the NYPD & the FDNY, as usual. The crew of USAir rocked especially.

& I also think it rocks that Mayor Bloomberg gives the news in his stilted Spanish.

& No, this does not inspire confidence in me to fly. I still hate flying.