LGBT Legislation

Legislation

The NYCLU’s legislative efforts are both local and state-wide. Our Albany office allows us to engage in policy analysis and advocate for legislation before members of the New York State Senate and Assembly. As the temperament of the courts and judges naturally shift we stand ready to fight for justice through the legislative process.

Three key issues on the NYCLU LGBT legislative agenda are:

• The Marriage Fairness Bill:

  All New Yorkers deserve the freedom to marry. And public policy agrees: Governor David Paterson, the New York State Assembly and a recent appellate court ruling recognizing marriages entered into outside of New York, strongly support marriage fairness.

  The NYCLU is fighting hard for this legislation that would amend state law to recognize the ability of same-sex persons to legally marry. Right now, LGBT New Yorkers are denied the ability to marry and, by extension, the 1,324 rights and protections that come along with marriage. Those include the authority to make medical decisions for your partner, hospital visitation rights and extension of a spouse’s heath care benefits, among others.

  • Find out more ways to get involved.
  • Fact Sheet
• The Dignity For All Students Act (DASA):
  
  Why do we need DASA?

  This New York State bill would prohibit harassment and discrimination against all students in public schools. DASA protects against harassment based on actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex.

  DASA mandates that teachers and staff receive the training they need to properly address issues of harassment and discrimination, and requires the monitoring and reporting of such incidents. This bill will make schools safer for all students.

  The NYCLU is working with youth and advocates from around the state to get this law passed. It has been passed for six straight years in the New York State Assembly but has only come up for a vote in the Senate in a stripped down version that doesn’t protect gender identity or expression.

  •  Fact Sheet
  •  Act Now! Call your Senator today!

• The Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA):

  This bill would add gender identity and expression to the list of protected classes in the state’s existing Human Rights Law. It would protect transgender individuals and those who don’t fit the stereotyped norm of gender, like a feminine man or masculine woman, from being denied or fired from a job, harassed in the workplace, evicted by their landlords, refused service in a restaurant, given inadequate medical care and otherwise treated as second-class citizens solely because of their gender identity and expression.

  •  ACLU Transgender and the Law
  •  Take Action: Call your Senator and Assembly member today!