New NYC Welfare Procedure Addresses Anti-Transgender Discrimination
February 17, 2010
On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, Housing Works, Queers for Economic Justice, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project celebrated the recent victory of their collaborative Welfare Justice Campaign in preventing discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers applying for public services.
The Human Resources Administration of the City of New York (HRA) adopted Procedure No. P-09-22 on December 23, 2009 after a five-year campaign led by the above organizations and a number of elected city officials. The Procedure circulated among all HRA staff, titled “Serving Transgender, Transsexual and Gender Nonconforming Individuals” highlights “a few key areas where employees should pay special attention to prevent creating a discriminatory or unwelcoming environment for transgender clients,” including Titles, Names and Pronoun usage, Access to Restrooms, and Dress Code.
At Wednesday morning’s press conference Jane Corbett, Executive Deputy Commissioner of the HRA expressed that there had been some initial trepidation over how city agencies would receive the new procedure but proudly announced that “there was not one negative reaction.” The procedure will ensure that HRA staff members comply with existing New York City Human Rights Law, amended in 2002 to explicitly protect transgender and gender non-conforming people from discrimination in public accommodations and services, employment and housing, and bias-related harassment.
Discussing the importance of this procedural victory, Tracy Bumpus of Housing Works questioned, “For Trans and Gender Non-Conforming people, what is the value of freedom if we are afraid to seek the life sustaining services offered by HRA because we are discriminated against, made fun of and made to feel less than human?” Their press release cites instances when transgender people applying for government benefits have been turned away and told to return “when they dress more like a girl, or boy.”
Trans and Gender Non-Conforming community members had been fighting this sort of discrimination since 2005 when the HRA along with a Citizen Advisory Transgender Sub Committee developed the draft of a comprehensive procedure, which formed the basis for the HRA Procedure finally implemented in December of 2009. In the wake of this victory, advocates are looking to oversee HRA training methods and curricula, as the implementation phase has presented stumbling blocks for cities that have adopted such procedures in the past.
GLAAD applauds these organizations for their persistence in ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to basic resources, and we encourage local media outlets to spotlight this landmark change in public service procedures.
Related Posts:Sylvia Rivera Law Project Hosts Benefit Art Auction on Thursday, Feb 18
February 16, 2010
On February 18th, our friends at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) will host their 5th annual party and benefit art auction at Participant Gallery in New York. SRLP is the nation’s leading legal and social advocacy group for transgender communities. The event, Small Works for Big Change, will auction works by 65 artists including Nicole Eisenman, Tony Feher, K8 Hardy, Matt Keegan, Emily Roysdon, Amy Sillman and others.
The event will also feature a live performance by Dynasty Handbag and films by Chitra Ganesh and Rashaad Newsome.
More than a benefit, Small Works for Big Change celebrates the critical work of SRLP and the radical creativity of New York’s most innovative emerging and established contemporary artists. To see the press release for this event, please visit http://srlp.org/swbcpress.
Small Works for Big Change Celebration to Benefit the Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 6:30 – 9:30 PM
Participant Gallery
253 East Houston Street, NYC
For more information about the event please visit http://srlp.org/bigchange
What Does Transgender Day of Remembrance Mean to You? -Stefanie Rivera
November 17, 2009
Stefanie Rivera
Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day where I can reflect on all the trans folks that have had to endure the hardships for expressing themselves.
To me it always feels like it’s Transgender Day of Remembrance as I am always remembering those who were so close and dear to me who were taken away from us so abruptly through prejudice and violence.
I moved to New York from Los Angeles over ten years ago because of the struggles I was facing during that period in my life.
Homelessness, among other things, was something that a lot of foster children were facing, foster children who were considered damaged goods and not worthy of a warm home and a loving family.
God forbid you were one of the ones who aged out of the system and you happened to be trans.
I always felt like no one understood me and when I ran away to Hollywood I found other [trans] kids who were like me and faced many of the issues and hardships that I was dealing with, A lot of us had to do sex work to put a roof over our heads and food in or bellies. In this cycle, I met a few people who later became good friends of mine.
So imagine how traumatic it was for me to hear one of my friends screaming for help as someone chased her down and brutally slashed her throat and killed her. Imagine how saddened I was to hear years later that another one of my girlfriends who was so kind and childlike was shot in the head and dumped on the side of the road like garbage.
I myself have wondered what has kept me on this earth longer than them. I surely thought I wouldn’t have made it past my 18th birthday, whether someone would take me out or whether I just simply would have given up – but here I am reminiscing on not just the depressing memories but on all the good qualities of those who were taken away by violence. Those were my friends.
I remember how we all looked out for one another and formed our own close-knit family; we’d all chip in for a dilapidated motel room to have a place to sleep, little things like that…we’d go to the movies or simply hangout on good old Santa Monica Blvd and wait for a date or for a cop to come and harass us.
These aren’t glamorous memories, but what I remember is we all had each other’s backs – it was us against the world and we were simply trying to survive. Some of us made it, some of us didn’t, but I’m not bitter and jaded I know that’s just the way life goes.
I remember my friends each and every day and will always remember them. They were taken away from us way too soon and I’m willing to bet if they were still alive you’d want them as a friend too.
Stefanie Gisselle Rivera currently works as an Interpreter for Sylvia Rivera Law Project and the Prisoners Rights Project. She and her older sister, Elizabeth Marie Rivera-Valentine, also a transwoman were featured on PBS In the Life: Beauty On the Black Market discussing the dangers of silicone pumping. Rivera has also appeared in the media and in ad campaigns advocating for the rights of the transgender community, speaking out about having to do sex work as a means to survive and her experiences being incarcerated for 3 years in a men’s prison.
Related Posts:
