“GENDA” Passes Assembly

ALBANY - The bill to protect transgender people under the State Human Rights Law was approved by the Assembly today by a vote of 91-40, with bi-partisan support.  The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) is now in the State Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee.  If it passes the Senate, Governor David Paterson has said he will sign it into law.

“This is an important and overdue protection of human rights,” said Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, sponsor of bill, A.5710-A.  “The experience of transgender individuals, and the discrimination they face, are unique, and should be specifically identified and unambiguously rejected in our State’s civil rights laws, just like discrimination based on age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, race, disability, or ethnicity.”

The transgender community is not protected under current state law.

“By eliminating the fear of losing their jobs, homes, and fair treatment in communities across the state, we can make certain that every New Yorker receives equal opportunities regardless of gender identity,” said Gottfried.

Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, and Rochester, and the counties of Suffolk and Tompkins have already enacted local GENDA laws.  Thirteen states, Washington, D.C., and over 90 other localities across the country have passed transgender-inclusive civil rights legislation.  Over 150 Fortune 500 companies, including 26 located in New York State, have policies in place to protect their transgender workers.

link: http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20100303-3.html

“Replace Monserrate with Jose Peralta! Volunteer NOW!”

Don’t get mad about Hiram Monserrate breaking his promise to vote for the marriage equality bill in the State Senate. Get even—NOW!

There are a number of important activities coming up this weekend and leading up to the March 16 Special Election where volunteers are critical to electing pro-LGBT Assemblymember Jose Peralta to the State Senate in Queens.

The Peralta campaign needs volunteers at their campaign office in Jackson Heights, Queens to phone bank and canvass on Saturday, March 6 and Saturday, March 13 starting at 10 AM; they also need help in Get Out the Vote efforts on Election Day—Tuesday, March 16. In addition, we will be doing our own phone banking for Peralta in the days leading up to the election.

Please contact Erin Drinkwater at edrinkwater@prideagenda.org or 212-627-0305 ext. 114 for details on any of these activities.  Let her know if you are interested in phone banking and canvassing in Queens, phone banking at the Pride Agenda office, or both!

“Civil rights for all of my constituents and for all New Yorkers has always been a priority for me,” said Assemblyman José Peralta. “I have worked towards full equality for LGBT New Yorkers in my seven years as an Assemblymember, and I will be proud to continue this work as a member of the State Senate. I think my record in the Assembly demonstrates that when I take a principled stand on an important human rights issue like marriage equality, I don’t suddenly change my mind when the bill comes up for a vote.”

It’s time to get to work to elect Jose Peralta to the State Senate on March 16.

(From the Empire State Pride Agenda.)

New Proposed Changes in the Upcoming DSM-V

Feb 10, 2010
The American Psychological Association’s (APA) DSM-5 Task Force has announced its proposed revisions and additions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the text used by US mental health professionals to diagnose mental disorders. The revised version of the “Bible” of American Psychology is set to be published in 2013.

The task force describes a number of proposed changes related to “Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders.”

Significant proposed changes include:

Changing the name of “Gender Identity Disorder” to “Gender Incongruence,” in response to a survey of transgender people. The task force states that the name change is intended to reduce the stigmatization of transgender people’s “condition.” Additionally, what was previously referred to as “a strong and persistent cross-gender identification” is now being referred to as “a marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender.”

Within “Gender Incongruence (GI),” referring to “the other gender” instead of “the other sex.” The stated purpose of this change is two fold: (1) to be able to diagnose intersex people (people with “disorders of sex
development”) with GI; (2) to allow people who have successfully transitioned to be free of this diagnosis.

(Check out full proposed changes to the DSM-V here.)

NYS Legislature Provides Medical Decision Making Authority to Same-Sex Partners

After being stalled in the Legislature for 17 years, the New York State Senate has finally joined the Assembly in passing the Family Health Care Decisions Act that enables a loved one to made health care decisions when the patient is not able to do so. The bill places a same-sex or opposite-sex domestic partner, just like a spouse, ahead of a surviving child or parent in making these decisions. Governor Paterson has said he will sign the bill into law when it is sent to him.

New York has been one of just two states where without a health care proxy, no one—not a domestic partner, spouse, or family member—could make health care decisions when the patient lacked the ability to do so. This gap in state law has sometimes forced loved ones to seek medical decision-making authority from a judge at the very time they should be focusing all their attention on caring for their partner.

Now, loved ones including same-sex spouses who were married out-of-state or fit the domestic partnership definition will have the ability to make these decisions. The domestic partnership definition is expansive, and includes those who may not be able to formally record their relationship because there is no domestic partner registry where they live. The Pride Agenda was instrumental in the redrafting of this domestic partner language to make sure it was uniform with all other domestic partner definitions in state law, such as that found in the hospital visitation bill that became law in 2004 and the control of bodily remains bill that became law in 2006.

Since same-sex couples still do not have the legal right to get married in New York State, the Pride Agenda has worked hard over the past few years to make sure LGBT families have protections in state law covering important end-of-life situations. When the Governor signs this measure into the law, the three most common situations where blood relatives sometimes seek to exclude a LGBT partner—hospital visitation, medical decision-making and the ability to make decisions about the disposition of partner remains—can no longer occur in New York State.

“We thank the Assembly and Assemblymember Gottfried for leading this effort for so many years and are glad the Senate has finally passed this measure and the Governor will be signing it into law,” said Executive Director Alan van Capelle.

(press release from Empire State Pride Agenda)

Punjab creates ‘transgender’ job category for eunuchs

Fri, Feb 12 04:26 AM

The Punjab government has decided to create a separate category in application forms under which eunuchs can apply for government vacancies.

Although there was no bar on eunuchs to apply for government jobs, this is the first time the state has given them an option to choose their identity apart from the men and women categories.

Eunuchs aspiring for government jobs can now choose the new category — “transgender” — in application forms. But eventually those selected will be considered in the category of men, officials said.

The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting attended by Chief Secretary S C Aggarwal, Home Secretary A R Talwar and Punjab’s Additional Advocate General Rupinder S Khosla.

“The decision has been taken to pave way for eunuchs so that they can also be considered for government jobs. After all, they are also human beings,” Khosla told The Indian Express. “The decision to consider them in the category of men was taken as considering them in the category of women will not be a prudent keeping in view public sensitivities.”

He added that though the sex determination of a eunuch — whether male or female — was ruled out because of the costs involved. “It will be an expensive affair as each detection costs around Rs 2,500. Thus, in order to avoid undue burden on the state exchequer, the Punjab government has decided to keep them in the category of men,” Khosla added.

Appreciating the stand taken by the Punjab government, a division bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh directed Haryana to clear its stand keeping in view the decision taken by the Punjab government. The Central government has also been asked to clarify whether eunuchs shall be considered in male or female category.

The development took place during the resumed hearing of a PIL filed by Kajal Mangal Mukhi, a eunuch who is an advocate by profession. Mukhi had sought directions for the states to allow eunuchs to join government services.

(link to full article on yahoo news)