City of Rochester News Release - Mayor Warren, Assemblymember Bronson, Councilmember Gruber, LGBTQ Community Demand Action on GENDA
City of Rochester
News Release
(Monday, Oct. 22, 2018) – Mayor Lovely A. Warren, State Assemblymember Harry Bronson and City Councilmember Mitch Gruber joined members of Rochester’s LGBTQ community today to urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to pass GENDA (the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act), which would give transgender citizens across New York State the same protections they currently have in Rochester.
“More than 150 years after Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony chose Rochester as the city from which they would champion civil rights and equal justice across the nation, it remains legal in New York State to discriminate against someone based on how they express their gender,” said Mayor Warren.
“Rochester is fortunate to have Harry Bronson to fight for transgender rights in Albany, but he needs our help. Today, I am asking the Rochester community to once again take the lead in the fight for social justice and demand that the legislature pass GENDA now.”
Mayor Warren also added that she is outraged by the Trump administration’s proposal to insert a legal definition of gender as the gender of birth into the Title IX civil rights law.
“We will fight this attempt to codify hatred,” said Mayor Warren. “To do that, we must make sure New York State is the most progressive state in the union when it comes to protecting transgender rights.”
“Transgender people face discrimination every day,” said Councilmember Gruber. “The New York State legislature must show their commitment to justice and equality by passing GENDA, which will ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity and protect the rights of transgender people across the state.”
“My life in public service has been guided by one simple principle – no matter who you are, where you come from, what you look like or who you love, we all have dignity, and with that dignity we all deserve respect, full equality and the opportunity to succeed,” said Assemblymember Bronson. “This principle is consistent with our nation’s greatest movements, from abolition to civil rights, from Seneca Falls to Stonewall. Unfortunately, New York has not done everything it can to protect transgender and gender expansive individuals. We need to pass GENDA to expand protections to all New Yorkers, regardless of the municipality in which they live. I am grateful for the support and leadership of Mayor Warren and members of Rochester City Council who have taken action locally, and I look forward to their continued partnership as we advocate for these necessary protections at the state level.”
Assemblyman Bronson has co-sponsored the GENDA in the NYS Assembly, but year after year the legislation dies in the State Senate.
City and State leaders urged Rochester citizens to join the fight for transgender rights by signing an on-line petition in favor of GENDA that Assemblymember Bronson will bring to Albany on the first day of the 2019 session in January.
Visit www.cityofrochester.gov/rocGENDA to sign the petition.
Rochester is one of a handful of New York jurisdictions that does have a local non-discrimination law based on gender identity and expression. Transgender people remain unprotected in the great majority of the cities and counties across the state, leaving a large share of the population unprotected in their own homes, work places and public spaces.
Transgender New Yorkers who live in a city or county that does not have a non-discrimination ordinance can be fired from their job, denied housing or be evicted simply because of their gender identity or expression. And those who do live in places that protect their rights lose those protections when they cross a city or county line to go to work, visit family or shop at a grocery store.
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News Media: For more information, contact Press Officer Jessica Alaimo at 428-7135.