BILL NUMBER: S4609

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the executive law, in relation to the definition of
"sexual orientation" as applicable to the human rights law

 
PURPOSE:

To remove outdated and stigmatizing statutory language from the defi-
nition of "sexual orientation" in New York's Human Rights Law.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends Subdivision 27 of Section 292 of the Execu-
tive Law by striking the phrase "However, nothing contained herein shall
be construed to protect conduct otherwise proscribed by law" from the
definition of "sexual orientation."

Section 2 of the bill is the effective date.
              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In 2002, the New York State Legislature passed the Sexual Orientation
Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) 31 years after it was first introduced in
1971 by Sen. Manfred Ohrenstein and Assemblymember Al Blumenthal, and
nine years after the bill passed the Assembly for the first time in
1993.

While SONDA provided important -- if long delayed and incomplete --
legal protections from discrimination and hate crimes for lesbian, gay
and bisexual New Yorkers, it left at least one vestige of homophobia
enshrined in state law.

The definition of "sexual orientation" added by SONDA to Section 292 of
the Human Rights Law, New York's anti-discrimination statute, reads:
"The term `sexual orientation' means heterosexuality, homosexuality,
bisexuality or asexuality, whether actual or perceived. However, nothing
contained herein shall be construed to protect conduct otherwise
proscribed by law."

Of the 40 statutory terms defined in Section 292, "sexual orientation"
is the only one that contains a disclaimer that the definition does not
permit otherwise illegal conduct. The conflation of homosexuality with
criminality is deeply harmful, and rooted in a time when states -
including New York had laws on the books criminalizing consensual sexual
acts between adults.

There is nothing inherently criminal about one's sexual orientation, and
our state's anti-discrimination law should reflect that.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None, new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.