Eyeing Final Victory, GENDA Passes Investigations and Government Operations Committee

GENDA was introduced last week with 39 co-sponsors, comprising the entire Democratic Senate Majority. It is the highest number of co-sponsors in the bill’s history.

NEW YORK- Senator Brad Hoylman (D/WF-Manhattan), the only openly LGBTQ member of the New York State Senate, released the following statement in response to the passage of the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) (S1047/A747) through the  Investigations and Government Operations committee:

Senator Hoylman said: “Eight years have passed since we’ve brought a single piece of LGBTQ-specific legislation to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Our moment has arrived, and today’s committee passage of GENDA marks the beginning this new era. After a long, emotional battle, we are one step closer to establishing statutory protections for transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers against discrimination and hate crimes. I look forward to seeing the results of tomorrow’s floor vote, and thank Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Chairman Skoufis, and my fellow members of the Democratic Conference for their swift passage this morning.”

GENDA would expand New York’s anti-discrimination and hate crime laws to include the categories of gender identity and expression. GENDA has never been brought to the floor for a vote in the 16 years following the passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) in 2002. Despite impasse in the Senate, the legislation has passed in the Assembly with bipartisan support 10 times since 2008.

In advance of the debate on GENDA, Senator Hoylman is calling on transgender and gender non-conforming New Yorkers to share their stories here to ensure they are memorialized in the official Senate records.

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