Buffalo area Assemblymember Sean Ryan told Outcome, I am proud that GENDA just passed in the Assembly. It's time for the Senate to act and pass this important legislation.

The NYS Assembly’s passage of GENDA comes on the heels of last week’s ruling by the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that under federal law people cannot be discriminated against in employment because they are transgender or because of how they express their gender identity.

Currently under New York State law, a person can lose their job, be refused service in a restaurant, kicked out of a public library or evicted from their home simply because of how they express their gender. As a result of this discrimination, more than one-third of transgender New Yorkers have been homeless at one time and 74% of transgender people have been harassed at work.

Empire State Pride Agenda Interim Executive Director Lynn Faria described the current situaltion by saying, With 78% of New Yorkers in favor of a transgender civil rights bill, what is our State Senate waiting for? This bill would provide nothing more and nothing less than fairness – something we all deserve here in the Empire State. — Staff