Trans Man Gets $25K in Queens Discrimination Case
School staff allegedly deadnamed, harassed student because of his gender identity
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A Puerto Rican transgender
man has won a
$25,000 settlement after
a years-long legal battle
against a Queens trade school and
an employee who allegedly denied
him bathroom access and outed
him as trans in front of students.
Danny Hart, 49, backed by the
New York City Commission on Human
Rights, fi led a lawsuit against
Apex Technical School in Long Island
City, Queens, in December
2016, claiming a staffer repeatedly
and publicly called him by his former
name, or dead name, and told
him to accept a key to the school’s
locked women’s restrooms. According
to the suit, the school did not
allow him to enroll under his name;
instead, they forced him to use his
former legal name, which was revealed
multiple times by a staffer,
leading to a wave of harassment.
The events unfolded in 2016
when Hart was seeking a career
change from the military. In
a phone interview with Gay City
News, Hart said he always wanted
to work with his hands and saw
becoming an electrician as a lucrative
way to pursue this dream while
feeling affi rmed in his gender.
Within moments of entering the
school, the discrimination began.
Staffers allegedly deadnamed him
on paperwork by using the excuse
that his legal name was required.
The then-45-year-old shrugged
A Queens trade school reached a settlement with a trans r man after he sued for discrimination.
off this initial incident and hoped
his teachers would be more understanding.
“I told the professor in a very low
voice — I pointed to the thing, and
I told him, I go by this name,” Hart
said. “He was cool with it.”
But another staffer came and
grabbed the roster and repeatedly
yelled Hart’s birth name. The staffer
then allegedly said, “You should
have like one female.” The students,
who were all men, protested that
there were no women in the class.
“I felt like all my blood left my body,”
Hart said. “Like all the lights were
pointed at me… I couldn’t move.”
The next day the staffer pulled
Hart outside of the classroom door
and said, “‘I called you yesterday,'”
DANNY HART
Hart recalled. The employee then
pulled out keys for a locked women’s
bathroom and demanded that
Hart take them.
“I will not go to that bathroom,”
declared Hart, who stated that he
was willing to instead use a bathroom
at a pizza shop more than a
block away. The staffer allegedly
directed Hart to go use the women’s
bathroom.
“You cannot tell me what I can
and cannot do with my body,” Hart
replied.
When Hart returned to the classroom,
his classmates began taunting
him and making transphobic
bathroom jokes, he said. That was
his second day in class — and he
never returned.
LEGAL
“I never was able to get that certifi
cate,” said Hart, who recalled
feeling embarrassed. “I was really
mad. I wanted that certifi cate; I
truly did.”
Apex Technical School did not
respond to Gay City News’ requests
for comment.
Following the alleged harassment,
Hart returned to the Army
and went on manage a bar, but he
never got his dream job installing
air conditioners. Shortly after the
incident, Hart said he felt more
deeply in the closet. Because of
mounting transphobia, he temporarily
halted his social transition,
including changing his name.
“I just didn’t want to go through
that again,” Hart said. “I just went
back to my regular name and just
let people call me by that, although
I didn’t relate to it.”
That year, a friend encouraged
Hart to pursue a lawsuit. More
than four years later, after fi nding
probable cause, the school is paying
the former student $15,000 in
emotional distress and $10,000
in civil penalties. The school has
agreed to update internal policies
on bathroom signage, and staffers
must complete anti-discrimination
training that is inclusive of transgender,
non-binary, and gendernon
conforming students, according
to the lawsuit.
Since then, Hart has moved outside
of New York to Florida and is
enjoying a “stealth” life as just one
of the guys.
➤ CATHOLICS, from p.14
Aaron Bianco, an out gay Catholic
professor at the University of
San Diego who made headlines
in 2018 after he was the target of
anti-LGBTQ harassment while
working as a pastoral associate at
St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic
Church in San Diego, said he’s disappointed
that Francis approved
this message.
“We take two steps forward, and
we’ve done that a lot with Pope
Francis. I have to give him credit.
But then, we take two steps back
very quickly,” Bianco, who is from
New York City, told Gay City News.
“There are Catholic priests, all over
this country and all over the world
in the shadows that are blessing
same-sex couples.”
Francis DeBernardo, who is executive
director of LGBTQ Catholic
organization New Ways Ministry,
said he was not surprised to hear
the Church reiterate opposition to
marriage equality.
“Though Rome has now spoken
on this issue, what the Vatican
doesn’t realize is that the Catholic
faithful are not satisfi ed with the
answer that they gave,” DeBernardo
said in a written statement.
“Catholic people recognize the holiness
of the love between committed
same-sex couples and recognize
this love as divinely inspired
and divinely supported and thus
meets the standard to be blessed.
They recognize that God has already
blessed these unions, and
that a ritual is simply a recognition
of God’s blessing.”
Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive
director of DignityUSA, said
the Vatican’s latest move will “exacerbate
the pain and anger of LGBTQI
Catholics and our families.”
“This statement is hurtful to
same-sex couples and dismissive of
the grace demonstrated by samesex
couples who live deeply loving
and committed relationships,”
Duddy-Burke said. “It harms families
of LGBTQ people, and young
LGBTQ people who hoped the
church would be more affi rming,
and even hoped to be married in
the church someday.”
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