CIVIL RIGHTS
Bipartisan Push for Walking While Trans Ban Repeal
Advocates maintain pressure on state legislative leaders to take action this year
S MBY MATT TRACY
The campaign to repeal a
discriminatory loitering
law that has been used
by police to stop and arrest
transgender women of color for
years has taken yet another major
step forward with crucial bipartisan
support in the State Assembly.
Assemblymember Clifford
Crouch, who is the longest-serving
Republican in the lower house and
represents the upstate counties of
Broome, Chenango, Delaware and
Otsego, has signed on to a bill that
now has 75 co-sponsors in the
State Assembly and 36 in the State
Senate.
The Walking While Trans coalition,
which has spearheaded
the statewide effort to repeal the
law, touted Crouch’s co-sponsorship
in a tweet on August 21 and
Republican Assemblymember Clifford Crouch (center) has joined the effort to repeal the ban on Walking
While Trans.
again asked Assembly Speaker
Carl Heastie and Senate Majority
Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to
bring the bill to a vote.
The coalition issued a follow-up
tweet asking for support from Assemblymembers
FACEBOOK/ ASSEMBLYMEMBER CLIFFORD CROUCH
Nily Rozic and
Clyde Vanel of Queens, Erik M.
Dilan of Brooklyn, and Michael
Benedetto of the Bronx, as well as
State Senators Monica R. Martinez
of Long Island and James Skoufi s,
who represents upstate suburbs
west of the Hudson River.
A spokesperson for Crouch said
he is on vacation with family in a
location with limited cell service.
He declined comment for this story.
It has been a long slog for advocates
who hoped to see some
movement on the legislation after
it stalled down the stretch last year
once it passed the Assembly Codes
Committee. It has yet to clear the
Codes Committee in the upper
chamber.
Since then, however, advocates
have attracted even more support
from lawmakers and community
groups hailing from across the
state. In June, numerous organizations
from across the state penned
a letter to leaders in Albany asking
them to include the legislation
➤ WALKING WHILE TRANS, continued on p.11
POLITICS
Bklyn Dems Add Non-Binary, Trans Folks to Task Force
None of lawsuit plaintiffs who challenged party’s gender regs in court among those named
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
One week after State Assemblymember
Rodneyse
Bichotte, the
chair of the Brooklyn
Democratic Party, appointed a
12-member task force to examine
the gender parity requirements for
election to the County Committee,
she announced that after the
group’s fi rst meeting on August 12
she has decided to appoint four additional
members.
The new members include transgender
activist T.S. Candii, lead
organizer with DecrimNY, which
pushes for decriminalization of sex
work, and non-binary AIDS community
organizer Jason L. Walker,
a senior coordinator for the Health
Global Access Project. Though the
task force was established to give
non-binary folks the opportunity
Jason L. Walker (left), a non-binary representative appointed to the Brooklyn Democrats’ new task for
on gender parity in local party elections.
to run for the County Committee,
the original group did not include
any non-binary or trans members.
DONNA ACETO
The task force is examining decades
old rules that require each
Assembly district to hold elections
for both a male and a female representative.
When those rules were
adopted, the aim was to ensure
women parity with men in local
Democratic Party decision-making.
As Bichotte noted in her original
August 6 announcement of the
task force, women now make up
more than a majority of grassroots
party activists in Brooklyn so the
old requirement actually limits
women in their impact on party
politics relative to their participation.
As important, the requirement
also limits the ability of nonbinary
Brooklynites to serve on the
County Committee unless they are
willing to state a gender identity at
odds with their true identity.
Bichotte’s establishment of the
task force came a little more than
three months after a Brooklyn Su-
➤ BROOKLYN TASK FORCE, continued on p.11
August 27 - September 9,10 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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