DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Council, City Spar On Collecting Trans Data in Shelters
Social Services lacks information on transgender folks in domestic violence facilities
BY MATT TRACY
A proposed City Council
bill requiring the city’s
Department of Social
Services (DSS) to gather
and report statistics on transgender
and gender nonconforming
people in domestic violence shelters
was met with resistance from
the de Blasio administration during
a contentious hearing on September
The bill, led by Councilmember
Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan and
co-sponsored by Vanessa L. Gibson
of the Bronx, requires DSS to
report on how many TGNC people
are in domestic violence shelters,
how long they stay in the shelters,
which services are offered to them,
why they leave shelters, where they
go after leaving the shelters, and
what complaints they make about
their time in the shelters. That
Councilmember Helen Rosenthal of Manhattan proposed a bill requiring the city to report statistics on
transgender and gender nonconforming people in domestic violence shelters.
kind of data, according to Rosenthal,
is not currently being collected
by the city.
But during the September 24
hearing on the bill, DSS offi cials
JOHN MCCARTEN/ NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
voiced reservations about the bill,
and subsequent tense exchanges
during the hearing raised additional
questions about the administration’s
policies surrounding
TGNC residents in domestic violence
the selection of such information
about transgender and nonbinary
people does not create barriers to
access, raise privacy concerns,
and/ or further traumatize a client
as chief special services offi cer
with DSS, said during the hearing.
“There may be alternative means to
meet our shared interest in ensuring
transgender and nonbinary people
accessing our DV shelters.”
Hours after the hearing, DSS
largely reiterated their original
point about tweaking the legislation.
statement to Gay City News that
shelters.
“As drafted, we have some concerns,
mainly about ensuring that
in an already vulnerable situations,”
Annette Holm, who serves
gender affi rming services for
The agency said in a written
➤ DATA COLLECTION, continued on p.15
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