POLITICS
Council Passes Walking While Trans Resolutions
Symbolic vote by local lawmakers puts pressure on State Senate, Assembly in Albany
BY MATT TRACY
The New York City Council
on December 10
passed two resolutions
encouraging the State
Legislature to repeal a loitering law
used by police to target transgender
women of color and seal the records
of folks convicted under that
law.
The votes were only symbolic,
but the resolutions immediately
put pressure back on the State
Legislature — which is not currently
in session — to take action
on a long overdue legislative effort
in Albany that has stalled, at least
for now, despite suffi cient support
from both chambers and Governor
Andrew Cuomo.
City lawmakers fi rst passed a
resolution in support of the main
piece of legislation at the state level
that would repeal Section 240.37
Manhattan Councilmember Carlina Rivera (foreground, fl anked by colleagues Daniel Dromm of Queens
and Mark Levine of Manhattan) led two resolutions to passage after advocates like Bianey Garcia (left)
explained how they were victimized under a law the Council is urging the State Legislature to repeal.
of the New York Penal Law, which
has become known as a ban on
“Walking While Trans” because
law enforcement offi cers have
stopped, harassed, and arrested
trans women for absurd reasons,
FLICKR/ NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
such as the way individuals are
walking or what they are wearing.
Councilmembers Chaim Deutsch
and Kalman Yeger of Brooklyn,
Joe Borelli and Steven Matteo of
Staten Island, Ruben Diaz, Sr., of
the Bronx, and Robert Holden of
Queens voted against it.
The Council then passed an accompanying
resolution urging the
state to pass a law aimed at allowing
convictions under 240.37 to be
sealed — which advocates say is
crucial to ensuring that individuals
do not face years-long barriers
in access to jobs and government
benefi ts because of their record.
Deutsch, Borelli, Matteo, Diaz,
Holden, and Eric Ulrich of Queens
rejected the resolution, while Yeger
abstained.
“For far too long, the trans community
has been unfairly and
unjustly targeted by law enforcement,”
out gay Speaker Corey
Johnson told Gay City News in a
written statement. “‘Walking While
Trans’ is a right, not a crime, and
the State penal code should refl ect
that. Albany has to act now, the
time to repeal the ‘Walking While
Trans’ ban is long overdue.”
Manhattan Councilmember
Carlina Rivera fi rst proposed the
main resolution in the City Council
last year and it unanimously
passed the Committee on Women
and Gender Equity. This year Rivera
again led both resolutions —
and the main one drew a total of
29 sponsors.
“Thanks Carlina Rivera for your
leadership,” tweeted Bianey Garcia,
who testifi ed at a recent City
Council hearing about her own experience
getting targeted under the
loitering law. “I’m so THRILLED
that @NYCCouncil passed resolution
923 and 144. Trans women
demand the State Assembly and
State Senate repeal the law.”
Thanks in large part to the advocacy
of the Walking While Trans
Ban coalition, the repeal effort is
seemingly well positioned for passage
at the state level. But State
Senate Majority Leader Andrea
Stewart-Cousins and Assembly
Speaker Carl Heastie have yet to
bring it to the fl oor for a vote.
Out gay State Senator Brad
Hoylman of Manhattan is leading
the effort behind the repeal bill
in the upper house, while State
Assemblymember Amy Paulin of
Westchester is the lead sponsor of
the bill in the lower chamber.
Paulin told Gay City News in
September that the Assembly was
waiting on the State Senate, but
said “the word I got back is the
Senate has no interest in this bill
right now.”
Still, Paulin said during a Zoom
demonstration on December 3 that
she was confi dent that the State
Legislature would “get this done.”
In a written statement, Hoylman
thanked the City Council for backing
his legislation and he indicated
that he would focus on repealing
the loitering law next year.
“I’m grateful to Councilmember
Carlina Rivera, Council Speaker
Corey Johnson and the rest of the
New York City Council for passing
a resolution urging Albany to
repeal the ‘Walking While Trans’
ban,” Hoylman said in a written
statement. “Repealing this statute,
which permits transgender women
of color to be profi led and harassed
by local law enforcement, is one of
my top priorities for 2021. Thanks
to the hard work of many advocates
across the state, we’ve got
enough co-sponsors in each house
of the Legislature to pass this legislation.
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