Joann Prinzivalli
Joann Prinzivalli is an
attorney and activist
with a long record of
transgender advocacy
and civil rights work –
in Westchester County,
New York City, and
across the state.
Immediately after
the State Legislature
approved the Sexual
Orientation Non-Discrimination
Act in
late 2002 without providing
protections for
transgender New Yorkers,
Joann wrote the first
draft of the Gender Expression
Non-Discrimination
Act (GENDA) to cure that
omission.
The fight for GENDA was a long
tough slog. During those years,
Joann was an early member of
the New York Association for Gender
Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
working group. She later organized
the New York Transgender
Rights Organization (NYTRO),
which was dedicated to grassroots
transgender activism statewide
and in local communities centered
on advocacy for GENDA and
other trans-inclusive legislation.
It was not until Democrats captured
control of the State Senate
in 2018 that GENDA finally won
passage – in the early days of the
2019 legislative session.
In Westchester County, Joann
was the co-founder of the transgender
support group at The
LOFT, the LGBTQ community
center in White Plains where
she has served on the board.
She has been a member of
the Westchester County
Executive’s LGBT Advisory
Board since its inception
in 2002, and wrote
the trans-inclusive language
adopted for the
county’s Human Rights
and Fair Housing Laws.
Joann has also served
as a board member, secretary,
and chair of the New
York Civil Liberties Union
Hudson Valley regional chapter. In
White Plains, she is a Democratic
Party district leader.
In 2009, Joann initiated a lawsuit
to compel the New York City
Board of Health to revise its rules
for city-born transgender people
to amend their birth certificate to
reflect their gender identity. That
looming suit was instrumental in
helping transgender activists negotiate
with the state in 2014 and
the city in 2015 to dramatically
reduce the burden of the requirements
facing trans people wishing
to correct their birth certificate.
Professionally, Joann Prinzivalli
is the chief counsel for Insignia
National Title Agency, a title insurance
agency located in Manhattan.
She previously worked as vice
president and chief underwriting
counsel for Stewart Title Insurance
Company and has more than
37 years of experience with title insurance
underwriters and agents.
Joann received her bachelor’s
degree from Notre Dame College
of Staten Island and, in 1978, her
J.D. from St. John’s University
School of Law, where she was editor
of The Forum.
Pioneering
Transgender
Rights Advocate,
New York
Transgender
Rights Organization
Dr. Asa Radix
Dr. Asa Radix is the senior
director of research
and education at the
Callen-Lorde Community
Health Center, which provides
healthcare services targeted to the
LGBTQ community regardless of
ability to pay at locations in Manhattan,
Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
In that capacity, Asa directs a
number of studies investigating
factors that promote the health
and well-being of LGBTQ communities.
Asa is also clinical associate
professor of medicine at New York
University’s Grossman School of
Medicine.
Raised in the West Indies, Asa
trained in internal medicine and
infectious disease at the University
of Connecticut and earned postgraduate
degrees in epidemiology
and public health at Columbia
University and at Cambridge University
in the UK.
Working in the Caribbean earlier
in his career, Asa headed up a
public health department where he
expanded treatment to people living
with HIV.
He has more than 20 years of experience
providing primary care to
LGBTQ people and is a recognized
expert in transgender medicine.
Asa has been a member of
teams developing guidelines for
transgender care in multiple
national and international
settings, including the Caribbean
and Asia and the
Pacific region. He currently
co-chairs a working group
reviewing and updating
the World Professional Association
of Transgender
Health (WPATH) Standards
of Care, the gold standard for
that field of practice.
Among the most recent professional
articles Asa has published
are an investigation of the use
of HIV antiretrovirals and PrEP
among transgender people, a
study of situations where children
and parents disagree on whether
to go forward with medically
assisted gender affirmation, and
a look at how gender dysphoria
affects mental health and sleep
patterns among transgender New
Yorkers.
In line with his commitment
to improving HIV and
sexual healthcare services
for LGBTQ people and
other populations, Asa
serves on advisory and
oversight groups including
the New York State AIDS
Institute Medical Clinical
Care Committee, the federal
Department of Health
and Human Services Panel
on Antiretroviral Guidelines
for Adults and Adolescents, the
Pan American Health Organization
HIV/ STI Technical Advisory
Committee, the American Sexual
Health Association, and the medical
advisory board of the Center of
Excellence in Transgender Health
at the University of California at
San Francisco.
Asa is an associate editor of the
peer-reviewed journal Transgender
Health and serves on the editorial
board for the International
Journal of Transgender Health, a
peer-reviewed quarterly.
Senior Director
of Research
and Education,
Callen-Lorde
Community
Health Center
2020 Impact A 24 wards | GayCityNews.nyc