Gov Paterson Announces New Trans Rights Policy

This Wednesday, December 16 at the LGBT Center in New York City, Governor David Paterson will announce a major policy affecting transgender civil rights in New York. The Pride Agenda has been working on this issue since Governor Spitzer was elected and has continued to work on it with Governor Paterson. Please join us for this important event if you are able.

What: Governor Paterson to announce major policy on transgender rights
Where: LGBT Community Center , 208 West 13th St. ( Manhattan )
When: This Wednesday, December 16 at 10:30 AM (doors open at 10:00 AM)

Having our community and our allies show up in large numbers for this significant moment is the best way we can thank Governor Paterson for his work moving LGBT equality forward. We hope to see you there! If you can join the Pride Agenda at this event, please RSVP to Matt Brunner at mbrunner@prideagenda.org or (212) 627-0305.

Name Changes

A graduate student in journalism at CUNY recently wrote a cool article / multimedia presentation on the recent changes to the name change laws in New York State. Our own Caprice Bellefleur, the veteran mod of the mHB forums, who works with the Name Change Project, was interviewed.

A New York County appeals court ruled on October 21 that a transgender person does not need a doctor’s note to change his or her name. This decision reversed a Civil Court denial of a name-change petition. (See here for more information.)

The decision could impact all of New York state, Caprice Bellefleur said by email. Bellefleur is a volunteer lawyer for the West Village Trans-Legal Clinic, which provides pro bono legal assistance to transgender people seeking to legally change their names. “Any decision that eases the [name-change] process can be used to argue for the same result across the state,” said Bellefleur.

So do go check it out.

Workplace Transitions Event (NYC)

Tales of Workplace Transitions
Thursday, October 29, 6PM, Free
6PM Cocktail Reception; 7PM Panel

Join us for a panel discussion concerning successful workplace transitions for transgender employees. Panelists will include: Stephanie Battaglino, Assistant Vice President; Communications Director of New York Life; Tony Ferraiolo, Manufacturing Supervisor for Madison Company; M. Dru Levasseur, Staff Attorney for Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Inc.; and Margaret S. Stump, PhD, Chief Investment Officer at Quantitative Management, a subsidiary of Prudential. Our panelists will discuss their personal experiences transitioning, how their transitions were handled and what they did to facilitate at their respective places of business. Jennifer Brown, Co-Director of Out & Equal Metro New York, will serve as moderator. Register now.

Continue reading “Workplace Transitions Event (NYC)”

RIP Jim Carroll


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Damn, Jim Carroll died. I missed the news probably because he died on 9/11 this year, & that’s the day I avoid the news (because every clever media asshole thinks it’s a good idea to replay footage that still traumatizes me). Still, it’s fitting that this NYC icon died on 9/11, in a weird way; Jim Carroll might have died of a lot of things in his life – drugs, alcoholism, AIDS – but he didn’t. He made it to 60 & had a heart attack.

It’s the nycTa, After All

Good news for the T in NYC: Court rules unanimously NYCTA not exempt from transgender protections

The Appellate Division, Second Department (“Appellate Division”) upheld the lower court’s ruling in Bumpus v. New York City Transit Authority, refusing to dismiss the case against a Transit worker who, Plaintiff Tracy Bumpus avers, launched a sustained and vicious transphobic assault on her at a Brooklyn subway station. In that February 2008 ruling, Justice Robert J. Miller explained, “The Human Rights Law affords protection to transgender people in New York City. By riding the subway, a transgender person doesn’t become less of a person and lose the protection of the Human Rights Law.”

In this case, the law actually makes sense.

TLDEF: Queens (Trans) Woman Beaten in Bias Crime

From TLDEF:

We’re sad to bring you the news of another brutal attack on a transgender woman, this one coming during the height of LGBT Pride month. On June 19, 2009, at approximately 2:30 am, Leslie Mora was walking home from a nightclub on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens when she was accosted by two men who brutally beat her with a belt. They stopped only when a passing motorist threatened to call the police.

Throughout the attack, Leslie’s assailants called her a “faggot” in Spanish. The attack left Leslie with multiple injuries, including bruises all over her body, and stitches in her scalp. Police called to the scene found Leslie nearly naked and bleeding on the sidewalk. They also recovered a belt buckle from the assailants that was covered in blood.

We want you to know that we’re working with Leslie to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice.

The full story, along with other resources, photos of Leslie Mora, at TLDEF’s site.