The New York State Assembly Chambers
ALBANY – The Democratic-controlled New York State Assembly has voted 81-46 on a gender non-discrimination bill. The bill, however, has gone nowhere in the Republican-led Senate, a fact that some of the Assembly Republicans alluded to in the debate prior to voting against the measure.
According to the Albany Times-Union, prior to the Assembly vote Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) debated with Republicans who expressed fears that such a measure would give free rein to men who, claiming to be transgender, might work their way into women’s locker rooms or other spots where they could launch a sexual assault. Gottfried and others say there’s been relatively little evidence of that and he noted that a man could simply dress as a woman in order to gain access to locker or rest rooms.
Monday’s discussion was notable for if no other reason than the legal battle between the federal government and the state of North Carolina related to the same issue.
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