Category: DSW Newsletters

DSW participated in Equality New York’s LGBTQI Virtual Day of Action. Community experts led panels and webinars on the movement’s policy priorities for this legislative session to improve the lives of LGBTQI New Yorkers and their families. After opening remarks from elected officials, including Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), state Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Assemblymembers Felix Ortiz (D-Brooklyn), Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), and Harry Bronson (D-Rochester), webinars were held on the loitering repeal (“Walking While Trans”) bill, the Transgender Prisons and Jail Protection bill, and a law regarding comprehensive sexuality education.

Lobbying meetings for these pieces of legislation, along with the LGBTQI Long-Term Care Facility Residents Bill of Rights, took place in the afternoon. DSW’s Melissa Broudo facilitated a legislative meeting with Assemblymember Joseph Lentol (D-North Brooklyn). Along with DSW’s Frances Steele, the group advocated for the passage of the Repeal of Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution, a dangerous and discriminatory law used overwhelmingly to target transgender people of color in New York state.

The day of action was a resounding success under unprecedented circumstances. The following day, the lieutenant governor voiced her official support for repealing the loitering statute, stating, “We have to repeal the ban on walking while trans. It’s a buzz word but it is also just people exercising their human right to be who they are, where they want to be and they should not be harassed by that … [it’s] something that legislatively we need to take up, absolutely.”

Thank you, Lt. Gov. Hochul, for your support on this critical initiative to ensure that no individual is criminalized on the basis of their identity.

DSW’s Melissa Broudo and J. Leigh Brantly were featured in the latest edition of New Pride Agenda’s virtual town-hall series, titled “Let’s Talk Sex & Sex Work.” The webinar brought together activists, policy experts, and community members to explore the economic and cultural impacts of social distancing for LGBTQ+ people in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LGBTQ+ communities are feeling the effect of social distancing in innumerable ways in response to COVID-19. Those who express themselves sexually, as well as those who work in the sex industry, face significant challenges, ranging from loss of work to social isolation. These realities can resurface past experiences of homophobia and transphobia, creating barriers to accessing health and safety resources.

The webinar was hosted by Cecilia Gentili, co-chair of NEW Pride Agenda and founder and CEO of Trans Equity Consulting. Experts who spoke on the panel also included Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Ceyenne Doroshow, DSW consultant and founder and executive director of G.L.I.T.S.; and Jose, an HIV+ sex worker and advocate. The discussion combined the varying expertise of panelists to highlight gaps in services, explore potential solutions, and provide a space to share resources.

View the full webinar here.

The New York State legislature is following social distancing protocol, and advocacy groups have organized virtual lobbying meetings to continue their activism. Through their work with the New York Gender Diversity Coalition and other organizations, DSW’s J. Leigh Brantly helped organize an historic day of activism. Transgender, Gender-Non Conforming, Non-Binary (TGNC/NB) Advocacy Day is an annual event where activists, community members, and policy experts from across the state travel to Albany to fight for legislative action on behalf of the TGNC/NB community. This year, thanks to the hard work of movement organizers like J, the community still met, albeit from a distance.

The event began with an address on the state of TGNC rights in New York State. Panels spanned topics of “Sex Work and COVID-19,” “TGNC Healing and Grief,” and lobbying. Brian Romero from the Walking While Trans Coalition taught a webinar on the legislative process in New York State. Jason Walker from the New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) led a Twitter town hall in which participants used social media to advocate for two of the most critical active bills supporting TGNC/NB rights this session: the Gender Recognition Act (SB0056/A3457) and the Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution repeal bill (SB2253/A654), also known as the “Walking While Trans Ban.”

DSW’s Melissa Broudo facilitated the webinar panel, “Beyond the Transaction: TGNCNB Sex Work and COVID-19.” Panelists included Ceyenne Doroshow, from GLITS and DSW consultant; J. Leigh Brantly of DSW, NYTAG, the Sharmus Outlaw Advocacy & Rights (SOAR) Institute, and Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society (GLITS); TS Candii of The Walking While Trans Coalition; and Kiara St. James of NYTAG. The discussion explored how COVID-19 has significantly impacted the sex-worker community; the ways this community has used mutual aid and emergency organizing to mitigate vulnerabilities; and the unique stress this puts on TGNC/NB sex workers.