Gay City News LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Protecting Youth and Trans New Yorkers September 21, 2004 To the Editor: Nicholas Boston’s excellent report on the enactment of the Dignity in All Schools Act (“Council Overrides Very Glib Bloomberg,” September 16-22) quotes Mayor Michael Bloomberg referring to the Dignity for All Schools Act (DASA) as a [...]

NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: NEW YORK UP CLOSE; New Bias Frontier: A Council Bill Aims to Protect the Transgendered By Denny Lee New York Times 11 June 2000 When Donnie Vargas switched sexes and became Diana, her masculine wardrobe was not the only thing to go. She lost her job waiting on tables and was evicted from [...]

Pauline Park, a co-chairwoman of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, at the Manhattan Mall, Herald Square, Friday. (photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times) Transgender Group Reaches Agreement on Restrooms By Nicholas Confessore New York Times 2 April 2005 When Pauline Park watched Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg sign an amendment toughening [...]

City Needs to Start Enforcing Transgender Rights Bill By Pauline Park Gay City News 29 April 2004 Two years ago this month, the New York City Council passed Int. No. 24, amending the city’s human rights law to add gender identity and expression, thereby extending protection from discrimination to transsexual, transgendered, and gender-variant people throughout [...]

Gays vs. the transgendered: New York activists go head-to-head By Mubarak Dahir The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) March 19, 2002 Last year gay activists were fighting conservatives in their attempt to get the New York legislature to pass a statewide antidiscrimination law covering gays and lesbians. But this year they find themselves [...]

Birth Certificate Policy Must Reflect Reality of Trans Lives By Pauline Park and Michael Silverman Gay City News 16 November 2006 Most people don’t think about their birth certificates. But for transgendered people, changing the sex designation on their birth certificates from M to F or F to M can be a crucial step in getting a job, traveling, and [...]

Pauline Park & Carl Eden receiv Pride At Work awards Brooklyn Gay Democrats Turn 25 In a first, top Lambda honor goes to non-Brooklynite, Tom Duane By Mick Meenan Gay City News 18 April 2003 A host of Democratic officials gathered in Brooklyn Saturday, April 12, to join the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Lambda [...]

Enthusiasm Competes With Complacency Community leaders urge activism, but some at Bryant Park rally admit fervor has cooled By Cody Lyon Gay City News 23 June 2005 Undiminished by Sunday’s cloudy skies, spirits were high for the annual Gay Pride Rally in Bryant Park, a midtown event featuring speakers, musicians and performers that is the [...]

Council to Vote on Harassment Bill Legislation mandates staff training, reporting on bullying, gender identity, queer issues By Nicholas Boston Gay City News 29 April 2004 David Mensah, executive director of the Hetrick Martin Institute, was among those who testified for a city student dignity bill on April 26. (Pictured at September 2003 rally for [...]

Gay City News 9 December 2004 On the day that The New York Times ran a front-page story reporting that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was moderating its push for same-sex marriage rights and willing to entertain a discussion of supporting Social Security privatization in return for recognition of gay and lesbian partners in the [...]

ESPA Looks Forward in Queens Mick Meenan Gay City News 25 April 2003 Members of the LGBT community in Queens turned out on a blustery night April 23 to attend a town hall meeting sponsored by the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) at the Queens Pride House in Woodside. The presentation was the first New [...]

City Council press conference City Council Takes on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Gay City News 24 March 2005 Bronx Democratic City Councilman Joel Rivera’s Committee on State and Federal Legislation held hearings on March 22 on Resolution 438, which would put the Council on record in opposition to the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell [...]