FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
23 June 2010
For more info., contact:
Pauline Park
Chair
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
24 W. 25th St., 9th floor
New York, NY 10010
(212) 675-3288, ext.338
(718) 424-4003
paulinepark@earthlink.net
On the evening of Tuesday, June 22, the New York State Senate passed the Dignity for All Students Act – safe schools legislation that would prohibit discrimination and bias-based harassment in schools throughout the state — by a vote of 58-3. Governor David Paterson has pledged to sign the bill — which has already passed the Assembly — into law once it cleared the Senate.
“This landmark legislation was ten years in the making and is the first statute enacted by the New York state legislature that includes gender identity and expression,” said Pauline Park, chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy. NYAGRA was — along with the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) — one of the co-founding members of the NYS DASA Coalition, which spearheaded the campaign for the legislation, first introduced in its transgender-inclusive form in the 2000 legislative session. Park negotiated inclusion of gender identity and expression in the bill in 2000 and represented NYAGRA in the steering committee of the state Dignity Coalition.
The Dignity for All Students Act would enable teachers, parents, students, and school administrators to address bullying and bias-based discrimination and harassment based on a comprehensive list of characteristics, including race, religion, ethnicity, disability, and sexual orientation as well as gender — defined to include identity and expression. The definition of gender is a crucial component of the legislation, as surveys show that bully and harassment based on gender identity and gender expression as well as actual or perceived sexual orientation may be pervasive in schools throughout the state and across the country.
DASA requires that public schools across the state develop rules to prevent and respond to discriminatory harassment and hate violence; establish teacher, staff and administrative training guidelines; incorporate discrimination awareness into civility and character education curricula; and, report incidents of bias harassment to the State Education Department.
Enactment of the state statute will also have implications for New York City public schools, as the New York City Department of Education has refused to fully implement the Dignity in All Schools Act enacted by the New York City Council in 2004, based on a claim by the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg that the City Council had no authority to legislate on education. With the mayor having publicly stated his support for the state legislation, the Bloomberg administration and the City Department of Education will now presumably adhere to the state-mandated requirements of the Dignity for All Students Act once the governor has signed the bill into law.
