N.Y.
Court: Trans Woman Can Move Forward With Discrimination
Suit

The New York State supreme court ruled last week that employees of the New York City Transit Authority are not exempt from the city's Human Rights Law, allowing a trans woman to proceed with a discrimination suit, according to a press release from Housing Works.

"The Human Rights Law affords protection to transgender people in New York City," Justice Robert J. Miller said. "By riding a subway, a transgender person doesn't become less of a person and lose the protection of the Human Rights Law."

In 2006, Tracy Bumpus, a 40-year-old Brooklyn resident, filed a lawsuit against the Transit Authority, alleging that one of its employees subjected to her to a vicious tirade on a subway platform after she asked for help with her MetroCard. The Transit Authority tried twice, unsuccessfully, to have the charges dismissed.

Robert Bacigalpui, an attorney at Housing Works, which provided Bumpus legal counsel, said the ruling is a victory for the transgender community.

"This decision is of greater significance, however: It establishes that the more than 40,000 employees of the Transit Authority are not immune from liability when discriminating against anyone, whether it be on the basis of race, creed, or, as here, gender identity and expression," Bacigalupi said in the release. "This is a welcome precedent." (The Advocate)