NY Governor To Use Executive Order To Add Transgender Protections To State Anti-Discrimination Law Affecting Housing, Public Accommodations, Employment

In New York City, the New York Daily News reports:

• Gov. Cuomo [] announced a plan to provide anti-discrimination protections to transgender people.
  
  A bill to ban discrimination in the areas of employment, housing or public accommodations based on gender identity or expression has repeatedly stalled in the state Senate.
  
  Cuomo told the Empire State Pride Agenda he plans to bypass the Legislature — as he did in raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers — by granting transgender people protections through a regulatory process he controls.
  
  “The scourge of harassment and discrimination against transgender individuals is well-known — and has also gone largely unanswered for too long,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment against transgender people anywhere in the state of New York — period.”
  
  “We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment against transgender people anywhere in the State of New York — period.”
  
  State law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender, but does not include transgender protections. Eighteen states and some localities, including New York City, have enacted their own transgender protections.
  
  Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat and longtime sponsor of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, called Cuomo’s announcement “a great move” but said the Senate still needs to pass the bill because a future governor can undo the executive action.
  
  A Senate GOP spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
  
  State Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long criticized the governor for again going around the Legislature to unilaterally enact something he couldn’t get passed.
  
  “I think he’s starting to consider himself not the governor, he’s considering himself the czar of New York, which he is not,” Long said.

For more, see Gov. Cuomo announces plan to enact transgender anti-discrimination protections (Gov. Cuomo will use executive power to grant protections to transgender people. Some people are not pleased that he plans to bypass the Legislature again).