NY finalizes ban on transgender discrimination

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration finalized a set of rules Wednesday preventing employers and businesses from discriminating against transgender New Yorkers, but at least one conservative group is planning a legal challenge.

The state Division of Human Rights on Wednesday adopted regulations that adds transgender status to the long list of factors protected under the state Human Rights Law, which was first adopted in 1945. Cuomo's administration first proposed the new rules in October.

NY transgender protections rely on 1945 law

The Human Rights Law prohibits employers, businesses or housing providers from discriminating against someone based on a wide variety of factors, including age, race, creed and color.

"Today we are sending the message loud and clear that New York will not stand for discrimination against transgender people,” Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. “It is intolerable to allow harassment or discrimination against anyone, and the transgender community has been subjected to a second-class status for far too long."

The regulations make clear that the word “sex” refers not only to gender, but also “gender identity and the status of being transgender.”  Since the Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination based on sex or disability, the regulations make clear those protections apply to transgender individuals and those with gender dysphoria, too.

Here's how NY's transgender protections will work

The new rules have been praised by LGBT groups, who had long lobbied the state Legislature to adopt similar changes into state law.

But while the effort had support in the Democrat-led Assembly, it was met with opposition from some with Republicans and conservative groups, who dubbed it the "bathroom bill" while often raising arguments about entering gender-exclusive bathrooms.

Cuomo instead decided to bypass the Legislature and take action on his own, a decision that drew criticism from Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County.

Flanagan: Cuomo's executive action goes too far (UPDATED)

Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative group based in Spencerport, Monroe County, said his group has been consulting with lawyers and will likely move ahead with a legal challenge now that the rules have been finalized.

"I believe we will be taking this to court," McGuire said. "Right now, we're meeting with legal folks about what the best way to proceed is."

JCAMPBELL1@Gannett.com

Jon Campbell writes for Gannett's Albany bureau.