AKA William

The passage of this bill and its coming path through the Senate could be used to take the legislative temperature of the gay marriage bill. Via Gay City News:

Less than a year after the New York State Assembly first approved a transgender rights bill, it once again passed the Gender Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) for the 2009-2010 session.

The unofficial vote tally on the afternoon of April 21 (the scorecard is kept open for some number of hours after floor action), in the overwhelmingly Democratic chamber, was 89-36. Debate last year took roughly an hour and a half; it lasted only 15 minutes this time.

. . . The bill died in the last session when the Senate’s Republican leadership refused to take it up. The new Democratic leadership has pledged its support for the measure, but with a narrow 32-30 majority, GENDA faces the same uncertainties as the proposed marriage equality law.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said Melissa Sklarz a longtime transgender and Democratic activist affiliated with the New York Transgender Rights Organization (NYTRO). “Marriage equality may be a difficult carry in 2009, so GENDA may be a way to open that door.”