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JANUARY 2003

Gay Rights Bill Ends On Bright Note
Focus Now on Renewed Push for Dignity for All Students Bill
by Assemblyman Steven Sanders

In mid December, after ten years of no action by the State Senate on “SONDA”—the Sexual Orientation Non-discrimination Act, which I sponsored and saw passed in the Assembly ten times, the State Senate finally allowed the bill to come to a vote. The bill passed and was signed into law later that day by the Governor.

This is a glorious achievement in New York State history and in the fight for civil rights. Today equal opportunity and freedom from fear and discrimination have been secured for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Enclaves of bigotry and ignorance have been closed. No longer will gay or lesbian or bisexual New Yorkers—including students—be second-class citizens.

While the State Senate should have acted long ago, this is still a sweet victory for justice, equality and civil liberties. We must acknowledge the veterans of the Stonewall Rebellion and the courageous New Yorkers, men and women, past and present, who led this crusade for equality and to end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation for all these years. I also recognize that our work is not done. Discrimination against any group or individual based on a “what” the person is, is un-American and unjust.

I commend Speaker Silver for his unfailing leadership on this bill, Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Richard Gottfried for their tireless work, and the bill’s many other long supporters, and the late Assemblyman Bill Passannante, who made history by introducing the first SONDA way back in 1971.

In another recent development, the State Education Department (SED) agreed to include questions relating to bias harassment and bullying on the annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). The YRBS is administered to students across New York State and is a critical vehicle to assess what risks students are facing.

SED will be including two new questions in the YRBS: one which asks students if they have been called names, teased, harassed or attacked either at or on the way to school, and a second which asks what the student thought the reason was for the harassment. Students will be able to choose from a list of possible motivations, including gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, language, age, economic status, intelligence, dress, country of origin, religion and height or weight. Students can choose as many categories as are applicable, and are also able to specify any other cause not listed.

In September, SED had stated its intention to not add any questions on bias harassment to this year’s YRBS despite assurances to the contrary for over two years. In response to that announcement, I had several conversations with the State Education Department to urge reconsideration of the matter. The Dignity for All Students Coalition along with the Empire State Pride Agenda and other members of the Coalition held a press conference on the steps of the SED protesting the decision and asking the SED to reconsider.

“SED was right to hear the arguments of the experts and advocates about the pressing need for this data,” said Pride Agenda’s legislative director, Ross Levi. “The over 155 member organizations of the statewide Dignity for All Students Coalition are to be congratulated for their tenacity. We also commend our elected officials who advocated with SED for the inclusion of these questions, especially Assemblyman Steve Sanders who simply wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

The YRBS, a federally funded, state administered survey, contains core questions created by the federal government designed to gather data about the safety and health environment for high school aged youth. States are free to add questions of their own to gather data on related subjects.

It is my hope that in the new year, we will follow these important victories with Senate action on the Dignity for All Students bill which I sponsored in the Assembly and which passed overwhelmingly in 2002. Dignity would prohibit harassment against all students in public schools, including harassment based on a person`s actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender, or sex.

All students need a safe, welcoming and affirming environment in school in order to concentrate on their academic and personal growth. They should never have to be preoccupied by the threat or actual occurrence of harassment or discrimination, be it verbal or physical, either from school employees or fellow students. The Dignity for All Students Act would promote civility among students and between students and teachers. It will also help create an atmosphere where learning is paramount and distractions to learning are minimized.

Steven Sanders is chairman of the NYS Assembly’s Committee on Education. You can e-mail him at sanders@assembly.state.ny.us or phone him at (212) 979-9696.#

 

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