Press Release Date: 04/02/2005
Contact: Paul Cates
Director of Public Education
Lesbian & Gay Rights and AIDS Projects
American Civil Liberties Union
Tel: (212) 549-2568

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

We are very disappointed that a New York appeals court has made it more difficult for us to go forward in our discrimination lawsuit for illegal eviction by dismissing parts of the complaint that we filed alleging that we were illegally evicted from our offices because we serve transgender clients.

Though the court?s decision gives us the opportunity to revise our complaint, the opinion suggests that the state?s civil rights protections would not protect transgender people from being denied access to use the restroom of their gender identity. This ruling ignores the reality that thousands of transgender New Yorkers, including many of our clients, who need access to places of public accommodation just like everyone else. No one?s safety or privacy is protected when transgender women, who dress and present as women, are forced to use a men?s room.

But this case has always been about more than which restroom is appropriate for our clients to use. Our landlord made it clear that our transgender clients were not welcome in any of the common areas of the building and refused to even negotiate over what restroom they could use. As a result, we were forced to relocate, causing hardship to many of our clients who are suffering from HIV/AIDS.

We intend to keep fighting this case to ensure that transgender people are provided the protections we believe are guaranteed by New York?s civil rights laws.