S2873 (Duane) / A5039 (Gottfried)

The "Bathroom Bill" or the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), would open all public accommodations, including restrooms and high school locker rooms, to both biological genders, if an individual chooses to identify his or herself as the opposite sex (i.e. cross-dressers or transvestites).

The dictionary defines “sex” as the sum of the structural and functional differences by which the male and female are distinguished, or the phenomena or behavior dependent on these differences.^[1] “Gender” is simply defined as sex.^[2] But the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) seeks to deny the immutable biological differences between sexes currently recognized in the law.

GENDA defines “gender identity or expression” as “having or being perceived as having a gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth.”

GENDA would open all public accommodations, including restrooms, high school locker rooms, health clubs, dorm rooms and other single sex residential facilities like homeless and family violence shelters to both biological genders dependent upon how a person chooses to self-identify.

Any man could legally gain access to facilities reserved for women and girls simply by indicating, verbally or non-verbally, that he inwardly feels female at the moment. There is no way to distinguish between someone suffering from what the American Psychological Association calls “Gender Identity Disorder” and a sexual predator looking to exploit this law. This is the dangerous reality of the bill.

GENDA is a potential boon for trial lawyers. Day care centers and businesses are instituting stronger policies to protect children from sexual abuse and women from harassment in the workplace. GENDA would unravel many of the gains that have been made in recent years.

Proponents of GENDA insist that they are being discriminated against, but GENDA would infringe upon the rights of the majority of New Yorkers for the sake of a small, but vocal minority.

Women and children deserve protections and a right to privacy that GENDA would erode.



^[1] sex. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sex

^[2] gender. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gender