New York’s ‘walking while trans’ ban targeted women of color, advocates say. Now it’s being repealed.
The 1970s statute ‘led to the arrest of law-abiding transgender and cisgender women of color,’ Gov. Cuomo’s office said Make the Road New York community members at the 7th Annual Translatinx March in Queens in July 2018. (Courtesy of Make the Road New York) Cecilia Nowell
Feb. 5, 2021
Bianey Garcia remembers the first time she dressed up “sexy” before going out on a date with her boyfriend. It was 2008 and she was 18; the couple ended up at a gay bar in New York City’s Jackson Heights. At some point in the night, Garcia said, she grabbed a handful of free condoms to take home. Later, when they left the bar, she and her boyfriend only made it a few blocks before they realized that an undercover police van was following them.
What the Repeal of New York s Walking While Trans Law Means February 03 2021 3:17 PM EST
Wearing a short skirt and high heels while standing outside. Being a woman with an Adam’s apple or big hands and feet. Waving at a car. Or just walking home from a subway stop or grocery store.
Those are among the things that could get a person arrested under New York State’s law against “loitering for the purpose of prostitution,” especially transgender women who are Black or Latinx hence the statute’s nickname as the “walking while trans” law.
Adopted in 1976, this portion of the state’s penal code has now been repealed, and the records of those convicted under it sealed, so they will not be publicly available in most cases. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the repeal bill into law Tuesday.
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