Nearly a year ago, Albany was taken by storm.
Last May 1 over 1,000 people lobbied members of the New York State Assembly and Senate about the issue closest to their hearts. It was the third annual Equality and Justice Day, and it helped convince the state Assembly to pass a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender-inclusive marriage bill. If passed in the Senate, this new law will make New York a new forerunner in the fight for same-sex marriage rights.
On April 29, the Empire State Pride Agenda and the New York Civil Liberties Union are picking up where they left off with the fourth celebration of Equality and Justice Day and a new batch of lobby dialogues. This time they are expecting about 1,500 people to show up in Albany.
"Equality and Justice has been a huge success these past years, and that sends a powerful message. A message that resonates louder and louder as the crowd gets more diverse," organizer for the NYCLU Erica Braudy said.
This year's agenda includes more lobbying for the marriage bill as well as two new acts: the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act and the Dignity for All Students Act. If passed, the GENDA will make it illegal to discriminate or commit a hate crime against a transgender person because of his or her gender expression. The purpose of the Dignity for All Students act is to end discrimination based on "on actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender or sex" in New York State schools.
Apart from lobbying for one of these three issues, participants in Equality and Justice day will attend a statewide rally and be given the opportunity to participate in a "Transgender 101" workshop, during which they will learn about the issues members of the transgender community face every day.
Braudy says that the most important aspect of this yearly event is the awareness it raises throughout the entire state. As more LGBT advocates and allies join the crowd every year, their assemblymen and women and state representatives are gaining a better understanding of how important LGBT issues are to the communities they are representing.
The Elizabeth K. Dollard professor of law, medicine and psychiatry at NYU, Sylvia Law, who has worked with women's and minorities' rights legislation, agrees that raising awareness is an important component of affecting change in the legal system.
"A big part of changing the law is doing public education, doing fact finding, persuading people that there is a problem and that a law needs to be reviewed," Law said.
NYU is not officially organizing a delegation for Equality and Justice Day, but the Office of LGBT Student Services is encouraging anyone with a passion for activism or LGBT rights to head up to Albany if they can.
Though he said he's not passionate about lobbying, Gallatin junior Sadat Iqbal said that changing the law starts with "changing hearts and minds." Iqbal is the president of Queer Union, a politically-minded student group that works with the LGBT office. As such, he sees that "there is definitely a place for this kind of work" in the landscape of political activism.
For more information about this event, including a detailed schedule, check out www.prideagenda.org.
Corina Maritescu is a contributing writer. E-mail her at lgbt@nyunews.com.
