New York eliminates ‘Walking While Trans’ ban after years of advocacy
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State Sen. Brad Hoylman sponsored legislation to eliminate the “Walking While Trans” ban. Eagle file photo by Andy Katz
By Rachel Vick and David Brand
New York lawmakers on Tuesday eliminated a prostitution-related loitering misdemeanor dubbed the “walking while trans” ban from state’s penal code following years of activism by trans women of color and their allies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to remove the Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution offense, which allowed police officers to arrest a person for allegedly stopping, talking to or beckoning at others in a public place. In practice, cops have used arbitrary observations as grounds for arrest, such as a person’s attire.
The offense has been used disproportionately against Black and Latino New Yorkers, particularly residents of Corona and Jackson Heights. Trans women profiled as sex workers have been arrested while waiting for the bus and standing near one of several gay bars on Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights.
Cuomo signed the bill a few hours after it passed the Senate and Assembly by wide margins.
Bill sponsor Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan state senator, and other progressive lawmakers have pledged for the past three years to eliminate the “outdated, discriminatory statute.”
“The Senate today corrects an injustice in our penal code that has permitted law enforcement to arrest transgender women — namely those of color, along with immigrants and LGBTQ youth — simply for walking down the street and the clothes they wear,” Hoylman said.
Several other lawmakers and district attorneys have joined the call to get rid of the statute and codify rule changes made by police in some jurisdictions. As part of a lawsuit settlement, the NYPD amended its handbook in 2019 to prohibit arrests based solely on factors such as a person’s gender, gender representation, location, clothing or arrest history.
Prior to the vote, Hoylman joined State Sen. Jessica Ramos and local activists at a press conference hosted by Make the Road New York.
Activist TS Candii said shortly after she moved to New York City two years ago, a police officer used the loitering offense to justify stopping them on the street.
“He used [the law] to profile, force and coerce me to perform sexual acts,” Candii said. “To this day the trauma is still very real. When I walked the halls of Albany, chanted in the streets or talked to legislators it wasn't just for me, it was for all of us harmed by this law.”
Ramos recounted how she was stopped and frisked in her early 20s one night on Roosevelt Avenue by officers from the 110th Precinct who thought she and her friends were sex workers. They were “pushed against the wall, asked to spread our legs and our hands and were felt up by the police,” she said.
“That experience opened my eyes to the grave injustices that are committed against our sex workers and particularly against transgender women and transgender women of color,” Ramos said. “Anybody and everybody should be able to wear whatever they want and walk their streets safely; this is a very basic human right.”
