In fits and starts, New York has added protections and recognized individual rights specific to members of discriminated classes.
The state provides some of the most comprehensive protections for transgender individuals in the nation, which it looks to continue expanding. In 2019, the classes entitled to equality of opportunity as a civil right were expanded to include an individual’s “gender identity or expression.”[1] In 2021, the Gender Recognition Act became law, streamlining the name change process by removing egregious and humiliating procedural requirements and eliminating the possibility of a discriminatory denial of a petition by a disapproving judge.
