Sunday, June 28, 2015

Cuomo Angered Over SED's Failure to Protect Transgender Students


Governor Demands Immediate Actions to Address Failures Outlined in Recent NYCLU Report

Governor Andrew Cuomo sent the following letter to Acting State Education Commissioner Dr. Elisabeth Berlin regarding the Department’s reported failure to protect transgender and gender non-conforming students from harassment and violence. 
 
In the letter, the Governor demanded that the State Education Department take immediate actions to address those failures, as outlined by a recent report from the New York Civil Liberties Union. 
 
The Governor also called for a review, to be published within the next three weeks, of the Department’s compliance with the Dignity for All Students Act.

The full text of the Governor’s letter can be viewed below:

Dr. Elizabeth Berlin, Acting Commissioner
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12234

Dear Dr. Berlin:

I am writing to express my outrage over the State Education Department’s failure to implement and monitor the provisions of Dignity for All Students Act relating to gender identity and gender expression. This lack of action appears to have resulted in harassment and violence being perpetrated against transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Specifically, the New York Civil Liberties Union released a truly disturbing report yesterday detailing discrimination and harassment of transgender and gender non-conforming youth in New York’s public schools. Their report outlines a situation which is completely unacceptable, dangerous, in violation of DASA, and in complete contradiction to the values of our great State.

Your department is tasked with ensuring our children receive a quality education, and a significant part of this responsibility is ensuring they have a safe and harassment-free environment where they can learn and grow. I demand that you take any and all necessary action to address the failures outlined in this report. Towards that end, I expect a written plan of how you will achieve this presented to my office within seven business days.

Furthermore, I demand that you conduct a review of your full DASA compliance for all protected groups covered by the law. I would like the results of this exercise within three weeks.

In New York, the gender identity and expression of New Yorkers remain unprotected classifications under the Human Rights Law, which has to change, as I have advocated for years. But the Dignity for All Students Act clearly protects all of our students in schools and they cannot and should not be denied those rights because of their gender identity or expression.

I ask you to act and to act today. Schools must be havens for our children. This report presents a very different scenario that you must address immediately.

Sincerely,


ANDREW M. CUOMO

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