Did You Know...

• that it’s illegal to discriminate against transgender or gender nonconforming people in New York City?
• that this law applies to homeless shelters?

In January 2006 the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) issued a new policy that protects transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people from discrimination within the shelter system.This policy states that you have the right to be housed in a shelter that corresponds to your gender identity, not according to your birth sex. This is a new policy, and shelter workers are still learning about it. They may not inform you of your rights — so YOU should know what they are.

• Shelter workers are required to address you as you request, and place you in a shelter that matches your gender, no matter what your legal documents say.
• You cannot be forced to use a facility that does not match your gender.
• You also cannot be forced to dress in a way that does not match your gender.
• If you are homeless and identify as a woman, you have the right to go to a women’s intake center and be placed in a women’s shelter.

For more information, or

If you have been discriminated against in the shelter system;
If you are not being placed according to your gender;
If shelter workers do not know about this policy;

call the Sylvia Rivera Law Project at 212-337-8550 for help.