The weather is heating up and so are the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s campaigns for trans liberation! SRLP is excited to share updates on our work to ensure trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex (TGNCI) people have access to healthcare, safety, and freedom from violence.
Healthcare Coverage Victory for Non-Binary People
Through the work of SRLP and our Medicaid lawsuit partners, Willkie Far and Gallagher and the Legal Aid Society, the New York State Department of Health reversed a judge’s decision to provide affirming healthcare coverage to a non-binary person. This recognition of the needs of non-binary people is historic, but SRLP is appalled that New York State has continued to not inform people of the regulation allowing TGNC people access to care. We will continue to push the State, provide training to service providers and legal advocates, and share Know Your Rights and self-advocacy materials with our members.
Advocacy with TGNC Immigrants
To increase safety for TGNC immigrants, we have worked in coalition to support anti-policing of trans women, increased access to courts, and an end to detention. Our legal team has been busy writing legal memos and statements in support of getting federal immigration officers out of New York State courts to ensure immigrants can be safe in family, housing, and other courthouses, creating bi-lingual orders of protection for greater access for Spanish speakers, challenging the discriminatory practice of profiling and arresting trans women of color simply for walking down the street, and speaking out about the death of Roxsana Hernandez and calling for an end to detention for all TGNCI immigrants.
Demanding City Council to Fund Work Addressing TGNC Issues
SRLP’s Movement Building Team has continued to build on 2 years of organizing community members around a series of city-wide TGNCI forums in each borough. Along with the Anti-Violence Project, the Audre Lorde Project, GMHC, Make the Road New York, TransLatina Network, and others, we have used feedback from our community to advocate with New York City officials on ways to address the issues facing TGNCI people, including housing, healthcare, immigration, and employment. Together, our coalition has used a variety of tactics to secure support from local officials from testifying at city agency budget hearings to meeting with City Council staff to educate them about our community’s needs. We recently joined our coalition partners for a rally in Foley Square to raise public awareness of our demands.
Relaunching It’s War in Here Report on Experiences of TGNCI People in Prisons
We were able to get crucial input from our members who have experienced incarceration and they provided political education to others in our group on the issues facing TGNCI people behind the wall.
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