NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed a bill repealing a law activists say allowed police officers to stop-and-frisk and arrest transgender people for decades.
Cuomo signed the bill, which repeals a piece of legislation known as the "Walking While Trans" law, hours after the New York state Senate and Assembly passed it.
“COVID exposed low tide in America, and the ‘Walking While Trans’ policy is one example of the ugly undercurrents of injustices that transgender New Yorkers — especially those of color — face simply for walking down the street,” the governor said in a statement.
“Repealing the archaic ‘Walking While Trans’ [law] is a critical step toward reforming our policing system and reducing the harassment and criminalization transgender people face simply for being themselves,” he added.
The policy, which was enacted in 1976, “provided law enforcement with broad powers to stop any individual for a vague loitering offense,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who sponsored the bill to repeal it, said in a press release Tuesday afternoon.
Officers have been able to use the law to stop New Yorkers for offenses including “wearing a skirt,” “waving at a car,” and “standing somewhere other than a bus stop or taxi stand,” his release noted, citing police reports.
The passing of the legislation “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 in a statement.
“This outdated, discriminatory statute has led to hundreds of unnecessary arrests of transgender women of color and a broader culture of fear and intimidation for transgender and gender nonconforming New Yorkers,” he said.
“Thanks to the hard work and determination of the LGBTQ community — in particular, transgender and gender nonconforming New Yorkers who bravely shared their stories — New York has repealed this statute once and for all,” he added.