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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Diana Adams, Executive Director of Chosen Family Law Center
1:57:31
ยท
135 sec
Diana Adams, Executive Director of Chosen Family Law Center, testifies in support of a package of bills aimed at protecting and supporting transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary (TGNCNB) individuals in New York City. They emphasize the critical importance and specificity of these bills in providing concrete support and remedies for the TGNCNB community.
- Adams highlights the climate of fear among transgender individuals, citing examples such as passports being seized during gender change processes.
- They praise the bills as potentially the most protective and supportive municipal trans laws in the United States and the world.
- Adams stresses the importance of New York City maintaining its status as a welcoming beacon for LGBTQ+ communities, given its large LGBTQ+ population.
Diana Adams
1:57:31
My name is Diana Adams, I use theythem pronouns, and I am the executive director of the Chosen Family Law Center, an organization that provides one of the most expansive trans legal services programs in the city, including trans affirming medical advanced directives and health care proxies to prevent discrimination in medical environments.
1:57:48
And I'm here as a New York City Lawyer for nearly twenty years and as a non binary transgender constituent in council member Hanif's district.
1:57:57
And I'm here to urge you to pass this entire raft of bills because they're critically important.
1:58:03
I'm very grateful to committee counsel which have listened to advocates like us.
1:58:07
I've been in communication with them over the past month providing resources and input on trans safety and sanctuary bills, and I'm available for further questions today or in future.
1:58:16
And many well intentioned trans sanctuary and safety bills are vague and performative, And that's also important because it's important to make a statement that you're standing up and will be keeping people safe in your city.
1:58:29
But these bills are specific.
1:58:31
These bills are specific in terms of funding and the remedies and the departments that are directed to provide support.
1:58:39
And that's critically important because that allows advocates like us to know which departments to go to to make sure that those departments are providing that support.
1:58:49
This gives remedies.
1:58:50
I want to thank all of you for the care and the detail that went into this and celebrate that these would be the most protective and supportive municipal trans laws in The United States and the world.
1:59:02
And I want to celebrate that today because I'm hopeful that the council will pass these bills.
1:59:06
And I can attest that our clients are terrified.
1:59:10
Clients in New York City are having their passports seized when they send them in to get a gender change.
1:59:17
And those that sent them in before executive orders, now they've been seized indefinitely, which is menacing and terrifying for trans people, in addition to the fears about not being able to access needed medical care.
1:59:32
So there's a climate of terror and these bills would stand up for New Yorkers in a way that New Yorkers deserve.
1:59:38
We have the highest population of LGBTQ people in the country and we're a beacon and we deserve these bills to stay a welcoming beacon for our communities.