Public Employee Press

LAGIC members trek to capital for Equality and Justice Day

Judith Arroyo, chair of the DC 37 Lesbian and Gay Issues Committee and the president of Local 436 (top left) with union activists in Albany on April 29.

District Council 37 sponsored a bus to Albany April 29 for Equality and Justice Day, a mass lobbying effort organized by the Empire State Pride Agenda advocacy group.

While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members of DC 37 have participated for years in the annual trek to lobby state legislators on issues affecting the gay community, DC 37 LAGIC Committee Chair Judith Arroyo, a nurse and president of Local 436, said this was the first time the union sponsored the trip.

The lobbyists focused on three bills that would protect LGBT youth, recognize same-sex marriage and end discrimination. The Dignity for All Students Act would ensure that public schools have an environment free of harassment and discrimination based on race, national origin, ethnic group, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity and expression) and sex. The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act would outlaw discrimination against transgender people. The group continues to lobby lawmakers for marriage equality and recognition of same sex marriages to give gay marriage partners the same rights and protections as married heterosexuals.

Last year the ESPA convinced the state Assembly to pass the Dignity for Students Act and the marriage equality bill, but neither made it to a vote in the Senate. This year, the advocacy group targeted the Senate and lobbied 173 lawmakers including Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Minority Leader Malcolm Smith for support.

The LGBT lobbyists and allies “shared their stories and made the case for marriage equality, safety in schools for LGBT youth and transgender nondiscrimination protections. These personal interactions are crucial in building support,” said the Prideagenda.org Web site.

“It’s important because there are certain rights that married couples have simply because they are married,” explained Arroyo. “If a married person is injured on the job, gets Workers’ Comp and dies, the spouse continues to receive the benefit. But not in a domestic partnership.”

Empire State Pride Agenda also sponsors Pride in Our Union, a program that encourages New York unions to be free of discrimination and to bargain and advocate on behalf of LGBT members. The organization is building a coalition of unions that will work in solidarity for respect for diversity and advance the goal of social and economic justice for all.

Arroyo said, “We are trying to gain equal rights.”