Protect trans students: gov

ALBANY — An outraged Gov. Cuomo is demanding the state Education Department do a better job of protecting transgender students from harassment and discrimination in the classroom.

Cuomo, in a scathing letter obtained by the Daily News, blasted education officials for not meeting the requirements of New York’s five-year-old Dignity for All Students Act, which was intended to protect children from bullying and harassment.

“This lack of action appears to have resulted in harassment and violence being perpetrated against transgender and gender-nonconforming students,” Cuomo wrote in the letter sent Friday.

Cuomo’s missive was sparked by a report last week from the New York Civil Liberties Union that revealed “serious and pervasive” discrimination and harassment against transgender and gendernonconforming students.

The NYCLU said state education officials have not provided local schools with proper guidance on how to apply the law to protect transgender youth, resulting in a collection of ad hoc policies that are largely insufficient.

According to the report, 19% of the 24,478 incidents of harassment reported in New York schools during the 2012-13 school year involved gender stereotypes.

Cuomo called the report “truly disturbing” and demanded that Acting Education Commissioner Elizabeth Berlin “take any and all necessary action” to address its findings.

“Their report outlines a situation which is completely unacceptable, dangerous . . . and in complete contradiction to the values of our great state,” wrote Cuomo, who is expected to march in Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade in Manhattan.

Cuomo asked Berlin to produce a written plan of action within seven business days and a report on the department’s overall compliance with the Dignity for All Students Act within three weeks.

State education officials have argued they are in the process of drafting new guidelines for school districts to use in applying the law and plan to have them in place by the start of the upcoming school year.

Education Department spokesman Dennis Tompkins has said the guidelines will help schools “foster educational environments that are safe and free from discrimination for all students, specifically transgender and gender-nonconforming students.”

Lack of action appears to have resulted in harassment and violence

GOV. CUOMO