Ryan stresses intolerance for human rights violations
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Citing human rights violations both locally and nationally, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan on Monday urged county residents who think they’re being discriminated against to contact the county Human Rights Commission.
“Our main purpose here today is to make it loud and clear, crystal clear, that we have zero tolerance for that kind of hatred,” Ryan said during an event at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center on Wall Street in Uptown Kingston.
Ryan was joined at the event by county Sheriff Juan Figueroa; Jeff Rindler, the executive director of the LGBTQ Community Center; and current and former members of the Ulster County Human Rights Commission.
Ryan said the Ulster County Human Rights Protection Act, adopted by the county Legislature in 2018, gives county residents who believe they’ve been discriminated against the ability to seek a local settlement of their disputes.
Prior to the law being adopted, individuals who believed they faced discrimination had to travel to Albany to have their cases heard by the state Human Rights Commission.
The county law, like the state’s, prohibits discrimination in employment, public accommodations, resort and amusements, housing accommodations, commercial space and land transactions, and in the issuing credit. The laws mandate that a person’s race, color, religion, ethnicity, creed, age, national origin, citizenship status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgender status, group identity, marital status or disability not be taken into account.
The county law also provides a way for complainants unsatisfied with the results of mediation to take their case to an administrative law judge, who can assess damages if the claim is upheld, but that system has not yet been established.
The executive’s office has requested an amendment to the human rights law to make the appointment of an administrative law judge to hear human rights cases consistent with the way the county appoints other administrative law judges. That resolution is expected to be considered by county lawmakers in March.
“It’s been very clear to me how serious this is and how seriously it should be taken,” said county Human Rights Commissioner Tyrone Wilson. “We want the Hudson Valley to feel like it is safe and supported.”
Wilson said he will work with those who believe they have been discriminated against and help them fill out and file the complaints necessary to initiate an investigation.
Former Human Rights Commissioner Nina Dawson said the commission received roughly two dozen complaints in 2019.