Albany looks to nix loiter law vs. trans
ALBANY — Legislation repealing a long-criticized loitering law advocates say is used by police to harass and target transgender people is finally moving forward.
Senate Democrats will bring a bill striking down New York’s law related to loitering for the purpose of prostitution, also known as the “walking while trans” law, to the committee next week.
It’s the first time the measure will advance in the upper chamber, and both the Senate and Assembly are slated to pass the long-stalled legislation the following week, the Daily News learned Thursday.
“The Senate under my leadership has made it clear we stand for equality and justice,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) told The News. “For too long this loitering statute has been used to target LGBTQ people, communities of color and victims of sex trafficking. The Senate will be repealing this law.”
Advocates, who have been calling on Dems to approve the repeal since they took control of the Senate in 2019, say the current law has resulted in widespread police profiling, unjustified arrests and harassment for many in LGBT, immigrant as well as Black and Latino communities.
The change could help end discriminatory enforcement that often targets women from marginalized groups who are at high risk for sex trafficking and other exploitation and abuse, advocates said.
“We are seeing history being made in regards to trans rights being prioritized, and the passage of this bill will improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers, and especially of Black and Brown trans women who have historically been targeted and unduly profiled simply for our existence,” said Kiara St. James of the New York Transgender Advocacy Group.
The current law, on the books since 1976, gives officers grounds to arrest a person for allegedly stopping, talking to, or beckoning at others in a public place.
It states that loitering for the purposes of engaging in prostitution is a violation, the lowest level of offense, for first-time offenders and a misdemeanor for repeat offenders. But the vaguely worded statute allows cops to use seemingly arbitrary observations such as someone’s dress or appearance as grounds for arrest.
In a 2016 class-action lawsuit brought by the Legal Aid Society challenging the law, five of the eight named plaintiffs were transgender women of color arrested for standing outside, speaking to one another, or walking home.