The New York State Senate has reintroduced the so-called “gender identity respect, dignity, and safety act” again this session, as S1049. Please contact your New York State Senators and urge them to vote no on this bill. In addition, if your senator is a co-sponsor of this bill, urge him or her to withdraw sponsorship. (A list of co-sponsors is included at the end of this Call to Action.)

The bill “enacts the ‘gender identity respect, dignity and safety act’; relates to the treatment and placement of incarcerated individuals based upon gender identity; requires that incarcerated individuals in state and local correctional facilities who have a gender identity different from their assigned sex at birth be addressed and have access to commissary items, clothing and other materials that are consistent with the person’s gender identity; establishes that incarcerated individuals shall be presumptively placed in a correctional facility with persons of the gender that most closely aligns with such person’s self-attested gender identity unless the person opts out of such placement.” [boldface type added for emphasis]

The bill text is here: NY State Senate Bill 2025-S1049

If enacted, this bill would violate UN Nelson Mandela Rule 11, “separation of categories.” According to 2024 data on “transgender offenders” incarcerated with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), trans-identifying males are almost four times as likely to be incarcerated for a sex offense and almost three times as likely to have a security level of “high” compared with the general BOP prison population (all men and women).

A former female prisoner has already sued the City of New York after a male prisoner claiming to be a woman raped her. A male prisoner, Ramel Blount, was sentenced to seven years for raping a women in the Rose M. Singer Center at Rikers, which is supposed to be female only. If S1049 is passed, we can only expect to see more such cases of men taking advantage of their special privileges to carry out acts of violence against trapped, terrified women.

No women’s institution can stand idly by as our incarcerated sisters, some of the most vulnerable among us, are put in such clear danger. We cannot tolerate this extreme rollback of women’s rights. We must oppose this bill.

For additional information, go to https://usa.kpssinfo.org/.

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Call to Action!

1. Look up your NY state senator here.

2. Check if they’re a co-sponsor. If so, leave the bracketed parts in your message (but delete the brackets). If not, you can remove the bracketed parts.

Main Sponsor:

Julia Salazar
(D, WF) 18th Senate District

Co-Sponsors:

Jabari Brisport(D, WF) 25th Senate District	Samra G. Brouk(D, WF) 55th Senate District
Cordell Cleare(D) 30th Senate District	Jeremy A. Cooney(D, WF) 56th Senate District
Nathalia Fernandez(D) 34th Senate District	Michael Gianaris(D, WF) 12th Senate District
Kristen Gonzalez(D, WF) 59th Senate District	Pete Harckham(D, WF) 40th Senate District
Brad Hoylman-Sigal(D, WF) 47th Senate District	Robert Jackson(D, WF) 31st Senate District
Liz Krueger(D, WF) 28th Senate District	Rachel May(D, WF) 48th Senate District
Zellnor Myrie(D) 20th Senate District	Jessica Ramos(D, WF) 13th Senate District
Gustavo Rivera(D, WF) 33rd Senate District	Luis R. Sepúlveda(D) 32nd Senate District
Jose M. Serrano(D, WF) 29th Senate District	Lea Webb(D, WF) 52nd Senate District

3. After you’ve entered your address, click the ‘Message Senator’ button on the nysenate.gov site. We have some sample text for you to start with. Get inspired! Whether you have personal experience, are a lifelong feminist, or know women in prisons you’re worried about, feel free to personalize your message:

Dear Senator [NAME]: 

I am writing as your constituent to urge you in the strongest possible terms [to withdraw your co-sponsorship for Senate Bill S1049, and] to vote NO on S1049 at every opportunity available to you.
 
If S1049 becomes law, males who self-identify as women will be presumptively placed in women’s prisons. We already know, from jurisdictions like New York City that have passed similar laws and ordinances, this will result in female prisoners being subjected not only to violations of their dignity and privacy, but also to sexual abuse and rape.

Female prisoners are already extremely vulnerable. Many have been victims of sexual abuse. To house these vulnerable females with males, no matter how the males identify, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Moreover, failure to separate inmates on the basis of sex violates “The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules),” which requires the separation of prisoners by sex.
 
I therefore strongly urge you [to withdraw your sponsorship and] to vote NO on S1049. 

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]