Bills Unveiled on Same Day Boy Scouts Reverse Century Old Policy Prompted by North Jersey Boy
Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle hailed the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to include transgender scouts, a move that came just hours after she introduced a broad package of bills on Monday that will strengthen civil rights for transgender individuals in New Jersey.
“Now more than ever, we need to stand up for those who are being marginalized,” said Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen). “Antiquated policies and attitudes towards transgender individuals have led to discrimination, violence, depression and suicide. While tremendous strides have been made in recent years to advance equality for members of the ‘LGB’ community, much more still needs to be done to help protect our brothers and sisters in the ‘T’ community.”
The reversal of the Boy Scouts’ century-old policy was inspired largely by the case of a transgender North Jersey boy whom Vainieri Huttle had stood up for, recently introducing a measure urging the Boy Scouts to create a more inclusive membership policy.
The latest package of bills Vainieri Huttle introduced on Monday will help solidify New Jersey’s position as a leader on transgender civil rights by, among other things, establishing a task force to help advance equality for transgender residents, improving insurance coverage and making sure public records correctly reflect an individual’s gender identity.
The legislative package includes:
- A-4567 – Establishes the Transgender Equality Task Force to assess legal and societal barriers to equality and provide recommendations to the Legislature. The 17-member task force would look at the following areas: healthcare, long term care for the chronically ill and senior citizen transgender population, higher education, housing, including homelessness, employment, and criminal justice.
- A-4568 – Prohibits health insurers, SHBP, SEHBP, University Correctional Health Care, and Medicaid from discriminating in providing coverage and services based on gender identity, including: denying, cancelling, limiting, or refusing to issue or renew a contract or policy based on gender identity, demanding payments or premiums based on a gender identity, and designating gender identity as a preexisting condition for which coverage will be limited or denied.
- A-4566 – Stipulates that the sex of a decedent is to be recorded on a death certificates to reflect the decedent’s gender identity as reported by next of kin or best qualified person available, unless the person completing the death certificate is presented with a document that memorializes the decedent’s gender transition. The bill also provides a legal process to address conflicting information regarding the gender of the decedent and codifies existing regulations regarding current information included on a death certificate.
- AJR-139 – Designates November 14 – 20 as “Transgender Awareness Week” in New Jersey to coincide with the national movement to help raise the visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming persons and increase understanding of the prejudice, discrimination, and violence that they face.
- AJR-140 – Designates November 20th as “Transgender Day of Remembrance” in New Jersey to honor the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
Vainieri Huttle noted that Transgender Day of Remembrance started as a vigil by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a 34 year old African-American who was a highly visible member of the transgender community and worked locally on education and transgender issues in Boston before she was murdered in her apartment in November 1998. Although the murder remains unsolved, it became the catalyst for the day of remembrance.
“Transgender individuals face considerable challenges in society, more than most of us can even imagine,” added Vainieri Huttle. “Discrimination, harassment, decreased educational and employment opportunities, as well as barriers to clinically-appropriate healthcare and social services will continue to harm them unless we take a stand. In order to address these challenges legislatively or otherwise, we must have a comprehensive review of the current policies and procedures that are impacting the lives of transgender residents and their families.”
The Human Rights Campaign reported that in 2015 there were at least 21 murders of transgender persons in the United States, more than any previous year on record, with a disproportionate number of these victims being transgender women of color.
The measures have all been referred to the Assembly Human Services Committee, which is chaired by Vainieri Huttle.