It Turns Out That No, NYC Transit Employees Cannot Launch Into Transphobic Assaults Without Repercussions

“In a major win for transgender New Yorkers, an appeals court ruled unanimously that New York City Transit Authority employees are not exempt from the New York City Human Rights Law, and thus can be held liable for discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. The Appellate Division, Second Department upheld the lower court’s ruling in Bumpus v. New York City Transit Authority, refusing to dismiss the case against a Transit worker who, Plaintiff Tracy Bumpus avers, launched a sustained and vicious transphobic assault on her at a Brooklyn subway station. In that February 2008 ruling, Justice Robert J. Miller explained, ‘The Human Rights Law affords protection to transgender people in New York City. By riding the subway, a transgender person doesn’t become less of a person and lose the protection of the Human Rights Law.’”