LGBT groups urge N.Y. city council to defend ban on ‘stop and frisk’ policy

NEW YORK — More than two dozen national and international LGBT advocacy organizations on Monday urged New York City legislators to defend legislation banning police profiling against a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying the infamous “stop-and-frisk policy” unfairly targets LGBT people of color.

The passage of the legislation made history just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act by creating the first enforceable ban against police profiling based on sexual orientation and gender identity, alongside race, religion, immigration status, age, gender, housing status, disability, and HIV status.

Bloomberg vetoed the bill last week, calling it a “dangerous and irresponsible” measure that “would make New Yorkers less safe.”

The coalition — which includes the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Lambda Legal, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and GLAAD – urged the city council to override the mayor’s veto.

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“We know all too well the impact that police profiling has on marginalized communities. LGBT people — especially transgender people and LGBT people of color — are unjustly targeted by law enforcement for harassment and policing at unbelievably high rates,” said Darlene Nipper, Deputy Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The statement issued by 34 local and national LGBTQ organizations noted that “from Stonewall to stop and frisk, LGBTQ people — and particularly LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ youth, and transgender and gender nonconforming people — have long been targets of profiling and other forms of discriminatory policing. The consequences have ranged from death to deportation, assault to arrest, homophobic harassment to humiliation.”

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The statement’s signatories called on legislators to “continue to stand firm with LGBTQ people and communities of color, and to vote against efforts to veto this landmark legislation and turn back the clock on this victory. The safety of LGBTQ New Yorkers depends on it.”

According to The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs report Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities in the United States in 2012, AVP found that in New York City in 2012 nearly 40% of survivors interacting with the NYPD reported police misconduct.

Reports of police misconduct increased significantly from 8 in 2011 to 78 in 2012. The report also found that survivor reports of hostile attitudes from police doubled in 2012, with 43 reports, up from 21 in 2011.

A vote on the Mayor’s veto is expected in August of this year. For more information please visit: https://changethenypd.org/about-community-safety-act

The full statement and list of signatories is here (PDF).