During his final week as a state lawmaker, incoming Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal penned a farewell letter reflecting on New York’s progress on LGBTQ rights and other areas since he was first elected to the State Senate in 2012.
Hoylman-Sigal, who represented Manhattan’s District 47 and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee, made a significant impact on LGBTQ rights during his decade-plus tenure in the State Legislature, serving as a lead sponsor in many of the most critical pieces of legislation. One of the most consequential bills he spearheaded in the upper chamber was the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, or GENDA, which added gender identity and expression as protected classes in New York State’s human rights and hate crimes laws. But Hoylman-Sigal also successfully championed numerous other LGBTQ-related bills, as well, including legislation barring conversion therapy for minors, repealing a discriminatory state loitering law known as a ban on “walking while trans,” and ushering in the so-called “Shield Law 2.0,” which improved on the existing Trans Safe Haven Act in an effort to protect transgender New Yorkers from the Trump administration. He also legalized gestational surrogacy — an issue that hit close to home for him since his children were born through surrogacy.
