Meeting Transcript

Good morning and welcome to today's New York City Council vote for the Committee on Women and Gender Equity. At this time, please silence all electronic devices and no one may approach a dais. Chair, we are ready to begin. Good morning, everyone. I'm Councilmember Amanda Farrias, Chair of the Committee on Women and Gender Equity. Welcome to today's vote. I'd first like to acknowledge my colleagues who are present present, Councilmember Gutierrez, Aldebol Shulman, and we're joined by Councilmember Caban. Thank you all for being here. And we are also joined by Councilmember Santos Swoso, who's virtual. Today the committee will consider resolution 69, sponsored by Councilmember Tiffany Caban, unequivocally opposing President Trump's executive order restricting protections for transgender students and calling on the New York State Department of Education to ensure that all schools in New York City continue to uphold policies that protect the rights and dignity of transgender and gender non-conforming students, regardless of federal directives. Within months of taking office, President Trump rolled out a series of executive orders that openly targeted transgender, gender expansive, and intersex people. What followed was a rapid escalation in state legislation targeting transgender people, followed with over 600 anti-transgender bills having been introduced by the end of 2025. From healthcare bans to funding cuts to education restrictions, this discriminatory policymaking is stripping vital access to resources for transgender people. Executive Order 14190 passed on January 29, 2025, aims at eliminating protections for transgender students by calling on federal agencies to rescind and withhold funding from K-12 schools that support transgender students. Fortunately, New York City has a number of shield laws that protect trans that transgender and gender nonconforming students at school. As a city, we must continue to uphold the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming students and ensure every student has access to a safe, inclusive, and affirming education. I encourage my fellow council members to support resolution 69. With that, I'd like to turn it over to the sponsor of the resolution, Councilmember Caban, for her remarks. Thank you so much, Chair. I think it's already been said, but the Trump administration has made it its priority to target trans and gender non-conforming kids, which the Supreme Court put its weight behind just this morning. And its executive order prevents them from accessing bathrooms matching their gender identity, taking part in sports, and using the preferred names and pronouns. And so our city and state must continue to uphold human rights laws, which protect trans students from discrimination, especially in the face of federal threats. We need to be 10 toes down on the fact that we are going to protect our children, period. So uh thank you to my colleagues for supporting this resolution, and I look forward to its passage. Thank you, Councilmember Caban. Finally, I'd like to thank my own staff, Dan Curtin and Josephine Caras, and the members of the Women and Gender Equity Committee staff, senior committee council Julia Goldsmith Pinkham, legislative policy analyst Katie Selena, and financial analyst Ailey Staffer, who worked to prepare this meeting. Oh hi, Billy Clerk. We are ready to begin the vote. Thank you. Good morning, William Martin, Committee Clerk, roll call vote committee on women and gender equity on resolution 69. Chair Faries. I proudly vote aye. Gutierrez. Congrats, I vote aye. Shulman. Congrats, vote aye. Aldebolo. Congratulations and vote. I vote aye. Santo Soso. Aye. Thank you. With a vote of five in the affirmative, zero in the negative, and no abstentions. Resolution has been approved by the committee. Madam Chair, that is a full committee. Thank you to the committee members for your votes. This hearing is now adjourned.