Caban asks how often CCHR receives intersex discrimination inquiries

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the members of the administration that are here with us today.

I'm going to ask some questions about my bill, which, thank you, I really appreciate the testimony in support of the legislation, but particularly the words that you shared afterwards about

what this administration's commitment towards our communities are.

Discrimination against someone on the basis of intersex characteristics could intersect with a few different categories that CCHR reports, but it doesn't get recorded in its own category.

So how often does CCHR receive inquiries related to discrimination against someone who is intersex?

And do you have any thoughts around why or why not, in terms of why a person would?

report or wouldn't report.

Yeah, so I'll start that, but I think feel free to add, Stephanie.

So, you know, one of, I think, the beautiful things about the city human rights law is its discrimination based on actual or perceived status.

That means that not everyone has to come to us and tell us their particular gender identity.

Gender is a broad category that includes many...

Has a quite expansive definition.

And I think we only need the details in some instances.

So if people claim gender discrimination, people could have reported that are intersex.

And we don't have that specific information, or to my knowledge, we don't.

I can follow up if that's not accurate.

But I think in general, in answer to your question, we know that government has long been unfriendly to communities who don't fit into a gender binary, that has become readily apparent,

more so as the federal government seeks to erase people's actual identities and denigrate them at every opportunity possible.

So we do not fault people who don't feel comfortable coming to government, but we recognize that

seeing yourself and being represented in materials and examples is important for everybody so that they know they are seen and heard.

And as I mentioned in my testimony, you know, we have recognized.

intersex discrimination in our public-facing materials, in our legal enforcement guidance, in our rules, recognizing that this is a significant issue that impacts people.

And so it's incumbent on us and our sibling agencies, the Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA Affairs and Mayor's Office of Equity and Racial Justice, to be thinking about how we are making sure New Yorkers know we are there for them.