New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday repealing a long controversial statute commonly known as the “walking while trans” ban.

Both houses of the New York Legislature voted Tuesday to pass the bill that repeals a 1976 penal law statute aimed at prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution, but which ultimately led to years of law enforcement discrimination against trans people of color. The statute “led to arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement by targeting women from marginalized groups that are at high risk for sex trafficking and other exploitation and abuse,” according to the sponsor memo from state Sen. Brad Hoylman. The statute allowed police to “stop-and-frisk trans women of color and other marginalized groups for simply walking down the street,” Hoylman said in a news release.

“This outdated, discriminatory statute has led to hundreds of unnecessary arrests of transgender women of color and a broader culture of fear and intimidation for transgender and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers,” Hoylman said. From 2012 to 2015, 85% of people arrested under the penal law were Black or Latinx, according to city arrest statistics cited in the sponsor memo.”Officers have expressly warned transgender women that ‘girls like them’ would be arrested if they were seen outside after midnight. One officer, when asked how he was trained to identify prostitutes, testified that he was trained to look for women with Adams apples, big hands, and big feet,” it says. The Legal Aid Society filed a class-action lawsuit against the City of New York and New York Police Department (NYPD) officers in 2016 on behalf of several transgender women who argued they’d been unjustly targeted by law enforcement under the law. That lawsuit resulted in the NYPD revising its patrol guide in 2019 regarding loitering for purposes of engaging in prostitution, “which now specifically prohibits officers from relying on ‘gender, gender identity, clothing, and location’ alone or in combination to establish probable cause, and requires more detailed factual narratives about officers’ observations,” a Legal Aid Society news release says.

Cuomo, in a statement released after he signed the bill into law, called the statute “archaic.” COVID exposed low tide in America and the ‘walking while trans’ policy is one example of the ugly undercurrents of injustices that transgender New Yorkers — especially those of color — face simply for walking down the street,” Cuomo said in the statement. “For too long trans people have been unfairly targeted and disproportionately policed for innocent, lawful conduct based solely on their appearance. Repealing the archaic ‘walking while trans’ ban is a critical step toward reforming our policing system and reducing the harassment and criminalization transgender people face simply for being themselves.”

Senator Brad Hoylman said, “New York today corrects an injustice in our penal code that has permitted law enforcement to arrest transgender women—namely those of color, along with immigrants and LGBTQ youth—simply for walking down the street and the clothes they wear.”

Melissa Sklarz, Transgender Rights Advocate, said, “After years of organizing and lobbying by the TGNCNB communities and our allies, the New York state legislature passed The Walking While Trans anti-loitering ban and the bill was signed into law today by Governor Cuomo. Thank you to the Governor, the Senate, The Assembly, Senator Brad Hoylman, AM Amy Paulin, TS Candii, and the progressive army of leaders who believe that trans women of color have the same rights of assembly as all New Yorkers and will no longer be targeted for being trans, for being black or brown, for being immigrants, and for being women.”

TS Candii, Executive Director of Black Trans News, said, “After four decades of this discriminatory law, New York has finally repealed the discriminatory #WalkingWhileTrans ban. For too long this statute has been used as a weapon to allow law enforcement to harass Black and brown transgender women and non-binary folks for simply having the audacity to walk around and exist in public spaces. New York is a safer place because the #WalkingWhileTrans ban was repealed and sealed. We applaud Senator Holyman, Assembly member Paulin and all of our legislative advocates for their advocacy. We also applaud Governor Cuomo for swiftly signing this bill into law. Of course, we thank all the advocates, led by Black and brown trans women, for all the sweat equity, dedication, passion, pain, and work we put into this campaign. The fight for trans equity and existence is far from over, but this is a pivotal step.”

CONGRATULATIONS NEW YORK STATE