Training to Support Single-Sex Facility Access Policy
managers to the training session. NYCCHR training director Vanessa Ramos is at right.
As of March 7, 2016, per Mayoral Executive Order No. 16, all employees of City agencies and all members of the public using City services must be allowed to use the single-sex facility within facilities owned or operated by the City that most closely aligns with their gender identity or expression. This order protects the rights of every New Yorker to use the facility consistent with their gender identity and mandates that City agencies provide training on the range of gender expression and the equal access rights of all individuals, including transgender persons.
On March 22, approximately 80 NYCHA managers attended a training session provided by the NYC Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) and the LGBT Community Center in the Ceremonial Room at 90 Church Street. Facilitated by NYCHA’s Department of Equal Opportunity (DEO), the training also included suggestions for implementation of the facility access policy across NYCHA and training methods for frontline staff.
“As a non-Mayoral agency, NYCHA is not legally included in the executive order,” noted DEO Assistant Director Maurice Q. Robinson. However, NYCHA has “agreed in spirit to adhere to the order and we are working to beat or meet the one-year deadline to train managerial staff. We also are working in partnership with the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ (DCAS) Citywide Department of Equal Employment Opportunity,” he said, “and we have also reached out to NYCHA’s LGBTQ employee organization and other communities that are most effected.”
The order provides access to bathrooms, locker rooms, lounges and other areas without requiring individuals to show identification, medical documentation, or other forms of proof of gender.
Additional training sessions will be scheduled for managerial and executive staff. In addition, all frontline staff must be trained within two years of the order’s effective date. The training requirement can also be met through classes available from DCAS. Enrollment information on the DCAS classes is available from NYCHA’s Agency Training Liaisons, Cherry McCutchen and Gil Mazon. Completion of the DCAS training satisfies the training requirement.
The hotline for NYCHA’s DEO for questions about Executive Order No. 16 or any other equal opportunity matters is 212-306-4468.
