04/17/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/17/2024 14:43
With the Equal Protection of Law Amendmenton New Yorkers' ballots in November, Heather Betz, Director of NYLAG's LGBTQ+ Law Unit, spoke with CityLimitsto highlight the importance of the amendment as it pertains to the LGBTQ community:
"If [the Equal Rights Protection of Law Amendment] passes, new language will be added stipulating that people cannot be denied rights based on their 'ethnicity, national origin, age, and disability' or 'sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.'
"The current iteration of the Equal Protection Clause, which was initially adopted in 1938, prohibits discrimination against people based on race, color, creed, and religion-but stops there…
"New York would be the first state to include such all-encompassing language, something advocates hope will set the tone for other states.
"One such advocate is Heather Betz. Over the course of her time working as a supervising attorney and now the director of New York Legal Assistance Group's LGBTQ Law Unit, Betz has witnessed what she calls 'rampant' discrimination against the LGBTQ population-predominantly in the workplace, but also in people's day to day lives. This can lead to mental health issues, she said, and prevent her clients from seeking future employment.
"'Even though we have very robust human rights laws, there's still lots of discrimination that people are suffering from,' she said."
Read the full piece by Mary Cunningham in CityLimitsfrom April 16,2024.
Federal law dictates that youth and young adults under 21 experiencing homelessness should be enrolled in school immediately but CityLimits spoke with various organizations working with recently arrived immigrant youth including NYLAG as they encounter obstacles to the school enrollment they're entitled to.
Recent updates from Adams' administration on reducing the backlog for SNAP and cash assistance do not tell the full story. Abby Biberman, Associate Director of NYLAG's Public Benefit Unit, highlighted with CityLimits the struggles faced by those who are being denied benefits.
Despite the positive news from the Adams administration, Abby Biberman, an Associate Director for NYLAG's Public Benefits unit, spoke to Gothamist about the ongoing issue of many SNAP and Cash Assistance applicants being denied.
The US DOE has added a fourth negotiation session on student loan relief for borrowers with financial hardship, in part thanks to a letter from NYLAG Supervising Attorney Jessica Ranucci and her fellow members of the Department's loan relief negotiating committee. Jessica spoke to USA TODAY about returning to the negotiating table.
Negotiators from the Fall 2023 Student Loan Debt Relief Negotiated Rulemaking sent a letter to the US Department of Education asking the Department to convene a fourth negotiation session to discuss debt relief based on borrowers' financial hardship.
In a recent interview with CityLimits, Deborah Berkman, a supervising attorney for NYLAG's Public Benefits Unit spoke about the obstacles New Yorkers face in applying for cash assistance.