New York City's new rules on transgender rights could bring about hefty fines for businesses and landlords who don't use the right pronouns for their workers and tenants.
According to guidelines recently released by the New York Commission on Human Rights, failure to recognize a person's preferred gender can result in fines of $125,000 for unintentional acts – or $250,000 if the offense is intentional.
Among the offenses that could bring a fine:
• Repeatedly using a pronoun or name not preferred by the transgendered person even if official identification shows a different name and gender.
• Requiring a transgendered employee to wear a gender specific uniform of the gender not identified with or to require female employees to wear makeup or prevent male employees from doing so.
• Requiring all men to wear ties before being allowed to dine in a restaurant.
• Not allowing a person to use the bathroom or locker room of the gender he or she identifies with.
• Failure to provide health benefits for medical procedures related to changing one's sexual identity.
"Interestingly, the policy explicitly allows transgender individuals to use bathrooms of either gender, though this right is not given to others,"
The Daily Caller wrote of the new rules.
New York has banned discrimination against transgendered individuals since 2002, but the new rules are the first to lay out the specific guidelines.
"New York has always been a diverse and welcoming city and our laws are designed to protect every New Yorker, regardless of their gender identity," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
An estimated 25,000 transgendered people live New York City.
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