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‘Know Your Rights’ forums coming

To the editor:

In the past two years we’ve seen an outpouring of hate, attempts at overt discrimination, attempted rollback of basic human rights protections on the federal level. We are facing a potential crisis in the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn issues previously deemed settled law in terms of women’s health issues, abortion, marriage equality and basic LGBTQ civil rights protections. We’ve seen attempts to ban members of the transgender community from serving openly in the military as well as prohibiting use of public accommodation facilities based on lies and fears of homophobic and transphobic hate groups bent on our elimination from society. The secretary of the Justice Department, Jeff Sessions, issued guidance that LGBTQ people are not covered under federal anti-discrimination laws, opening the gates to all forms of discrimination in all aspects of our lives, including housing, employment, medical care and insurance coverage. We’ve seen repeated civil rights violations with our immigrant neighbors and native peoples.

On the New York state level, the state Senate for the 16th straight year refuses to bring the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) out of committee to allow the full Senate the ability to discuss or vote on the bill. The state Assembly as passed this same bill for 11 consecutive years!

Rather than focusing on the negatives that exists in our society today, we need to find ways to come together to promote diversity, unity, peace, acceptance and understanding with our neighbors.

Representatives from New York state government will be in the North Country with the NYS “Know Your Rights” forum. These events will take place in various communities all across New York state. Here in the North Country, this will be held on Monday, Oct. 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Cantwell Room of the Saranac Lake Public Library as well as on Tuesday, Oct. 23 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Hawkins Hall Room 153B on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus (corner of Beekman and Cornelia streets). These sessions are free and open to the public

The purpose is to inform the community of their legal rights and how to identify and approach a situation in which their rights may have been violated. This information is especially important in rural communities of New York, where resources are scarce and this type of information is less readily available.

This forum is in response to the continued violation of the rights of marginalized communities and seeks to inform the public with the knowledge they need to take action if or when their rights are violated. The session also seeks provide information and resources available to all New Yorkers. This includes intersectional groups and people of all social identities, individuals in diverse age groups, disability status, gender identity, sexuality, refugee status, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity and veteran status, just to name a few.

We welcome everyone in the Adirondack North Country community to come to “Know Your Rights” as citizens in New York state.

Kelly Metzgar

Executive director

Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance

Saranac Lake

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