The New York Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU sued the NYPD on behalf of a transgender woman who police arrested and charged with “false personation” after she provided the officers with both her previous and current legal names and explained that she changed her name to align with her gender identity. Linda Dominguez was also harassed by officers who repeatedly mocked her gender identity, despite changes to the NYPD’s patrol guide dating back to 2012 that prohibit such behavior.

In 2012, the NYPD revised its patrol guide to require officers to refer to people by their preferred names and pronouns consistent with their gender identity, prohibited discourteous or disrespectful remarks about a person’s gender identity or expression, and specifically prohibited police from using the fact that a transgender person’s preferred and legal names might be different as evidence of a charge of “false personation.”

On November 10, 2020, the NYCLU and the ACLU announced a settlement with the NYPD on behalf of Ms. Dominguez. Under the settlement, the NYPD committed to redistribute its guidance on interactions with transgender and gender nonconforming people to the entire department and to re-train officers in the 44th Precinct—where Ms. Dominguez was arrested—on the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming people. The NYPD will also pay Ms. Dominguez $30,000.

On September 22, 2023, the NYCLU filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the NYPD for unreasonably delaying the release of records detailing the department’s compliance with the 2020 settlement. On November 27, 2023, the NYCLU received records responsive to the FOIL request related to the Dominguez settlement. The records shed light on the NYPD’s guidance regarding interactions with transgender and gender non-conforming community members as well as protections for transgender NYPD employees. The produced records include multiple NYPD Patrol Guide procedures regarding gender identity and gender expression, the NYPD’s presentations on “Gender Identity and Expression in Our Department and the City We Serve”, and the NYPD’s employment discrimination guidelines.

Attorney(s)

NYCLU staff include staff attorney Bobby Hodgson, legal fellow Jessica Perry, senior staff attorney Erin Beth Harrist, investigator Paula Garcia-Salazar and paralegal Ingrid Sydenstricker. ACLU staff include Gabriel Arkles, Rose Saxe, and Adrián Nava.

Date filed

January 22, 2019

Court

Bronx County Supreme Court

Status

Active