Leveraging New York’s Equal Rights Amendment to Protect LGBTQ+ New Yorkers

In 2024, an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers voted to expand equal rights and protections against discrimination based on based on ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex—including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy—by passing the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA”), which amended Article I, Section 11 of the New York State Constitution. In contrast to a federal landscape that is increasingly hostile towards LGBTQ+ rights, the ERA presents opportunities to establish robust state constitutional protections that go beyond these limiting federal equality frameworks.

This program aims to empower litigators and advocates to think creatively and expansively in leveraging these new protections to ensure LGBTQ+ New Yorkers receive full and equal treatment under the law. The program will provide an overview of how the ERA came to be, situate the ERA’s constitutional protections among New York’s statutory antidiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, and discuss emerging issues arising in ERA litigation across New York State.

Program Chair/Moderator/Panel Leader:

• Gabriella Larios, Staff Attorney, New York Civil Liberties Union

Panelists:

• JP Perry, Senior Staff Attorney, New York Civil Liberties Union
• Erin Beth Harrist, Director, LGBTQ+ Law & Policy Unit, Legal Aid Society

Please note: RSVP link will take you to a third-party website, nycbar.org