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Policy Shift Protects Trans-gender Youth In NYS Detention Centers

by Rhonda J Mangus | June 10, 2008 at 07:40 pm

586 views | 17 Recommendations | 3 comments

The policy shift comes after a 2006 lawsuit that received little attention outside the gay media, but that created big waves inside the OCFS.
Alyssa—formerly Andrew—Rodriguez was born male, but identified and dressed as a girl. She had been diagnosed with gender-identity disorder, a common psychiatric diagnosis for transgender people, and has prescribed feminizing hormones at age 12 or 13. Rodriguez was regularly taking the hormones to develop breasts and suppress facial-hair growth when she was arrested and placed in a juvenile-detention facility at age 15. Once in juvie, her hormones were taken away for months at a time, and the staff was directed to call her Andrew. Worse, she was transferred back and forth between the regular boys' facilities and special facilities for the two years she remained in state custody.

A civil lawsuit filed by Rodriguez against New York State Office of Children and Family Services (NYSOCFS) alleging sex and disability discrimination has forced NYSOCFS to set new policy and rules related to the treatment of trans-gender youth held in New York State detention centers. The new policy includes "directing staff members not to use terms like "homosexual" or "transvestite", and also to call transgender [youth] by the name (and pronoun) that they prefer." NYSOCF has also been directed to continue hormone replacement therapy for those youth already receiving it prior to detention and to consider requests for hormone replacement therapy from trans-gender youth already in detention.

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Rhonda J Mangus

at 05:58 on June 11th, 2008

Thanks for the flag, Ifcastro! I am glad you like the story, and thanks for stopping by!

Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:41 on June 14th, 2008

This is a really interesting story: an unlikely battleground for such a struggle, but, once I read the story, it made sense to me.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:41 on June 14th, 2008

Hi Jordan, thanks for the Flag! I think the story is very interesting too. The fact that it received so little media attention is also interesting. Ms. Rodriguez, now 20, was mistreated across several NY facilities, including Red Hook Residential Center. It is not known whether any employees of the NYS residential centers faced criminal charges as a result of their treatment toward Ms. Rodriguez, which I find clearly abusive. Nevertheless, Lamba Legal attorneys, along with the Sylvia Rivera Project, were successful in securing NYS Office of Children & Family Services policy change that will protect, not only transgender children, but inter-sex, and non-conforming gender children as well. Thanks again for the Flag!