The New York State Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a proposed New York state constitutional amendment that would expand anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and pregnant women will go before voters in November.
The New York state appeals court’s decision upholds a June ruling by an upstate New York judge that allowed the amendment to be ratified by voters after it was removed from the ballot in May. The justices on Thursday rejected an appeal by Republican state Assemblywoman Marjorie Barnes, D-N.Y., on the grounds that “no substantive constitutional question is directly involved.”
Burns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican Party, said in a statement that the court erred in rejecting the appeal and that the amendment, which will appear on the November ballot as Proposition 1, is “an extreme departure from common sense.”
“I am confident that once voters hear the truth, they will firmly reject Proposition 1,” Cox said.
Cox said in a statement that the amendment would give non-citizens the right to vote and allow minors to receive gender-affirming medical treatment without parental consent, including procedures that are rarely recommended for transgender people under the age of 18. The New York Republican said: Similar scare tactics Democrats hope to use the amendment as a way to protect abortion rights in the state, but to sway voters to reject the amendment.
While the ballot question does not explicitly protect the right to an abortion, because abortion has been legal in New York State since 1970 and abortion is not considered a threat, it could protect against discrimination on the basis of having an abortion.In New York State, individuals are already protected from employment discrimination based on decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion.
The New York State Constitution currently prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed or religion. The proposed amendment, known among its supporters as the “Equal Rights Amendment,” would explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of an individual’s “ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, the consequences of a pregnancy, reproductive health care, or autonomy.”
