Wednesday, October 10, 2018

MAYOR DE BLASIO SIGNS HISTORIC LEGISLATION ADDING THIRD GENDER CATEGORY TO BIRTH CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY THE CITY OF NEW YORK


  Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a historic piece of legislation into law,creating for the first time a third gender category on New York City birth certificates. The new law also makes it easier for transgender and gender non-binary people born in the City to amend their birth certificates to more accurately reflect who they are by removing medical and administrative barriers. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2019.

Intro 954-A was recently passed by the New York City Council under the leadership of Speaker Corey Johnson and in close partnership with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. This law continues the City’s work in championing the rights of the LGBTQ community.

“New Yorkers should be free to tell their government who they are, not the other way around,” said Mayor de Blasio. “This new legislation will empower all New Yorkers – especially our transgender and gender non-binary residents – to have birth certificates that better reflect their identity, and it furthers the City's commitment to defending the rights of our LGBTQ community.”

“For the first time, all New Yorkers will be able to get a birth certificate that reflects and affirms their lived reality,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray. “We will not stop there— we strive to extend that dignity to every aspect of life. We will stand strong against any attempt to deny members of the LGBTQ community the respect or safety they deserve as fellow human beings.”

“Today is a landmark day for our city,” said Speaker Corey Johnson. “New York is sending a clear message to people who are transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary that we are here for you. This law will help those friends, neighbors and colleagues better self-identify on their birth certificates, a document that’s so important in everyday life. I am proud of my Council colleagues, the administration, and advocates for making this a reality.”

The law calls for the creation of a third gender to appear on birth certificates issued by the City of New York. In addition to the “male” and “female” designations, birth certificates will also show an “X,” allowing gender non-binary people who identify neither as men nor women to have a birth certificate that more accurately reflects their identities.

The law also will allow individuals to self-attest their own gender identity on birth certificate applications, removing the current requirement that medical and mental health professionals first attest to an individual’s gender identity before they are permitted to amend the gender marker on their birth certificate.

These changes recognize that transgender and gender non-binary people are best equipped to articulate who they are and signals a strong commitment from the city to decrease the vulnerability these communities experience in accessing housing, employment, healthcare, and other vital services, where mismatched identity documents can lead to discrimination, harassment, and mistreatment.
With this new law, New York City will join jurisdictions across the country and the world in adding a third “X” gender option to official government documents, including Oregon, California, Washington and New Jersey (for birth certificates) and Oregon, Maine, California, and Washington, D.C (for driver’s licenses). Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Pakistan are among countries who provide a gender neutral option on passports.

“As leaders in Washington, including our newest Supreme Court Justice, threaten to chip away at the hard-fought rights of LGBTQ Americans, New York City continues to be a beacon of hope and model for the world,” said Matthew McMorrow, Senior Advisor for LGBTQ Community Affairs, Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit. “By legally recognizing a non-binary gender and allowing New Yorkers to self-attest to their own gender identity, we are living up to some of our City’s core values of self-expression and self-determination. Our non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex and transgender communities will no longer be invisible, and they will be granted the dignity and respect they rightly deserve.”

“This legislation is a historic and vital step forward for our city and country,” said Ashe McGovern, Director of the NYC Unity Project. “As a non-binary trans person, I intimately understand the discrimination our communities face as a result of mismatched or inaccurate identity documents. With this move, the Mayor is signaling clearly that New York City sees us, hears us, and deeply supports our fundamental right to self-determination.”

“The legislation signed today is neither a radical nor unique action,” said Carrie Davis, health care consultant and Chair of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Report and Advisory Board on Gender Marker Change Requirements. “Instead, it is a simple act of respect and humanity whereby the Mayor, City Council and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – in dedicated partnership with community members and advocates – work together to help ensure vulnerable transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary people born in New York City have the accurate identification they need to participate as full-fledged citizens in their communities. This can mean having the identification to get a job, a place to live, to travel, or even being able to obtain health care, among many things.”

“For too long, transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming people, and older people in particular, have lived in the shadows, suffering widespread discrimination, high rates of violence, social isolation, and mounting health care barriers,” said Michael Adams, CEO of SAGE. “SAGE commends Mayor Bill de Blasio and the NYC Council on passing this critical legislation, which has a marked impact on so many transgender older New Yorkers – those who came of age during decades when transgender people were heavily stigmatized. For our city’s transgender elders, being able to obtain a birth certificate that matches their gender – without the need to go through a healthcare provider – is a vital to assert their selfhood. Today, older transgender people, and all New Yorkers, know that the City has their back.”

“This simple change will help safeguard the rights of New Yorkers of all gender identities, especially transgender and gender nonconforming people. With birth certificates that correctly reflect many more people’s gender identities, New Yorkers will finally have accurate documents that are necessary for registering for school, obtaining health insurance, and applying for jobs,” said Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of NYCLU. “The NYCLU commends the city for this welcome step to treat all New Yorkers equally.”

NEW YORK CITY ADVISORY COMMISSION ON PROPERTY TAX REFORM HOLDS PUBLIC HEARING IN THE BRONX


   Members of the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform will hold a public hearing in the Bronx to listen to people who pay property taxes directly or indirectly. To ensure the Commission hears from all those interested, speakers will be given no more than three minutes to present testimony or comments. Commission members may use additional time to ask questions.

The Advisory Commission, formed in late May by Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Johnson, is working to develop recommendations to reform New York City’s property tax system to make it simpler, clearer, and fairer, while ensuring that there is no reduction in revenue used to fund essential City services.

Thursday, October 11, 2018, 6:30 PM

Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Forchheimer Medical Science Building, Robbins Auditorium
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Bronx, New York 10461

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

STATEMENT FROM BOROUGH PRESIDENT DIAZ RE: FEMA’s Removal of Generators from Puerto Rico


  “The federal government’s disgraceful treatment of Puerto Rico continues to reach new lows.

"The island needs this equipment. It should remain on the island until Puerto Rico’s electrical grid is rebuilt strong enough to no longer need to be prepared for such emergencies. Had President Trump and FEMA done right by Puerto Rico in the first place maybe this wouldn’t be an issue more than a year later,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW By Councilman, Rubén Díaz Sr.


Now that the Judge Brett Kavanaugh matter is over, can we now return to the local matter of addressing the abuses, neglects, and ignored needs of our people?
 
You should know that during Judge Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court hearings; Governor Andrew Cuomo, NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio and our elected leaders all turning their undivided attention and complete concentration on attacking POTUS and his nominee, the judge, and the U.S. Senate confirmation hearings.    Rumor has it that their attempt was to distract attention away from the mess they have created in the City of New York.
 
We can all agree that the charges against Judge Kavanaugh are very serious, just as serious as those charges against President Bill Clinton when allegations of sexual misconduct were brought against him by several credible women, and also the case of the late U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy regarding the Chappaquiddick incident, when the vehicle he was driving crashed into the river and he left his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne to drown, abandoning her, not seeking help for her rescue.   We can all agree that these are all very serious and repugnant allegations.
 
That said, we can also agree that we must now turn our attention to our local leaders and the serious and repugnant abuses, neglect, and abandonment that they have inflicted upon our city’s homeless, and the residents living in Public Housing (NYCHA), the strap hangers, and the hardworking men and women of For Hire Vehicles under the TLC.
 
The lies and false reports regarding the thousands of children exposed to lead poisoning residing in NYCHA buildings,  the torture that Mass Transit riders are forced to go through every day to get to and from work, the high cost of rent, making apartments unaffordable for Senior Citizens, men, women, children and families which has led to the city’s outrageous numbers of homelessness, and the TLC abuses in high fees and regulations which have led drivers to suicide,  is an outrageous!
 
These problems are bigger, are what matters and are of great concern to our residents.  Our residents care about their housing, health, getting around the city, and their lively hoods more than whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed or not.
 
It is important for you to know that more than (60,000) sixty thousand families are homeless in New York City!  This number increases every day.   When you see the conditions of many of these NYCHA buildings and apartments, in which these families and their children are forced to live under and endure isn’t suitable or acceptable even for animals. 
 
NYCHA conditions have gotten so bad that the federal government had to step in, and file a lawsuit against the mayor and his administration, when their investigation found that records had been falsified to show that lead paint and asbestos had been removed, when in fact these families were being exposed to these hazardous materials.   So, the mayor was taken to court in order to protect the children residing in NYCHA buildings.
 
My dear reader, you should remember that Mayor Bill DeBlasio, before becoming Mayor, while campaigning invited the Rev. Al Sharpton to spend a night sleeping in a NYCHA project.   They wanted to supposedly, experience, first hand, the precarious conditions that NYCHA residents are forced to endure.   
 
Well that was back then! And this is now.
 
The day after spending the night in a NYCHA apartment, both DeBlasio, and Sharpton had a press conference to denounce the “horrific” conditions of the NYCHA residents and that if elected Mayor, his campaign promise was to make the “horrific” conditions at NYCHA his top priority.   DeBlasio said he would prioritize making much needed repairs and fixing the NYCHA problem.   That has turned out to be a laugh ha, ha, ha.   What a joke!
 
Let’s turn our attention to the nightmare of our subway system.  Neither the Governor nor the Mayor have demonstrated concern for the wellbeing of our city’s commuters.   They have been passing the hot potato from one to the other, without taking into consideration the suffering of those they were elected to serve.
 
All this time our leaders have been “under fire” not knowing what to do or how to deflect the heat away from them. 
 
But surprise! surprise!  Here comes Judge Kavanaugh!   Every single leader saw this as a great opportunity to deflect, distract the attention, and hopefully erase from the minds of the people the chaos and tribulations they have been forced to endure at the hands of elected leaders.  So they decided to become “Don Quixote de La Mancha”  against Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.  
 
Ladies and gentlemen, now that the Kavanaugh derangement syndrome, for now, is over;  it is about time to return to and address the abuses, the neglect, and discrimination that have been inflicted upon our city residents.   As far as I am concerned our problems are greater than Judge Kavanaugh and his nomination to the Supreme Court.
 
I am City Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr.  and this is what you should know.  

   

Monday, October 8, 2018

BP DIAZ CALLS FOR INCREASED COMPUTER SCIENCE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS


In new report, Borough President Diaz urges Both City & State to increase efforts in tech education

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has issued a new report, “Programming New York City Students for Success,” which outlines an expanded view of computer science education in New York City public schools.

“New York has a long way to go when it comes to providing students with adequate and equitable computer science learning options,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. “If we are to prepare our students for an ever-changing economy, we have to do more to expose them to a robust computer science curriculum.”

The report offers multiple recommendations to expand and improve computer science education in New York City schools, such as increasing the overall number of class hours required for computer science learning in city schools; creating a standard computer science curriculum and working with educators and industry leaders to keep it up-to-date; and enacting a project-based requirement for computer science education as a requirement for high school graduation. These recommendations are designed to address the gender, race, and socio-economic gaps in access to computer science education.

The full report can be read at https://on.nyc.gov/2Nq9tNC.

“Given our Borough and our City’s place as a leader in education, workforce development planning and tech hub development, we must ask the following question: ‘How do we educate our students today in computer science and technology so they can be best prepared for the jobs of tomorrow?” said Borough President Diaz. “It is my intention to answer that question in this report, and to spark a conversation on how this City and State can provide a path forward on the equitable creation and implementation of a rigorous computer science curriculum in every school.”

Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr - Shut Down the Horizon Juvenile Center Now Before Someone Gets Killed!


What You Should Know
By Councilman Rubén Díaz Sr.
District 18 Bronx County, New York

 

Shut Down the Horizon Juvenile Center Now Before Someone Gets Killed!

You should know that New York’s media is paying very close attention to reports about the dangerous inmate situation at the Horizon Juvenile Center located here in Bronx County. Their October 4, 2018 headlines say it all:

The New York Times“Teenagers Were Moved Off Rikers for Safety. Their Brawls Came, Too.”

The Wall Street Journal“20 Guards Injured During Brawl at Juvenile Detention Center in Bronx. Guards’ union calls the facility unsafe and dangerous”

The New York Daily News“Juvie Beatdown. 20 jailers injured breaking up gang brawl”

The New York Post: “Guards: Shut new juvie jail. 20 officers injured in gang melee”

It is important for you to know that the Horizon Juvenile Center has only been open for just one week and already, it is a nightmare!

I strongly support the Correction Officers Benevolent Association’s demand that the Mayor of the City of New York shut down the Horizon Juvenile Center immediately and return the inmates to Rikers Island, before a life is lost.

You should already know that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to close Rikers and build prisons in four boroughs. His plan may simply be a means to eventually expand La Guardia Airport.

You should know that the Bronx once had its own prison, the Bronx House of Detention, once located at 653 River Avenue. It was closed in 2000 and then served as a homeless shelter. In 2007 it was demolished to make way for the Bronx Terminal Market Shopping Center.

Mayor de Blasio’s goal to close Rikers, whether good or bad, cannot be done by this rush to transfer 16 and 17-year old inmates into any unsafe facility. It endangers both inmates and correction officers. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we need to do all we can to prevent our prison guards as well as our city’s 16 and 17-year old prison population from being placed in any prison facility that is dangerous. No one deserves this. We must not accept a culture of violence. The Horizon Juvenile Center needs to be shut down, now!

I am Councilman Rev. Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.

Bronx Chamber of Commerce - Applebee's presents Dinner and a Movie: "Kung Fu Panda 3" | Sunday | October 10, 2018 | 5:00-7:30 PM



Events, Communications & Grants Director
Bronx Chamber of Commerce
"The Network for Business Success"
1200 Waters Place, Suite 106
Bronx, NY 10461
718-828-3900

Aretha Franklin dance tribute opens BAAD!'s BlakTinX Festiva


2018 BlakTinX Performance Series
At BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance
Opens with Aretha Franklin Dance Tribute
Festival runs October 19 to November 20, 2018

Series includes a dance concert tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin, plus evenings of music (all string musicians), poetry and the premiere of three new dance works by Pepatian/BAAD! Jerome Foundation/Artists in Residence  Ebony Golden, Kayla Farrish and ColemanCollective and more!

The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance kicks off its fall season with the BlakTinX Performance Series from October 19 to November 20, 2018.  This annual multidisciplinary festival inaugurated in 2002 celebrates art and performance by Black, Latinx and artists of color. The festival’s opening weekend features a dance tribute to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. BAAD! is located in a neo gothic style building at 2474 Westchester Avenue. For tickets and information call 718-918-2110 or visit www.BAADBronx.org.
Friday & Saturday, October 19 & 20 at 8pm | $20, $15 (Students/Seniors) 
RESPECT! A DANCE TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN 
The Queen of Soul made us move, groove, and feel the spirit. We honor her legendary music career of more than six decades with a 2-day dance tribute featuring 16 choreographers. Each concert is presented like a gapless album with back to back music and performances.

FridayOluwadamilare AyorindeItaly BiancaCashel Campbell, Havanna FisherGerard MinayaJason “Slim Ninja” RodriguezMervin Acharo SmithJanice Tomlinson and Miki Tuesday/International Affair.
SaturdayJennifer AcostaMegan CuretJessica DanserAlfred GallmanJayden HiggsNoele PhilipsKiran Rajagopalan and Vir-Amicus.
Sunday, October 21 at 7pm | Free 
BLAQ & BAAD! SHOW 
BLAQ and BAAD! is a new web show focused on queer culture of The Bronx. It's The View meets The Tonight Show with a (BAAD!) twist. A panel of LGBTQ members meet to discuss current events, culture, and creativity in our city with special performances by local QPOC in front of a live studio audience. Co-hosted by Rosaly Ruiz and Whitney Dav-Rho.

Friday, October 26 at 8pm | $20, $15 (students/seniors) 
STRINGS AND THINGS 
A music concert giving props to the strings section. Singer/songwriters, classical musicians, and rockers join the varied program covering genres of all types. Featuring The Dolly/Workman ProjectMel GreenwichGanessa James and Robin Tucker.

Saturday, October 27 at 7pm | Free 
BAAD! HALLOWEEN: PARTY AND OPEN STAGE 
BAAD! brings it on Halloween with costumes, dancing and artful fun. Doors open at 7pm, and everyone is invited to sing, dance, read or perform for the open stage beginning at 8:30pm, and MC’d by Appolonia Cruz. Come dance the night away.

Sunday, October 28 at 3pm | Free 
PRESENTED BY BAAD! AND REIMAGINE 
PERSISTENT VOICES/LAST GASP! 
Persistent Voices takes its name from a poetry anthology highlighting work by writers lost to AIDS. Edited by Phillip Clark and David Groff, the book memorializes legendary poets of a generation. Prominent Bronx queer leaders from literature, social justice, and performing arts select and read works from the book and share personal stories and interpretations. ​Last Gasp!, created and performed by Laura Shapiro, uses mordant humor, talking as well as movement, video projections, and colorful costumes to consider personal end–of–life preparations within a perspective of possible planetary apocalypse and/or exhaustion. A discussion on end of life planning that affirms our lives and deaths are worthy of consideration will follow. BAAD! presents Persistent Voices as part of the Reimagine End of Life Event Series.

Thursday & Friday, November 1 & 2 at 8pm | $20, $15 (Students/Seniors) 
PRESENTED BY PEPATIÁN & BAAD! 
COLEMANCOLLECTIVE | FRUIT PUNCH 
Live and recorded audio including the sounds of a school yard, recited statistics, dissonant statistics, and music by Outkast and Bambounou, incites Fruit Punch, a vibrant work depicting the ins and outs of bullying and how it translates to adulthood. The impetus for the work was a Bronx school stabbing in the fall of 2017. ColemanCollective is a multidisciplinary performing arts company, founded by Cain A. ColemanCharisma Glasper and Matthew Perez.

Friday & Saturday, November 9 & 10 at 8pm | $20, $15 (Students/Seniors) 
PRESENTED BY PEPATIÁN & BAAD! 
KAYLA FARRISH | SPECTACLE 
Spectacle is a film and live performance production imploding in the possibilities of love, and addressing torrential questions that can come with it. We follow a wild-spirited woman re-examining her sexuality, power, and trauma within society’s placement of a female body, while challenging expectations that propel her to healing and freedom.

Friday & Saturday, November 16 & 17 at 8pm | $20, $15 (Students/Seniors) 
PRESENTED BY PEPATIÁN & BAAD! 
EBONY GOLDEN | wash’d// 
A dance-based performance ritual, wash’d// explores both the violence of misogyny and the strength of sisterhood as they relate to women of color—past, present and future. The piece centers and celebrates the activism present during the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) that organized during the Civil Rights Movement. wash’d// is an embodied meditation on women’s social and political power as a means to highlight sisterhood and its role in dismantling systems of patriarchy, heteronormativity, misogynoir as women and femmes unite and organize for social transformation.

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The Ford Foundation, The SHS Foundation, The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Jerome Foundation, Councilmember Mark Gjonaj, Jody and John Arnhold, OVATION Stand for the Arts and private donations.