The City Council voted on March 26 to add another category of people to those already protected from discrimination in housing. Now, the Administrative Code will ban housing discrimination based on "source of income." Landlords will no longer be able to deny access to housing on the basis of type of income, provided the income is from a lawful source.
The intention of the bill and the immediate effect is to ban rejection of low-income tenants or potential tenants who possess Section 8 housing vouchers. Financial need will now join race, gender, marital status, sexual preference, ethnicity and age as factors that a property owner cannot consider in deciding whether or not to rent to an individual or a family, assuming the prospective tenant is otherwise eligible and has a documented lawful source of income.
The City Council ovverrode the mayor's veto by a vote of 44 to 7.
Until now, according to the Council's Report of the Governmental Affairs Division, Committee on General Welfare, it has been common for landlords to refuse to rent apartments to otherwise eligible apartment seekers who have the vouchers. The Section 8 program is meant to assure that a qualified tenant or family does not pay more than 30 percent of income for housing.
While focusing on New Yorkers in the Section 8 program, the new law would not allow a landlord to discriminate against people who receive Social Security, public assistance or other lawful sources of income. The legislation covers various types of housing provided there are six or more units, and it applies to incoming tenants and to those already in a home but whose economic circumstances may have changed after they moved in.
"This is a common sense law that will help more New Yorkers find housing that they can afford," said Councilmember Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, who introduced the measure.
California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin, as well as Washington D.C., Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle have enacted similar legislation, as have other jurisdictions in New York State, including Nassau County and Buffalo.
After the City Council overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed it. The mayor apparently thought the measure was too restrictive of business. "The onus," he wrote when he vetoed the bill, "should be on government to make the program more attractive for private sector participation, not the other way around."
In an e-mail in February, a mayoral spokesperson called the City Council bill a "solution in search of a problem." It said the administration wants to reduce bureaucratic hurdles in the Section 8 program so landlords want to accept the vouchers, rather than create legislation that targets landlords.
De Blasio, the chairman of the Committee on General Welfare, criticized the veto. "It's unfortunate that at a time when New Yorkers are suffering the burdens of high rent and an economic downturn, that the mayor vetoed legislation designed to protect low-income families," he said.
The council's report found that protecting people from discrimination on the basis of their source of income would "benefit prospective tenants, landlords and housing authorities." Tenants, it said, would " have a greater chance of finding affordable housing and can seek redress from housing discrimination," while landlords would "gain tenants who have strong incentives to be model tenants." In addition, because the local housing authority guarantees timely payment of rent for Section 8 recipients, landlords know they will be paid.
Despite this change to the City's Human Rights Law, the Section 8 program still faces problems. Most seriously, the number of the vouchers is limited by the funds provided by the federal government. For the last 12 years, no vouchers have been available except for victims of domestic violence, homeless people and other priority candidates who need housing on an emergency basis. In fact, except for a small window that was open in 2007, federal funding cuts have closed the list to all non-emergency applicants. For this reason, the people actually protected by the new city law -- at least for now -- will be primarily those who already had vouchers, but were unable to use them because landlords would not accept them.
Emily Jane Goodman is a New York State Supreme Court JusticeÂ
"In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes," Benjamin Franklin famously said. But for committed same-sex couples in New York, these are two areas of law, along with many others, remain far from settled. Here's a rundown of some key recent developments.
In a ruling that could prove pivotal, a state appeals court last month decided that legal same-sex marriages established elsewhere must be respected by all public and private entities here, even though New York State does not license the marriages of gay couples (unless one is a gay man and the other is a lesbian woman).
The mid-level Appellate Division's 4th Department, a relatively conservative court, ruled unanimously on February 1 that a New York lesbian couple married in Canada could not be denied marital benefits from Monroe County Community College where one of the women works. The decision "rests on a century's old law--the marriage recognition rule," said Matt Faiella, a staff attorney with the http://www.nyclu.org New York Civil Liberties Union, which represented the women.
Even though the Court of Appeals, the state's highest, ruled in 2006 that the state did not have to grant same-sex couples the right to marry, the decision did not say that it could not do so. New York is one of a handful of states that has not passed a law forbidding recognition of gay marriages. And since same-sex marriage is not "abhorrent" to New York's public policy (as, say, a marriage between brother and sister would be), the upstate appellate court concluded that legal marriages of same-sex couples who wed in Canada must be given the same recognition as mixed gender Canadian marriages. It falls under the principle of "comity" whereby states and nations give effect to legal agreements from elsewhere.
While there are several other cases at the Appellate Court level involving recognition of same-sex marriages licensed elsewhere, the upstate decision applies to the entire state unless another division of the Appellate Court makes a contradictory ruling. And while Monroe County is trying to appeal the decision that they must recognize the marriage of two women, the state's high court does not have to hear its appeal and probably will not. (The New York Times did a good survey article on these cases and on a ruling that two women married in Canada but living here can dissolve their marriage only through divorce proceedings that one of the spouses is resisting.)
Thus, we have the somewhat wacky situation in New York in which a gay couple can go to Toronto to get married and come back to our state and be legally married under New York law, but they cannot go down to their local city hall and wed.
This is not the first time that New York has given legal recognition to out-of-state same-sex marriages. In 2004, then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer unofficially opined, "Under state court precedent, same sex marriages and civil unions lawfully entered in other jurisdictions outside the state should be recognized in New York."
Also in 2004, then-State Comptroller Alan Hevesi began treating these couples as married under the State Retirement System. His move survived a lawsuit challenge by the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.
After he became governor, Spitzer ordered the Civil Service Department to recognize legally married same-sex couples in 2007, compelling any municipality linked to the state benefits system to do so as well. None of this is likely to be undone by new Gov. David Paterson since he has a longer and stronger record on gay rights, including marriage equality, than the man he replaces.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Monroe County couple, but his office did not return calls on how his office will make sure all state departments comply with the court's decision. For now, at least, the state Department of Taxation and Finance is at odds with it.
In 2006, the department issued an advisory opinion in 2006 insisting that state law requires married couples to use the same filing status as they use on their federal tax forms. Since the federal government bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages under the Defense of Marriage Act, legally married same-sex couples -- even in Massachusetts, which license such marriages -- must file as single on their federal returns. On their state returns, gay married couples in Massachusetts must file as married. Since their state tax is based on the federal system, they then have to do two federal returns: one a "dummy" return to figure out what their state taxes would be as a married couple and the other, the real one for federal purposes, as single. New York is not allowing that.
Thomas Bergin, a spokesperson for the state tax department, said, "The law would have to be changed or revised" for gay married couples to be able to file as married in New York, but he conceded that their counsel had not reviewed how the Monroe County case might chnge that.
"We have asked the governor to take another look at that," Susan Sommer, senior counsel at Lambda Legal Defense, a gay advocacy group, said.
"State law requires allowing same-sex couples who are married to file as married," Sommer added. She would not go so far as to say that these couples should file as married in New York, but suggested they consult with their tax advisers and note on their state tax forms that they are married and are filing as single "under protest." "People should not have to swear under penalty of perjury that they are something that they're not," she said.
Mark Munroe, a certified public accountant in Manhattan who has many gay clients (including this reporter), said that he would advise people in same-sex marriages to file as unmarried per the official advisory opinion of the tax department. "If my clients felt strongly about it, I will file a joint return for them if they indemnify me for penalties," he said. As a practical matter, he said the only couples who would be significantly helped by filing jointly are those in which one of the spouses does not work.
New York City grants legal recognition to out-of-state same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships. The city Department of Finance was not immediately able to say whether the city's personal income tax takes these arrangements into consideration. Sam Miller, a spokesperson for the department, said that city income taxes are based entirely on state taxes, which, the state insists, are based on federal taxes.
The legal status of one's relationship plays a critical role in determining who gets to dispose of a person's remains and inherit their property. In a legal marriage, the spouse inherits the property tax free. If a married person dies without a will, his or her spouse automatically inherits the estate.
New York State does not marry gay couples, nor does it have registration for domestic partners or civil unions as New Jersey does. One of the only rights that domestic partners have from New York State is to control the remains of their dead partners. A bill establishing this slipped through with almost no objection in 2006.
Despite this law, death certificates in the state, including the city, do not list "domestic partner," under marital statuses that include "married, married but separated, widowed, divorced, never married and unknown." There is room for the name of a "surviving spouse," but not for a surviving domestic partner. Domestic partners in New York City -- same-sex and mixed sex -- have been able to register their partnerships since 1993 under an executive order by Mayor David Dinkins. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which issues death certificates, indicated that they are "aware of the issue" involving the partnerships and are "working to find a solution."
"We are working with them [the health department] on the fastest and most effective way for domestic partners to be listed on death certificates," said Anthony Hogrebe, a spokesperson for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, herself an out lesbian
Brendan Fay, who married his husband, Thomas Moulton, in Toronto in 2003 and lives with him in Astoria, Queens, remembers the Canadian judge telling them that from that day forward, they were obligated to hold themselves out to the world as the married couple they are. They have -- even though the U.S. government won't recognize the marriage for immigration purposes (Fay is an Irish national.) Moulton has gotten marital benefits for Fay at his hospital job. Together, they help other same-sex couples travel to Canada to marry through their organization Civil Marriage Trail
"It's a pity gay couples have to go to all this expense to go to Canada to marry and be legally recognized in New York," Fay said. "I'm working for the day when they can marry right here in their home state and when the United States will give us marriage equality as well."
Andy Humm, a former member of the City Commission on Human Rights, has been in charge of the civil rights topic page since its inception in 2001. He is co-host of the weekly "Gay USA" on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (34 on Time-Warner; 107 on RCN) on Thursdays at 11 PM. Â
A Chinese New Year show at the Radio City Music Hall has stirred up some controversies after the New York Times ran a critical review of the show, saying the show's Falun Gong theme alienated some people in the audience.
The variety show, titled "Chinese New Year Splendor," included elaborate traditional Chinese music and dance productions featuring dozens of acrobatic dancers, drummers and a large screen that provided Chinese landscapes as backdrops. The first few numbers proved to be spectacular performances. But a third of the way into the show, Falun Gong references began to appear as three dancers on stage portraying Falun Gong practitioners were beaten up by prison guards. The backdrop of the piece had the Chinese writing "Falun Dafa is good" on it. Falun Gong, a spiritual movement strongly opposed by the Beijing government, is also known as Falun Dafa.
Meanwhile, between dance numbers, four vocalists performed songs that included lyrics to promote Falun Gong's teachings and denounce China's persecution of the group. In a number that resembles Falun Gong's street theater called "The Power of Awareness," communist police harassed a mother and her daughter practicing Falun Gong in the park. Eventually a group of bystanders chased the police away. At the end of the piece, the message became loud and clear as dozens of dancers performed Falun Gong movements in unison with its three principles - truthfulness, compassion and forbearance -- written in gigantic Chinese characters in the backdrop.
The Times article, written by reporter Eric Konigsberg, said dozens of people in the audience, perhaps a few hundred, left the show after the prison number and at intermission because they had realized that it "was not simply a celebration of the Chinese New Year, but an outreach of Falun Gong." The reporter quoted audience members who were troubled by the Falun Gong material.
"I had no idea it was Falun Gong until now that it's too late, and it really bums me out," said Steven, a Chinese immigrant living in New Jersey who was among the first to leave the show and asked that his last name not be published.
"I don't feel comfortable here," said Elizabeth Levy, another audience member, as quoted in the article. "I had no idea when I came that this was about Falun Gong."
Falun Gong is a Tai Chi-like spiritual movement and breathing exercise that gained immense popularity in Mainland China in the early 1990s. It was banned in 1999 by the Chinese government, which declared it "an evil cult." Tens of thousands of practitioners are reported to have been tortured and sent to re-education camps. Since the crackdown, practitioners from around the world have started an international campaign to call attention to China's human rights violation. Many Chinese Falun Gong practitioners have gained permanent residency in the United States through political asylum. The founder of Falun Gong, Hongzhi Li, is believed to reside in New York City.
Inside China, however, media outlets and government offices often produce anti-Falun Gong propaganda campaigns, claiming that many practitioners troubled by health problems have died because they followed Li's teachings and refused medical treatment. They also contend that hundreds have committed self-mutilation or suicide because they wanted to attain "all-round fulfillment" -- a claim by its founder.
Meanwhile, Falun Gong remains a controversial subject in the Chinese immigrant community in New York and other U.S. cities as parties on both sides of the fence try to prove their legitimacy. For many years, Falun Gong groups were not permitted to march in the New Year parade in various Chinatowns because of pressure from the Chinese Embassy or the fear from organizers that they would be labeled as Falun Gong sympathizers. This year, Falun Gong practitioners participated in the parade in Flushing, Queens but were excluded in San Francisco.
The performance at the center of the current dispute is presented by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), a New York-based independent, non-profit television station founded by a group of professionals and businessmen in 2001 who commonly practice Falun Gong. It is the station's fifth year running the New Year show. In addition to regular programming ranging from news and entertainment to sports, the station frequently highlights news about China's persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The station prides itself for providing "truthful and uncensored" information about China.
The show, performed by the Divine Performing Arts of New York, is touring in 16 cities in Europe, 17 cities in the Asia-Pacific region and more than 30 cities in North America.
But while NTDTV claims to be independent, some Chinese people in New York disagree, calling it a "mouthpiece" of Falun Gong. The Chinese Culture Club and the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at New York University started an online petition last year to stop NTDTV from using one of the university's performing arts centers for a dance contest. The website received more than 850 postings, and many petitioners said NTDTV is anti-China and echoed the Chinese government's official stance that Falun Gong is deceiving and evil.
The New York Times article, published on February 6, immediately drew angry reaction from the Falun Gong community. The Epoch Times, a New York-based newspaper critical of the Chinese government and a media sponsor of the show, has run dozens of articles denouncing the New York Times' coverage.
In one published on February 14 under the headline "The New York Times Parrots Communist Party Line," Carrie Hung, a spokesperson for the television station, objected to the impression the New York Times article gave the show's content. "The New York Times' quotes from the audience members make Splendor seem to be a show all about Falun Gong," she told the Epoch Times. "It is not. The show is about discovering and reviving authentic Chinese traditional culture and values. ... The performances incorporate elements from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Falun Gong, and from various ethnic traditions and different dynasties."
Meanwhile, NTDTV released a photo report on the last show that took place on February 9. Titled "Final 'Splendor' Show Packed After NY Times Article," it featured pictures that showed a capacity audience and a video that included testimonials from audience members who raved about the performance.
The show and the Times article also generated a heated debated among bloggers.
"We were expecting a night of dance and music, but got this crappy propaganda piece with so-so dancing and the worst lyrics you've ever heard," wrote Angrygod101 on Gothamist, a popular blog about New York. "A good chunk of the show consisted of solo singers belting out FG propaganda songs accompanied by a pianist. I would have walked out too, if I could."
Another blogger, Makina, defended the show's artistic discretion. "If the artists must use their art to project a message, I'm all for it," wrote Makina. "It's been done before and the art is the language of the heart -- to express suffering is part of it."
Jordan Hoffman, a filmmaker and tour guide, said he felt deceived, as there was no mentioning of Falun Gong in the show's publicity. "What I thought would be an energetic, bright and musical show filled with dragons, drums and excitement turned out to be what I imagine a Carnival Cruise is like if controlled by the Falun Gong," he wrote in his blog.
"Truly I felt like I was tied down by the Falun Gong and made to watch this," commented Lisa Latimer on Hoffman's blog. "This was an obvious fundraiser and it should have been marketed as such. ... I don't like it when people get me to spend money under false pretenses."
But some people said they did not find fault with the show's content.
"The Chinese Splendor show mentioned truthfulness - compassion - tolerance," wrote Jean, a blogger and a mother of five. "Wouldn't this world be a much better place if we all tried to handle each other with compassion and tolerance? As for the performances that dealt with the abuses taking place in China against Falun Gong, it's now already a part of Chinese history, and is no more inappropriate a subject matter for the stage than, say, 'Fiddler On the Roof,' which dealt with the oppression of the Jews."
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Washington has repeatedly denounced the show. It released a statement before the show began its run in New York, calling on people to stay away from the "so-called Chinese New Year Gala." "Such 'galas,' with their pretentious mystification, were patchworks of programs with low artistic value and were full of implied preaching of cult doctrine and attacks on the Chinese Government," the statement reads. "They were an insult and distortion of the Chinese culture and a deception to the audience."
The New York Times has not made any public statement on the controversy. But it published a letter to the editor from Zhong Lee, president of NTDTV, on February 15.
"One of the basic freedoms central to the United States is freedom of expression," Lee wrote. "You should not find it so shocking that a Chinese culture show produced in the United States includes some reference to China's human rights issues."
Larry Tung, a native of Taiwan, teaches media and film courses at Kean University in Union, New Jersey. He is also a documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on immigrant and Asian American issues.
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