complaint<\/a>, filed on behalf of a transgender woman who alleges she was repeatedly misgendered and sexually assaulted and harassed during her time in the city\u2019s shelter system.<\/p>\nThe woman \u2014 identified in the suit as Jane Doe \u2014 said a 311 dispatcher in 2022 told her she could not go to the women\u2019s intake center until she had been on hormone replacement therapy for a year, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Doe said she spent time at the 30th Street Men\u2019s Intake Shelter, the NAICA East Tremont Shelter and the Second Avenue Men\u2019s Shelter before eventually being placed at Pam\u2019s Place, a women\u2019s shelter with beds set aside for transgender and gender-nonconforming people, in 2023.<\/p>\n
At Pam\u2019s Place, Doe alleges staff repeatedly misgendered her and that several cisgender men placed in her room sexually assaulted or harassed her. She eventually obtained her own apartment in February 2025.<\/p>\n
The shelters are part of the city\u2019s Department of Homeless Services system. DHS operates intake centers and also contracts with public and private providers to operate shelters.<\/p>\n
In addition to compensation and legal fees, Doe is seeking court orders requiring policy and training changes, among other relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible decision that reflects New York\u2019s laws protecting trans people in shelters against discrimination and abuse,\u201d said Mariann Wang, an attorney with Wang Hecker LLP who represents Doe. \u201cWe are incredibly proud and privileged to represent Jane Doe who went through so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armen H. Merjian, legal director at Housing Works and co-counsel for Doe, also praised the ruling, saying it was \u201cheartening\u201d at a time when \u201cthe rights of transgender citizens [are] in peril throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Legal Services referred questions about the case to Wang.<\/p>\n
Wang added that she is hopeful \u201cthat there will be a willingness to address this meaningfully\u201d under the current city administration.<\/p>\n
The case\u2019s next court date has not yet been set, according to Wang.<\/p>\n
City policy does not require people seeking shelter to provide verification that they are transgender or to have undergone hormone replacement therapy for any length of time, according to the city. That differs from what Doe alleges she was told by a 311 dispatcher in 2022.<\/p>\n
Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the city Department of Social Services, which oversees the Department of Homeless Services, said the agency remains \u201cfirmly committed to strengthening systemwide protections for transgender New Yorkers while ensuring trauma-informed supports across city shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that a safe and affirming environment is absolutely critical to the health and stability of transgender New Yorkers in shelter, and we will continue to take important steps to create safe spaces for them as reflected by the recent opening of the nation\u2019s first publicly-funded shelter for transgender individuals in NYC,\u201d Sharma said.<\/p>\n
This story has been updated with comments from attorneys representing Doe and the city Department of Social Services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lawsuit accusing New York City of repeatedly placing a transgender woman in men\u2019s homeless shelters can move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-302389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}