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TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Ellen Karcher which would prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals under New Jersey’s “Law Against Discrimination,” was approved by both houses of the Legislature today, receiving final legislative approval.

The measure was approved by the Senate by a vote of 32-3, and was approved by the General Assembly by a vote of 69-5, with 6 abstentions.

“Historically, as we’ve developed a greater understanding of our shared bonds of humanity, concepts like marginalization and discrimination have been vanquished in favor of tolerance and acceptance,” said Senator Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer. “Transgender individuals deserve the same rights and privileges that we extend to all of our citizens, and this bill goes a long way to ensure that their rights will be protected from the prejudices of an ignorant few.”

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Ellen Karcher which would prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals under New Jersey’s “Law Against Discrimination,” was approved by the Senate today by a vote of 31-5.

“In today’s society, intolerance and cruelty towards a people simply because they don’t fit the homogenized definition of ‘normal,’ have no place, and cannot be tacitly accepted by omission in our laws,” said Senator Karcher, D-Monmouth and Mercer. “We cannot turn our backs on the plight of transgender individuals who face hatred, ignorance and discrimination because of their expressed gender identity. We must extend the same protections afforded under the current ‘Law Against Discrimination’ to transgender people that we afford based on a racial, ethnic, gender or religious basis.”