Diane Desir took more than three years to achieve justice, but she did it.
Diane Diane Desir Desir
A transgender woman will get $25 thousand for humiliation after a long battle with the landlord, Henry Walter, and real estate companies Empire State Realty and Management.
When she started the process of sex change, its then landlord refused to renew the lease. Then her friend said that her apartment is free now. But already at the first meeting with Walter And felt discriminated against.
«Why didn’t you tell me that you are a transsexual? Thank God, I told you to come here in the evening. What would people think if he saw you?» said Walter, who, according to Desir, he looked «shocked and surprised».
Then the landlord said, he may not be able to pass her an apartment «next to people and children», but will be able to find her place «in a basement somewhere with a separate entrance».
Walter also asked her to discontinue the process of gender reassignment, until she finds housing. According to the man, no one will take her an apartment because she «really looks crazy.»
In the end, Desir found an apartment thanks to social benefits, but said her feelings were hurt «destructive» comments Walter.
«All of these answers and reactions are based on negative stereotypes about transsexuals.., — utverzhdaet Desir. — When someone has no shelter, it puts him in a very vulnerable and very difficult position.»
The administrative law judge John Spooner ruled in favor of the Dezir, ordering the defendants to pay a fine of $15 million and administrative sanctions in the amount of $10 thousand He also ordered «the respondents to undergo anti-discrimination training». In court And defended the new York Commission on human rights.
