Search
Close this search box.

THIS IS GETTING SICKER: NY Courts To Expand Gender Options On Jury Documents

This March 18, 2015 photo shows the New York State Supreme court building at 60 Centre Street in New York. A coffee urn left near the Manhattan courthouse by caterers for the television show "Law & Order: SVU" caused a brief scare after it was mistaken for a suspicious package on Thursday, Feb. 1 2018. Police say the caterers had too much to carry and left the urn. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

New York’s court system is planning to expand the gender options on jury documents to be more inclusive of people who do not identify as male or female.

The system aims to have the updated juror information card set for distribution by early January, said state court spokesman Lucian Chalfen. Gender options on the new cards will include female, male, transgender, nonbinary, intersex and other, he said. The cards have only male and female gender options right now, he said.

The court system is also changing up its juror questionnaire, which is used during the jury selection process and features a question with a check box for female or male. The updated document will offer a question asking a person how they would like to be addressed, allowing them to be called a juror or another title.

“People don’t easily fit into boxes that can be checked,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman. The Manhattan Democrat said strict binary options may leave out New Yorkers who do not identify as male or female or do not want to identify.

Hoylman, who sent a letter to the court system last month pushing for the expansion, said adding gender options can help mitigate discrimination in jury selection and lead to a more reflective jury pool. Plus, he said, being forced into an incorrect gender identity is awkward and uncomfortable.

“This is a step in recognizing the reality of nonbinary identification,” he said.

New York is not the first state to shift its gender options.

In Massachusetts, a jury questionnaire leaves an open area for people to identify their own sex or gender identity, said Jury Commissioner Pamela J. Wood. People can respond however they like to the gender portion of the questionnaire, which was changed within the past two years, she said.

Whatever their answer, Wood said, it provides valuable information on whether they are appropriate jurors.

(AP)



16 Responses

  1. How about טוטום and אנדרוגינות? Any option other than these 2 Mishnaic ones or Male/Female is outrageous, and actually way worse than just outrageous.
    To quote Rav Amar shlita who said today that compliance with Shemiras Shabbos would be best safe guard for Israel’s safety:- Would he also include normal gender attribution and conduct also as a best safe guard for Israel’s safety?

  2. “People can respond however they like to the gender portion of the questionnaire“

    Good.

    On my next jury questionnaire, I will respond that I wish to be addressed as ‘your majesty’.

  3. They’re tripping over themselves who can be sicker than the next… זעקת סדום ועמורה כי רבה ןחטאתם כי כבדה מאד

  4. Whats the problem? Didn’t the various elected and unelected Askonim from the Orthodox Democrat Mafia say we must register as Democrats and improve the Treif party from within? Time to call a pig a pig. The Democrat Party is Chazir Treif and it has Treifed up New York. It is time to fight back and Kasher New York by excising this cancerous evil party from our midst – nonviolently of course through the democratic voting process and by contributing funds to candidates and parties that share our values, and by vocally and unashamedly protesting the Fascist Party of Sodomites. Actually they are worse than Sodomites. In Sodom they still understood the difference between Male and Female.

  5. “Whatever their answer, Wood said, it provides valuable information on whether they are appropriate jurors.” It sure does. Anyone who doesn’t know if he or she is male or female certainly isn’t an appropriate person to be a juror.

  6. They must have flunked first grade and never learned “zochor unekeiva bara osam”. All kidding aside. it makes it a tad easier to understand how people deny a Creator. All you need to do is switch off your brain.

  7. I actually would like to be identified as “dismissed”. alternatively, and thats not a word i use lightly, they can call me “your honor”.

  8. ZDAD,
    and they have the deficiencies of both proper genders and are given none of the benefits or opportunities of either!
    They are not even to be considered normal adults

  9. more crucially
    no one is permitted to self identify. The Gemara is referring to the rare scenario when someone is born thus
    2. no one is permitted to mutilate is body. A non jew is even forbidden as well to sterilize themselves quite plausibly

Leave a Reply


Popular Posts