![The ‘Walking While Trans’ ban, recently repealed in New York](https://www.gkseries.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/The-‘Walking-While-Trans-ban-recently-repealed-in-New-York.jpg)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill repealing a controversial law known as the “Walking While Trans” ban, which has been widely criticised for disproportionately discriminating against transgender people of colour.
Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021
‘Walking While Trans’ ban is the colloquial name for a law, which was originally passed in 1976 with the intention of prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution.
The law is criticised for how notoriously vague it is — it allows New York police to arrest or apprehend someone walking on the street if they suspect that they are sex workers.
While the law is mostly used against women, several men, too, have been arrested or detained merely because police suspected that they were “loitering for the purpose of prostitution”.
But the law is known for disproportionately impacting trans women, especially trans women of colour.