The Facts: Criminalizing Gender

Sometimes the facts of women’s history speak for themselves. Did you know that it was once (and still is in a few places in the United States of America) a crime to appear in a gender that seemed not to conform with the gender into which it was assumed that you were born? By, crime, we mean literally against the law punishable by imprisonment and/or fines. Some of these laws were only overturned in the 1970s and 1980s in the USA. Today, New York State Article 190 of the Penal Law lists two forms of fraud punishable by varying degrees of imprisonment: (1) 190.25 Criminal impersonation in the second degree; and (2) 190.26 Criminal impersonation in the first degree. (See link.)
These criminal impersonation laws was once used to arrest drag kings and drag queens (be they on the street in nonconforming vestments or in  nightclubs during the course of raids). Article 190 is mostly used now for ID fraud and the prosecution of grifting. According to the present code, it is illegal to impersonate an actual person, but legal to impersonate a fictional person and wide discretion is used in the application of the law. But, the criminalization of gender went further in the past. SONDA’s excellent historical timeline notes that the first-ever gay rights march specifically on the state capital in Albany on March 14, 1971, advocated for an end to " non-discrimination measures, repeal of the consensual sodomy statute, and repeal of the law against cross-dressing and impersonation by one sex of the other ." (Emphasis added.)
In his 1982 biography The Mayor of Castro Street (New York: St. Martin’s Press), Randy Shilts confirms the criminalization of drag (see page 52). The ACLU’s fine advisory document regarding transgenders and the law notes that most places in the USA no longer criminalize "gender impersonation"; but some cities, towns, and states still do. Recent attempts to ban saggy pants brought renewed attention to the language of anti-crossdressing statutes as Pam notes here .
Clicking here reveals the exacting work of the historians and advocates at TransgenderLaw.org provide an excellent overview of anti-gender "impersonation" laws with reference to where they existed and exist and literature that details them (see item 1 in particular and scroll down). Sometimes the facts of women’s history speak for themselves.

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