Today is LGBTQ Advocacy Day in New York. It's a day when people from every corner of the state travel to Albany to speak face-to-face with their representatives in order to educate and advocate. And LGBTQ people know from experience that this pressure makes a difference.

This year is already historic for LGBTQ people in New York. In January, both chambers of the Legislature finally passed GENDA—a measure to protect transgender and gender non-conforming people from discrimination statewide. Passage was a victory some seventeen years in the making. It took aggressive and sustained advocacy from community members, particularly transgender New Yorkers, and allies in order to achieve the most basic protections.

For 41 years, members of LeGaL, The LGBT Bar Association of New York have been fighting to ensure full justice and equality for members of the LGBTQ community. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

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Perhaps more than ever before, well-rounded advocacy means not just pursuing traditional civil rights victories in the courtroom, but also taking proactive steps to counter policy threats as they continue to emerge from the very institutions that exist to protect us.

It is no secret that the status quo facing transgender inmates in New York, and across the nation is one of stark and dire crisis. Transgender inmates routinely face discrimination, harassment and abuse. A recent California study showed that transgender people were thirteen times more likely to report being the victim of a sexual assault while incarcerated.

Legislation requiring New York correctional facilities to treat all inmates in a manner consistent with their gender identity would simply mean that all inmates are referred to by their correct names and pronouns, have access to necessary commissary items and appropriate housing. This legislation will increase safety for all inmates and inject a modicum of dignity into the daily lives of some of the most vulnerable members of society.

LGBTQ people also face discrimination in the court system. LeGaL's judiciary committee screens and evaluates candidates to help ensure that judges in New York are fair and impartial. But that is not enough. For example, a party's LGBTQ status should never be a consideration when a parent is involved in a custody battle. Neither should the discovery of that status be a defense to a crime against a gay or transgender person. Measures enshrining these positions as a matter of New York law must pass during this legislative session.

Another urgent need is to ban the use of so-called “gay and trans panic defenses” from New York courts. Someone's sexual orientation or gender identity must never be used as an excuse for violence against them. These “defenses” have no place in our criminal justice system and New York should follow the lead of states like California and Illinois by ending their usage.

Today, and every day, LeGaL stands with members of the community and LGBTQ legal professionals in our fight for a fairer New York.

Kristen Browde is the president of LeGaL, the LGBT Bar Association of New York. Justin Teres is chair of LeGaL's Legislative Committee and attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren.