The mission of the Queens Economic Development Corporation (“QEDC”) is to create and retain jobs through programming that assists small businesses, encourages entrepreneurship, and promotes our community (“the services”). Access to the services is provided on equal terms and conditions and shall not be refused, withheld from, or denied to, any person on account of race, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, disability, marital status, partnership status, sexual orientation, uniformed service or immigration or citizenship status. Consistent with our mission and public policy goals, we provide certain specialized programs for immigrant, minority, and low-income entrepreneurs. This may include gender-specific services which address the public policy goal of providing support in economic development to groups with structural barriers to entrepreneurship.
We acknowledge our obligation to affirm the gender identity and gender expression of our clients. This statement provides information regarding the steps we take to support transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming clients and to provide the services, including gender-specific services, in a non-discriminatory way. In particular, we affirm that:
We will use your self-identified name, pronouns, and title (e.g., Ms./Mrs./Mx.), regardless of your sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on your identification. Your access to the services is not conditioned on obtaining a court-ordered name change or providing identification in that name.
We may be required to obtain your sex assigned at birth, legal name, or gender marker in order to complete government forms on your behalf or to comply with reporting requirements. We recognize that this may be distressing, and we strive to minimize the negative impact this experience may have for you. Providing this information does not affect your right to the use of your self-identified name, pronouns, and title in accessing the services.
Access to gender-specific services, such as the Queens Women’s Business Center, is available based on your self-identified gender, regardless of gender expression, sex assigned at birth, anatomy, medical history, or the sex or gender indicated on your identification.
In providing the services, we strive to create and maintain an environment free from gender stereotyping. Gender stereotypes are over-simplified expectations in a given culture or historical period about how people of a particular gender should be or how they should act. They include expectations of how a person represents or communicates gender to others, such as behavior, clothing, hairstyle, activities, voice, mannerisms, or body characteristics. Your access to the services is not contingent on conforming to gender stereotypes.
Discrimination on the basis of gender identity is prohibited by law. For more information on your rights in the City of New York, including the right to file a complaint regarding discrimination, visit the New York City Division of Human Rights website at https://dhr.ny.gov/.
This statement applies to QEDC’s provision of the services only. If you have any queries or concerns regarding this statement or QEDC’s policies on gender identity inclusion and equality, please contact Seth Bornstein at sbornstein@queensny.org.
Last Updated: December 21, 2021