NYC Enacts Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law

There is a new civil cause of action in NYC (Administrative Code of the City of New York section 10-1104) for crimes of violence motivated by gender that occurred prior to January 9, 2022. Now, any person claiming to be injured by a party who committed, directed, enabled, participated in, or conspired in the commission of a crime of violence motivated by gender may bring a civil claim against that party. This allows survivors to bring claims even if those claims would have otherwise been barred by the statute of limitations. However, the revitalization of claims is not permanent where claims brought under this law must now be commenced within 18 months of January 28, 2026. So, act immediately if this impacts you. Also, if you brought a claim between March 1, 2023 and March 1, 2025 that would satisfy the requirements of a cause of action under this section, you may now amend or refile (if dismissed) their claim to add a cause of action under this section. Finally, you can recover compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, attorney's fees and costs, and such other relief as a court may deem appropriate. 

Was "hottest in the room" Tulsi Gabbard a victim of sexual harassment by the Federal Government?

On July 22, 2025, and while speaking to Republican lawmakers at the White House, Trump said about Tulsi Gabbard, “She’s like, hotter than everybody. She’s the hottest one in the room right now.” and “Speaker, she’s hotter than you right now, speaker. She’s the hottest person in the room right now, speaker,” Is that sexual harassment under Title VII? 

To constitute sexual harassment under federal law, under the hostile work environment theory, the sexual harassment must be severe and pervasive. That standard is lowered in states though, like New York under its New York State Human Rights Law where the standard is inferior terms and conditions that rise above petty slights and trivial inconveniences. However, under any analysis, it's all about the context and the culmination of other acts that instruct as to whether a victim has suffered from a hostile work environment based on sex. 

Here, Tulis has no case and it is impossible to find sexual harassment because Trump made the context of his statement expressly known where he wasn't using the term "hot" with respect to looks, but instead, with respect to his perception that she is killing it at her job. We know this because his next statement was “[Gabbard] found out that Barack Hussein Obama led a group of people and they cheated in the elections and they cheated without question.” 

The takeaway is you can't have a got yah moment without context. It's not about what was said standing alone. It's about what was sent, when it was said, why it was said, where it was said, who said it to whom, and which witnesses can corroborate the purported victim's tail of events because sexual harassment needs to be both subjectively and objectively harassment to constitute actionable discrimination.