LITIGATION IN THE TOILET
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to allow transgendered people to use the restroom of their choice yesterday...which as the Daily News wryly notes, means the women's bathroom line just got longer. The article focuses on men who live as women, but in fact, the agreement would apply to women who live as men as well, since it says that riders are free to use MTA restrooms "consistent with their gender expression." The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint against the MTA on behalf of a transgendered telephone repair technician who was arrested for using the women's room at Grand Central Station. The agreement also reportedly includes mandatory transgender sensitivity training for MTA employees and a $2,000 payment to the technician for legal fees.

HATE CRIME SILENCE
There were no marchers in protest after the murder of Michael Sandy, the gay African-American man who was brutally assaulted and chased to his death on the Belt Parkway by a group of white Brooklyn thugs a few weeks ago, and Andy Humm at Gotham Gazette ponders why. He compares the killing to that of Michael Griffith 20 years ago. After Griffith's death in Howard Beach, which shared eerily gruesome details in common with Sandy's, thousands joined the Rev. Al Sharpton to protest the bias killing. This time, the outrage was belated — and muted, even though Brooklyn District Attorney Joe Hynes has classified Sandy's murder as a hate crime. Humm finds a number of different reasons for the relatively quiet response. And surprisingly, not all of them are bad — for example, police arrested suspects quickly. Some are just disheartening: street activism is at an all-time low in New York City. Some denote at least a little progress: there is a sense in the gay community that City Hall will address, or "take care of" problems affecting it.

COMPTROLLING LEGAL AUTHORITY
And in case you've been under a rock...Alan Hevesi's resignation might be imminent. The New York Sun reports that state ethics commission found the state comptroller vioated state law, for transgressions including having a state employee chauffer his wife around for three years. Now it's up to the legislature to and the governor whether Hevesi can keep his job.

 
BROWN OUT
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson was definitely not star struck (although to be fair, we're not actually sure if Foxy Brown strikes anywhere above D-list status). The New York Post reports that Jackson ordered that Brown (real name: Inga Marchand) be arrested and thrown in jail if she missed her sentencing on assault charges today. The rapper was scheduled to appear yesterday, but was "recovering from a dental procedure" and didn't show. "I don't take this kindly," the judge said. "I don't believe she is incapable of being here." Jackson yesterday rejected a motion by Brown to withdraw her guilty plea to a misdemeanor assault charges stemming from a fight with salon workers over a manicure.

DUST UP, CONTINUED
The New York Times examines the difficultly of proving a "causal connection with any scientific certainty" in the thousands of cases expected to be filed by families of victims killed and made ill by the dust from the fallout of the World Trade Center collapse. "Health experts are starting to document the connections, but any firm conclusion is still years away." Most of the suits involve workers who spent weeks and months at the site, and whom the city and other agencies allegedly did not protect from the toxic dust.