After a debate Tuesday, the Worcester City Council voted in favor of a resolution to protect transgender and gender-diverse people.
Elected officials in Worcester, Massachusetts, approved a resolution Tuesday night making it a sanctuary city for transgender and gender-diverse people.
The city council voted 9-2 for the measure after a debate at an hourslong meeting.
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Almost 200 people were there, with many showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community.
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Queer Residents of Worcester and Our Allies, a local advocacy group, petitioned for councilors to pass a resolution not to cooperate with federal and state officials on policies that they say harm people based on gender identity.
The measure also seeks to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community has access to health care, housing, education and employment without fear of discrimination.
The push has picked up steam after President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to recognize only two sexes — male and female. He since signed another seeking to curtail anyone under 19 from transitioning.
"I'm really concerned for myself, my friends, and above all, my patients," said Ronan Palmer, a health care provider who is transgender. "I'm able to be myself because I had this affirming medicine, and it scares me because we're seeing this administration go after our most vulnerable people."
"We're really in this moment where we're looking at both the impact of the hyperlocal, and the ways in which transphobia and oppression operate, as well as the national, and the way that that is creating a climate of fear," Allie Cislo, an organizer with Queer Residents of Worcester and Our Allies who filed the petition, said on Tuesday.
The petition is inspired by a similar resolution approved in Northampton in October.
"Folks who are under attack, I think we should use that good will to take a bigger stance and be more courageous," said Northampton City Council Vice President Rachel Maiore.
The campaign after Worcester City Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen, who is nonbinary, taking a hiatus from the position after they say the council environment was transphobic.
Councilor-At-Large Khrystian King said he supports his colleague and the petition.
"We are a haven," King said. "We do not tolerate discrimination, bullying, harassment, violence, threats."
