Worcester became a transgender ‘sanctuary city' but community says more must be done

Yahoo

03-07-2025

Five months ago, the Worcester City Council passed a resolution declaring Worcester a 'sanctuary city' for transgender and gender-diverse people.
Unlike more commonly used 'sanctuary city' designations for undocumented immigrants, which often come with specific police policies or other protections, the transgender sanctuary city designation is largely symbolic.
The resolution was an affirmation of the city's support for the transgender and gender-diverse community, according to Thomas Matthews, a spokesperson for City Manager Eric D. Batista.
Danielle Killay, the parent of a 14-year-old transgender daughter, was one of several people who pushed for the sanctuary city designation. But even though they were successful, Killay told MassLive that a supportive statement does not make Worcester a true 'sanctuary' for their daughter.
'It's not law, it's not an ordinance.... It's the first initial statement of 'yes we see you we accept you, we will protect you,' Killay said. 'We need elected officials that have a backbone to stand up for their community.'
Killay, who uses they/them pronouns, said their child, Ava, has been fearful for her life as a transgender person.
They said their daughter was frightened of footage of a 2020 'back the blue' rally in Pennsylvania where a person began to chant, 'kill transgenders.'
The Trump administration has issued executive orders directly targeting transgender and non-binary individuals.
These include an order to only issue passports with male or female designations and another stating that the federal government will not 'fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support' gender-affirming care for children.
The United States Supreme Court also ruled this year to keep Tennessee's ban in place on gender affirming care — medical care that supports a person's gender identity through surgery, treatments or other means.
Killay says their daughter's fears have become so great that she wants to leave the United States.
For Worcester to be a true sanctuary for their daughter, city leaders must be more willing to stand up for transgender and gender-diverse people, Killay said.
Killay wants other city councilors to follow the example of District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj who they said has stood with the transgender and gender queer community time and time again.
Haxhiaj supported naming Worcester a transgender and gender diverse sanctuary city and also demanded the city council to apologize for alleged transphobic comments towards City Councilor-at-Large Thu Nguyen, who is non-binary.
'When the first non-binary elected councilor in Worcester and in the Commonwealth faces transphobia locally and nationally, but only three city councilors and one school committee member condemned this while the majority of the city council leaders are silent, then I have no other conclusion than to say that their public declarations of support for trans, queer, LGTBQI communities have never been real,' Haxhiaj said at a rally in support of Nguyen and the transgender and gender diverse community.
While Killay said more must be done to make Worcester a true sanctuary city for transgender and gender diverse people, they also slammed councilors who voted no on the sanctuary city vote. The two councilors who voted against the resolution were Councilors-at-Large Morris Bergman and Donna Colorio.
'To me, if you're afraid not to even take the first step in words, I'm not counting on those people to do the right thing, to protect us now, when the stakes continue to escalate.'
Killay expressed anger towards some of the city councilors — saying that those leading Worcester need to stand up not just for queer and transgender people but for those who are Black, immigrants and disabled people.
In Worcester, a Brazilian mother was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on May 8 on Eureka Street. Chaos erupted that day as protesters confronted ICE, demanding that they see a warrant and not take the mother, Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira, who remains imprisoned.
Killay said there is a fear transgender people could begin to be arrested, too.
'What I have been sitting here in fear of for my family is masked men coming for us because we have been deemed not suitable,' Killay said 'That's what I am watching them do to immigrants.'
Killay expressed frustration over the lack of progress in establishing an LGBTQ+ support fund that would allocate $500,000 annually.
The council requested that the city manager create such a fund in January. City spokesperson Thomas Matthews said the administration is still having conversations with a group involved in the fund's creation.
'There will be news shared at a later time,' Matthews said.
Killay also expressed dismay that the city's planned LGBTQ+ advisory committee has not yet been officially seated since 2023 — the year the city council approved its creation.
The goal of the committee is to provide recommendations to the City Manager regarding issues facing the LGBTQ+ community and to break down barriers that the community may encounter, according to Matthews. He told MassLive the commission would be seated 'soon' and that appointments will be sent to the city council next month.
Killay said that they, along with several other residents, have pushed for these proposals. They don't have faith that the City Manager will follow through on them — accusing him of 'pushing the items to the side.'
'They probably go to the city manager's office to die,' Killay said of the proposals.
Joshua Croke, a nonbinary and queer Worcester resident who is the founder of the nonprofit Love Your Labels, also expressed disappointment over the lack of progress on the commission.
Croke said that being a sanctuary city also requires funding more resources, including organizations like theirs that can help transgender and gender-diverse people.
Launched in 2019, Croke's nonprofit organization supports LGTBQ+ youth through art, fashion and design. When they established the organization, its goal was to create a 'joyful and loving space' for LGBTQ+ youths.
The program is running classes in the summer, and a fashion show is scheduled to take place in September, coinciding with the city's Pride celebration, according to Croke.
'It's such a powerful tool for affirming who we are, feeling more comfortable in our bodies and then building relationships with people in the community who have similar and different experiences.'
Croke says several organizations like theirs offer safe spaces for transgender and gender-diverse people to grow and gain a sense of safety. To bolster those organizations, there must be more funding from the city, state and others, Croke said.
'We need more funding everywhere,' Croke said. 'I can tell you, if someone gave us (Love your Labels) a $3 million check tomorrow, I could tell you all of the things that we would be doing.'
Croke also believes that in order for transgender and gender fluid individuals to be truly safe in Worcester, all communities that have been marginalized need to be safe. They said that the lives and experiences of the transgender and gender-diverse community are interlinked with others, such as immigrant communities.
'Queer and trans people exist in all of those groups,' Croke said.
Chrissi Bates, a transgender woman who works in Worcester, told MassLive that the city needs to do more in educating the public about transgender healthcare.
Bates was the first patient to receive a gender-affirming vaginoplasty in 2024, also known as bottom surgery, at UMass Memorial Hospital in Worcester — making her the first person in Massachusetts to receive such a surgery outside of Boston.
For Bates, access and education to transgender healthcare is an important hallmark of a transgender sanctuary city.
Bates believes the city has not done enough to help raise awareness about transgender healthcare services provided in the area.
'I would highly recommend people to get their boob job in Worcester over Boston because they use a better implant,' she said. 'UMass is really at the forefront of our trans care... all these surgeries are happening and there's very little media on that but a lot of media on grassroots organizing'
She adds that there needs to be more education about basic transgender healthcare, saying that attempts to hold a meeting with the city manager on the issue have been declined.
Matthews, the spokesperson for City Manager Batista, said Batista received Bates' request, but understood that Bates had already met with Worcester Commissioner of Health and Human Services Dr. Matilde Castiel, whom he characterized as a representative of the city.
Bates said that she has been privileged to receive education and access to healthcare and wants to make sure others in the city are able to acquire such services.
'Whats happened to me medically... I want people to have access what I have access to,' Bates said. 'There needs to be a whole city wide, actual campaign around accessing healthcare for trans people and that would make me more comfortable.'
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Read the original article on MassLive.