NORTHAMPTON — The City Council is throwing its support behind Question 3, which seeks to preserve the state’s anti-discrimination protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming people in its public accommodations law.
The Question 3 issue is being addressed by the council at the same time a Sunday New York Times story revealed a federal policy memo that would define people’s gender by the gender assigned to them at birth, with genetic testing used for clarification, a change that would effectively end the federal recognition of transgender people in this country.
The City Council unanimously passed the resolution at its Thursday meeting on first reading, which urges a yes vote on the ballot question. When it did so, the federal memo had not yet been publicized. However, that didn’t mean the councilors did not issue strong statements in support of transgender rights.
“This is disgraceful that this (Question 3) is on the ballot,” Ward 4 Councilor Gina-Louise Sciarra said. “Rolling back these protections from discrimination in a public place is wrong, it’s cruel and it’s backwards.”
This view was also echoed by Ward 6 City Councilor Marianne LaBarge.
“I’m very upset that Question 3 is even on the ballot,” she said.
Voting yes on Question 3 would preserve the protections for transgender people in the public accommodations law, while voting no would repeal those protections. Sciarra said this was meant to confuse people, and she said that the only thing that makes her angrier than deliberately trying to confuse voters is outright bigotry.
“This one’s a twofer for me,” said Sciarra, urging a yes vote.
LaBarge said that people are confused by the question, and urged all people in Ward 6 and in the city to vote yes.
“Diversity is beautiful, and is even more strong,” she said.
Ward 1 Councilor Maureen Carney noted that the state AFL-CIO, in a coalition with labor unions, is backing the Yes on 3 campaign. Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein also noted the support of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, hundreds of faith leaders, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and all of Massachusetts’ “championship sports teams” including the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics and Patriots.
“I don’t even know what those teams are personally,” said Klein.
City Councilor-At-Large William Dwight said that the prospect of rolling back rights is a terrifying one, and City Council President Ryan O’Donnell said that the city would be reaffirming the fundamental equality and dignity of all people with the resolution.
“And it’s a very crucial time to send that message,” said O’Donnell.
Robbie Dunning, who identifies as nonbinary and transgender, moved from Northampton to Greenfield a few months ago. However, Dunning expressed happiness with the council’s resolution.
“That’s great,” they said, adding that it was “what I would hope from the Northampton City Council.”
Dunning, who works for the Movement Voter Project, which does progressive voter organizing, said any amount of love given to the trans community in politics is exciting.
On the federal memo, Dunning said that a governing body choosing to define a group of people is “always a sign of danger.”
“People have not really had the right to exist in public (in the United States) as transgender for very long,” Dunning said.
At the same time, Dunning said transgender people have existed long before the United States was a country.
“There have been many many version of gender identity that do not fall into a binary,” Dunning said.
Another transgender person who spoke did not want to be publicly quoted because of safety concerns.
“It definitely seems like Donald Trump is trying to undo all the work of the Obama administration,” he said.
He also said that it seems like the administration is preying on the country’s most vulnerable populations, noting this action as well as the interning of the children of immigrants.
“This is starting to look like the early movements of Nazi Germany,” he said.
He also said that when governments deny someone their identity, they deny their humanity, and turn them into an object.
“People can do things with objects they can’t do with people,” he said.
The Yes on 3 co-chair also released a statement in response to news of the administration’s memo.
“This weekend’s news makes clear that states are emerging as the front lines of defense for their transgender residents against a federal administration increasingly hostile to our very existence,” said Kasey Suffredini, president of strategy at Freedom for All Americans and co-chair of Yes on 3.
Although resolutions do not contain any legal power, they do express the will of the council. The council will vote on the resolution on second reading at its next meeting. Should the resolution go into effect, a copy would be sent to the governor, and to both the Yes and the No campaigns for Question 3.
Also at the meeting, the Northampton City Council passed on second reading a resolution to oppose expanding new natural gas infrastructure into the area.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.