NORTHAMPTON — Citing hundreds of bills filed across the country perceived as targeting transgender individuals, the Northampton City Council on Thursday introduced a resolution to declare the city a “sanctuary city” for transgender and gender-diverse individuals.

The resolution, brought forward by Ward 2 Councilor Deborah Klemer and Ward 7 Councilor Rachel Maiore, would have Northampton commit to never using city resources for detaining persons for seeking or providing gender-affirming care, including affirmation surgery or hormone therapy; and would also commit to never cooperating with or providing information to individual or out-of-state agencies regarding any lawful gender-affirming care in Massachusetts.

At Thursday’s council meeting, Maiore said that she and Klemer had previously worked together on advocating for reproductive health rights, and felt that the two issues were linked together.

“What’s happening is the attack on bodily autonomy,” Maiore said. “They speak to the same kind of oppressive forces, and so I’m very concerned.”

The resolution cites bills passed in several states including Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana that have led to attorneys general in those states demanding access to medical records to conduct investigations of patients. It also cites a bill signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declaring gender-affirming care of any kind on minors to be a form of child abuse.

Maiore added that with the coming U.S. presidential election, it is even more important to protect transgender rights. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has made several disparaging remarks about gender-affirming care during his campaign, including unsubstantiated claims that surgery was being performed on children in schools.

“The timing of this is not lost on us,” Maiore said. “We need to really speak very proactively to our community and let them know that we hear you know, we see you and we will do everything we can to protect your basic rights and to be a welcoming place for you and your family.”

Klemer, who is serving her first term as a city councilor, said she felt the resolution was an opportunity to make a difference in the city, and related it to her own experience coming out as gay in the 1980s.

“The first thing I was told was, nobody needs to know, don’t tell anybody,” Klemer said. “It’s a lousy way to live, and I think we should all be able to come out and be who we are and not have to hide.”

Several members of the local trans community also attended Thursday’s meeting to speak in favor of the resolution. Mariel Addis, a resident of Florence, said she transitioned from male to female in 2016, right before Trump was elected president for his first term.

“Word on the street for trans folks was, get your paperwork done, driver’s licenses, passports, birth certificates and whatnot just in case Trump won the election, which of course he did,” Addis said of her experience. “The Trump administration didn’t personally impact me greatly, but I wouldn’t say so much for people that were in the military that happen to be transgender. But at this current point, I’m very concerned about the status of trans people in this country.”

Allison Landon said she moved to Northampton because she had heard it was safer for the trans community than other parts of the country.

“We’ve been using the phrase ‘domestic refugee’ to refer to a lot of the individuals coming from the rest of the country to this area because they feel unsafe in other states,” Landon said. “We have 16 states now with specifically anti-trans legislation, specifically aimed at making our lives harder and picking away at our civil rights.”

Other city councilors spoke favorably about the proposed resolution.

“I’m taking it very serious here that some of the people are feeling possibly unsafe in our city,” said Ward 6’s Marianne LaBarge. “I want to make sure that everybody here, everybody living in this city, they will be protected and they will be safe and they will not be threatened.”

Ward 1 Councilor Stan Moulton noted that in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu signed legislation that banned trans girls from participating in girl’s sports in public schools, though the law is currently being challenged in federal court.

“It really cuts across all kinds of activities in life,” Moulton said. “I do think that to counter that, it’s important for local communities to make this statement.”

 Several other cities in the U.S., such as Sacramento and San Francisco, have passed similar resolutions. The council will vote to confirm the resolution at its next meeting on Oct. 1.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.