City council votes to make Pittsburgh sanctuary city for gender-affirming care

By Royce Reed

On September 12, 2023

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — In a groundbreaking move on Tuesday, Pittsburgh City Council approved two bills that position Pittsburgh as a sanctuary city for people seeking gender-affirming care.

The bills passed with all the eight council members present voting in favor. 

Pittsburgh City Councilperson Barb Warwick, who sponsored the bill, told KDKA-TV that this helps not only people in Pennsylvania but other states as well. 

“In more than 20 states around the nation, we are seeing laws being introduced that criminalize gender-affirming care, whether that be recipients of the care or care providers,” Warwick said. 

The first bill is for people from states where gender-affirming care is criminalized who are being treated in Pittsburgh. 

“Should that person come to Pittsburgh, we would not use our city resources to aid that state in prosecuting,” Warwick said. 

The other bill deprioritizes prosecution of people seeking gender-affirming care in the city of Pittsburgh, should it ever become outlawed at the federal or state level. 

“We want to make sure people know in Pittsburgh you’re welcome and we want them to feel safe,” Warwick said. 

Local advocates Dena Stanley and Chantey Porter both agree this is a positive step. 

Porter, president of Trans YOUniting, said, “It’s gonna make people actually step up their game and do the work.

But they also said this was the first of several steps needed to make sure the city and its medical providers are prepared to welcome people as a sanctuary. 

“We’re not prepared for that when we’re talking about housing, employment, even in the health care sector, we don’t have enough physicians to handle the folks who will be coming in,” said Stanley, founder of Trans YOUniting.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey still needs to sign off on the bills.

This piece was republished from CBS News.