Early in the new term, the Trump administration has moved quickly to curtail the rights and protections for trans Americans, a sliver of the population that experiences a disproportionate level of violence and discrimination.
Earlier this year, North Adams city council Vice President Ashley Shade reflected on the moment as Berkshire County’s first and only out trans elected official.
“It's a stressful time to be different in this country," she said. "The actions being taken through executive order are incompetent and, quite frankly, discriminatory. It's hard to be a person right now when your government declares you not to exist and is trying to erase the history of people like you.”
In that conversation with WAMC, Shade offered hope for ways that municipalities could stand with the community.
“The city of Worcester just made themselves a sanctuary city towards trans people, and I think that's an action that more cities can take, to publicly declare that they are a safe place and that that their government employees should not comply with any executive orders from the federal government, should not comply with other states trying to indict people for providing services or care,” she told WAMC.
Now – along with fellow Massachusetts cities including Pittsfield, Boston, and Cambridge – North Adams has done so. The nine-member body voted 6-3 to pass a sanctuary city resolution at its meeting Tuesday night.
“It was swamped," said councilor Andrew Fitch. "City Council Chambers was, it ended up being kind of standing room only in some areas, which was really cool to see because that's not always the case. I was overwhelmed with the support there for the resolution.”
Fitch brought the resolution forward along with fellow councilors Shade, Lisa Blackmer, and Deanna Morrow.
“We had a dozen plus people actually speak to it, and then two additional people spoke against it," Blackmer told WAMC. "Pretty much most of the people in the audience were for it. There were only three or four that were against it.”
She tells WAMC she feels the resolution is a local way to resist a white patriarchy pushing its values on the rest of America.
“At one point, former councilor Jess Sweeney asked people to raise their hand and say, who here doesn't want to get up and speak, but is here in, who's here in support of this?" Blackmer continued. "And most of the room raised their hands.”
Fitch stressed that the resolution does not grant additional privileges for any sector of the North Adams community.
“This is as simple as it can be," he told WAMC. "This is just North Adams leadership saying that we support marginalized communities and we support communities in need and we state that publicly. That is as simple as this is. There's no expenditure involved, there's no fear of losing of federal grants or state grants as a result of this. This is really just a statement of support. So, I hope that people, when they encounter things like this moving forward will just read through the facts and read it themselves and understand it themselves before reacting negatively.”
Unlike Pittsfield, the North Adams city council vote was not unanimous.
“For one thing, it's more of a state and federal issue than it is local. I mean, we can do all we can do for the community – you know, the LGBTQ community – as a city as we can, but I think a lot of the legislation has to come from the state or federal government," said Council President Bryan Sapienza, one of votes against the sanctuary city resolution along with councilors Wayne Wilkinson and Peter Oleskiewicz. “It's not practical on a city level. And I want to make it clear that I have nothing against transgender rights or anything like that- I respect all opinions, all people. And it was more so the- Resolutions are just kind of a gray area in city government, and I just- It's one of those things that, you know, it was more of the resolution than it was the actual, what it meant and things like that.”
Sapienza hopes the LGBTQIA+ community continues to feel comfortable in North Adams and says he continues to support inclusivity measures.
“I hear their concerns, and again, it was, it would be something that I think on the federal level- I think we need to just relax and just see what happens," said the council president. "I, of course, I wouldn't be against- I would be against anything that would hurt any anybody. It doesn't matter what group or what subgroup people belong to. I don't want to see anything like that hurt anybody. And it's, you know- You know, the- We just have to all get through this, and I'm sure we'll come out okay on the other side.”
Asked about the no vote explanations offered by his colleagues, Fitch described them as nonsense.
“I've heard some of my colleagues say before that they don't believe in resolutions, they don't think that resolutions belong on the council floor, but that that's just not- that's just not the fact," he told WAMC. "Resolutions actually do belong in council, resolutions have always, to my understanding, been on the council floor, and several of my colleagues who voted against this resolution last night have voted in favor of other resolutions. So I don't know why they're using that as an excuse. That's fine. If they don't like a resolution, that's totally fine to vote against it, that's everybody's choice. Whatever, no hard feelings. But to use that as an excuse I think is just false.”
Blackmer said she has heard arguments against the move in the North Adams community that have left her disconcerted.
“I've seen already- They're putting them above above us," she told WAMC. "And again, it's the same us versus them mentality that has been used at the national level, instead of, my attitude is, all we're doing is acknowledging someone's humanity, their civil and human rights, and it doesn't take anything away from the others.”
