A proposed amendment gives Portland City Council an opportunity to officially designate our city as a Sanctuary City for LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families.
In 2017, in an effort to protect immigrant and refugee communities, Portland City Council passed Resolution 37277, declaring our city a “Welcoming City, a Sanctuary City, and an Inclusive City for all.”
At their upcoming June 16th meeting, Portland City Council will hear testimony from Maureen McGovern, longtime Portland resident and ally, who will ask that Resolution 37277 be amended to specifically include LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families under its Sanctuary designation.
“With recent efforts to further marginalize the LGBTQIA+ community, it is critical that we join other cities such as Los Angeles; Erie, PA; Boston; Lake Worth Beach, FL; Olympia, WA; and most recently Corvallis to further resolve that Portland, as a Sanctuary City, is a safe place, a welcoming and supportive city, for LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families,” McGovern said. This city “must ensure that local resources are not used to enforce federal or out of state laws and mandates that threaten the ability of any person to receive access to health care (including gender affirming care), housing, education, and employment.”
Cities that recently passed similar resolutions did so after the public showed strong support. If you would like to voice your support of Portland as a sanctuary city for immigrants, refugees, and LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families, you can submit comments on the city’s website: https://www.portland.gov/help/contact-elected-official.
“We need to show the rest of the state, the country, and the world that Portland treats people with dignity and respect regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression,” McGovern said.