Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Trans Rights topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trans advocate urges Cleveland to declare itself a sanctuary for transgender people
Summary
At the March 31 council meeting, a transgender woman urged Cleveland leaders to adopt a 'trans sanctuary' resolution to protect transgender residents and to improve public safety and dignity after citing a pattern of violence and insensitive police reporting.
Zoe Johnson, a transgender woman and Cleveland homeowner, urged Cleveland City Council on March 31 to adopt a sanctuary resolution for transgender residents, saying such a declaration would reinforce the city's commitment to legal protections and improve public safety for a community she described as increasingly vulnerable.
"By adopting a sanctuary resolution for trans people, we can assert ourselves in the face of these bullies," Johnson said, noting that other Ohio cities — Cincinnati, Cleveland Heights and Athens — have adopted similar measures. She told the council she had recently bought a house in Edgewater with her partner and described repeated instances in which victims who were transgender were misidentified in police reports.
Johnson recited a string of deaths she said affected Cleveland-area transgender women of color and criticized routine police reporting that, she said, referred to victims by dead names and incorrect pronouns. "The repetitive nature of these murders and the police routinely denying these victims their dignity is unacceptable and can no longer go unaddressed," Johnson said. She framed a local sanctuary declaration as a civic statement that "an attack on 1 Clevelander is an attack on all of Cleveland." She also cited International Transgender Day of Visibility as the occasion for her remarks and asked council members to "stand alongside Clevelanders" by establishing local protections.
Johnson's comments were part of the meeting's public-comment period; no council motion on a sanctuary declaration was introduced during the session. Councilmembers later responded during the council's remarks portion: Councilmember Carey McCormack and Councilmember Jenny Spencer both acknowledged Johnson's testimony and urged the broader public and officials to speak out in defense of transgender residents.
The meeting record does not show a formal council referral or vote on a sanctuary resolution during this session.
