BLOOMINGTON, Ind — Bloomington’s City Council passed a resolution Wednesday night that advocates say shows the city’s support for the transgender community.
The move comes more than a year after the state passed a law banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.
The resolution calls for designating Bloomington as "a safe haven for gender-affirming health care.”
The resolution passed unanimously. The vote was greeted by cheers from supporters.
It comes a year after a vote by the Indiana lawmakers on Senate Bill 480, which led to the passage of a law banning doctors from prescribing and Hoosier parents from giving their transgender children any kind of medicine that would delay puberty.
Mom Beth Clawson told council what life has been like for her transgender daughter and their family since SB 480 became law.
“Logistically, the gender-affirming ban has been a burden for our family as well. We can no longer speak to any of our daughter’s doctors about anything involving gender-affirming care,” Clawson said, choking up as she addressed the council. “I have taken large swaths of time off work to reach out to doctors out of state to make appointments to get her medical records in my hands and then transfer them myself to the doctor’s office out of state.”
Most who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting were in support of the resolution, but not everyone.
“You can make a proclamation that separates our town from the rest of the state, but it’s still wrong,” Carole Canfield said. “Affirming care denies science, which every high school student knows, or used to, that a man has XY chromosomes and a woman has XX. DNA is present in every cell. You can fool yourself into thinking you’re the sex you’re not, just because you’re taking hormones.”
Under the resolution, the city would ensure that laws or regulations punishing people for seeking or providing gender-affirming care would not be prioritized by city officials.
So what does the resolution really do? City officials say it does not supersede the law passed by state lawmakers last year. That means the ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth still exists in Bloomington.
One councilor told 13News the resolution is really a ceremonial gesture, a show of support to the transgender community and their families.
Even so, many said they were proud of it because they believe it’s the first resolution of its kind in the state.