Bloomington City Council members unanimously passed the resolution at a Wednesday meeting. (Lucas González, WFIU/WTIU News)
The Bloomington City Council has passed a resolution declaring Bloomington a safe haven for individuals seeking gender-affirming care amid the state’s recent crackdown on such care.
Council members unanimously passed the measure Wednesday despite a previous indication from Andy Ruff and Dave Rollo that they would abstain from voting. Council member Isak Asare was absent.
The resolution adopts a “gender-affirming healthcare policy” which directs city personnel to not penalize any individual or organization for providing, seeking, receiving, or assisting anyone seeking or receiving gender-affirming healthcare.
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It also directs city personnel to do the following:
- Consider enforcement of any state laws or regulations penalizing gender-affirming care a “low priority”;
- Not enforce other jurisdictions’ laws that penalize gender-affirming care, except as required by law;
- Not respond to other jurisdictions’ requests for information if it pertains to said jurisdiction’s penalties for gender-affirming care;
- Not enforce or facilitate the collection of judgment of another jurisdiction “to the extent the judgment arises out of a cause of action in that jurisdiction” based on gender-affirming care.
Each clause of the resolution says city personnel “shall” or “shall not” take a given action. However, the resolution itself is non-binding. As such, the clauses are non-enforceable recommendations.
What prompted the resolution?
Council members Courtney Daily and Matt Flaherty sponsored the resolution at the request of the Bloomington-Monroe County Human Rights Commission.
The commission submitted a draft resolution to the council after the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill banning gender-affirming care for Hoosiers younger than 18 and preventing providers from “aiding and abetting” parents seeking the treatment outside the state.
The ban was originally slated to become state law in July 2023; however, the same day Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill last April, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit against it.
A judge later granted a temporary injunction, blocking parts of the law. But in February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit struck down the injunction. As a result, the ban immediately took effect.
Public comment
Before voting, council members heard testimonies from more than a dozen members of the public. Many who spoke either identify as transgender or say they have loved ones who do.
Bloomington resident Lilliana Young, a transgender woman, supported the resolution and called the state government’s recent actions an overreach.
“We're living in an age where the majority of this state's legislative body wrote themselves a blank check to dictate how a small and vulnerable group of people can and cannot live their lives up to and including decisions of health care, whether for individuals or family,” Young said. “The resolution before this council is a way to fight against that where possible.”
Beth Clawson, also a Bloomington resident, has a transgender daughter. Clawson has previously spoken out against the state’s actions to ban transgender girls from playing on girls’ school sports teams.
Clawson fought back tears as she spoke about how the ban on gender-affirming care has affected her and her family.
“We can no longer speak to any of our daughter's doctors about anything involving gender-affirming care,” Clawson said. “She's being forced into a closet now that she has never had to be in before, and it hurts her a lot. It hurts us to see that she shouldn't feel shame for knowing herself so well, yet I fear that is exactly what is happening.”
Some elected officials, too, spoke in support of the resolution. City Clerk Nicole Bolden, who is queer, read a statement from State Sen. Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) and personally thanked the council for considering the resolution and for not making members of the LGBTQ+ community “prove (their) humanity over and over again.”
County council member Jennifer Crossley also applauded the resolution, saying she has an openly queer child.
Only one person — resident Carole Canfield — opposed the resolution during the public comment period on the item.
“Our children are being targeted by those who would take parental authority away from them, just as they did with abortions,” Canfield said. “Let's speak truth and get real help for these children, not fake help that harms them. The best solution is not creating a safe space, but to tell them the truth.”
Council comment
Council members generally spoke in favor of the resolution, but councilors Ruff and Rollo described it as “fast-tracked,” even though they both later voted for it.
The pair laid out their concerns in a memo to their council colleagues shared publicly Tuesday.
In it, they said they support adults’ rights to attain hormonal treatment and surgeries but consider children’s right to such care a different matter.
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“First, minors cannot legally provide informed consent; their parents or legal guardians must grant consent,” the memo states. “Furthermore, with respect to gender-affirming care, children generally lack the cognitive development to understand the implications of sterility, inability to experience orgasm, and other potential but serious complications of gender transitioning. Third, because children have not gone through puberty, gender-affirming care involves even more life-altering and irreversible changes to their person than is the case for adults who undertake such care.”
The pair said they wanted more time to research the matter and acquire evidence to make a more informed decision on the resolution, but their council colleagues did not allow them time to do so.
“I hold certain institutions vested with proper science-based care responsible; they need to look at the standards of care and make sure they follow up on the science,” Rollo said. “I will be supporting this resolution because I care about the members of our community, and I don't wish any discrimination against them by the state. But I think that we need to take closer looks out closer look when it comes to children's care.”
Ruff, who said he initially did not plan to comment on the resolution, also weighed in. He criticized other council members for not granting his and Rollo’s request for more time.
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“Council member Rollo and I, between the two of us, have served this council for almost 42 years,” Ruff said. “That’s significantly more than every other member of this council put together twice. So, believe me when I say I've worked on a lot of resolutions, with a lot of collaboration across a lot of councils, and just saying that the council sponsor thinks it's ready to go, and therefore it should just we should just move ahead with it … that's not the council process that I've experienced over 20 years serving.”
Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith said she disagreed the resolution was fast-tracked, adding, “Resolutions are generally brought to us the same night as when we vote on them. There's always an option for council members to make a motion to postpone, which I have not heard tonight.”
Council member Hopi Stosberg weighed in as well, saying she was personally offended at any insinuation that parents who chose to help their children get gender-affirming care do not have their best interests at heart.
"It really is personally offensive to assume that because your child is receiving gender-affirming care, that suddenly you aren't making good decisions for them in that respect," Stosberg said. "We need to trust parents and we need to trust that parents know what is best for their children. That is what this piece of legislation at the state ... it's just really extremely offensive."
Stosberg added the resolution is not targeted at minors, but for all individuals seeking gender-affirming care.
What’s the mayor’s stance?
The resolution now goes to Mayor Kerry Thomson’s desk for final approval.
Thomson has previously said she will not sign council resolutions not pertaining directly to city business. This was true of similar advocacy resolutions calling for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza and opposing the LEAP pipeline project in central Indiana.
However, Thomson has expressed her support for this resolution.
In a letter, Thomson wrote, “My commitment to making Bloomington a safe, accepting, and welcoming place for all is foundational to my decision to run for mayor, and this resolution reaffirms my commitment to ensuring all are welcomed and know they belong in Bloomington.”
