Dallas City Council could vote on a resolution supporting our city’s transgender community in the next month after a memo condemning discrimination was read into the record of the Council’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee Tuesday.
“I encourage my colleagues to support a review of City ordinances, plans and/or resolutions to ensure they reflect the City’s commitment to protect the rights of residents against discrimination and hate based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression,” the memo from City Councilman Adam Bazaldua states.
The memo coincides with National LGBTQ Health Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Visibility, which is March 31.
Dallas embraces diversity and stands firmly against any form of discrimination and hate based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. The City values the uniqueness of our residents and stands with the youth, and their families, who deserve to be who they are, treated with dignity, and to receive equal treatment and protection. We support any action at the local, state and federal levels which serves both the physical and mental welfare of the transgender community. We condemn any attack on the transgender community and reaffirm our commitment to being an inclusive environment.
Recent orders by the Texas Governor and state Attorney General for Child Protective Services to investigate the parents of transgender children are “reprehensible, abhorrent and completely un-Texan,” Councilman Omar Narvaez said.
He added that gender-affirming surgeries are not allowed for anyone under 17, and this type of medical care for children consists of “very basic care for mental health.”
“No one should be condemned on identifying their gender by use of pronouns,” Bazaldua said.
Although “T” for transgender is part of the LGBTQ+ acronym, “it’s important for us to look at where we can be more specific and articulate on allowing for the use of pronouns to be protected as an expression of gender identity,” he said.
Dallas City Council approved a resolution in support of the transgender community in 2014. But committee members voted unanimously to draft a new resolution of support to ensure that policies for the City and possibly its contractors are in line with the language of Medrano’s memo, which you can find at this link: Transgender memo.
