Lakewood drafts first-in-Ohio ‘Gender Freedom Policy’ in response to anti-trans attacks

This story originally appeared on The Buckeye Flame.

The City Council of Lakewood has moved forward a “Gender Freedom Policy” in response to attacks on transgender rights both in Ohio and nationally.

The wide-ranging set of protections pits home-rule – the state policy added in the 1920s to grant power to local municipalities – squarely against the power of the state with regards to protections of trans people living and working in the Cleveland suburb, including drag performers whose performances have been targeted by Ohio legislators. 

The policy broadly commits to “enshrining and upholding transgender rights.” 

More specifically, the Gender Freedom Policy pledges that:

1. No city resources will be used for “detaining or investigating persons for solely seeking or providing gender-affirming care.”
2. No city resources will be used for “cooperating with or providing information to any individual, in or out-of-state agency or department” on gender-affirming healthcare or gender-affirming mental healthcare performed in Lakewood, a response to reports of the U.S. Department of Justice asking hospitals to turn over “sensitive information about transgender patients younger than 19.”
3. Investigations of individuals, organizations and businesses performing or hosting drag performances or non-obscene entertainment involving gender identity or expression will be the “lowest possible priority.”
4. Investigations of individuals, organizations and healthcare providers in Lakewood facilitating gender-affirming care will be the “lowest possible priority.”
5. Facilitation of other policies and laws aimed to harm transgender and gender-diverse people will be the “lowest possible priority.”
6. City employees will be trained to protect confidential health information and not collect unnecessary health information related to gender-affirming care.
7. The city will continue to provide medical coverage for employees and covered family members who seek gender-affirming care, “even if such care must legally be provided outside the State of Ohio.”

Proposed by Council President Sarah Kepple and Councilmember Cindy Strebig, the resolution and administrative policy passed unanimously out of council’s Committee of the Whole on September 22 and will now be considered at the regular council meeting on October 6. 

Ohio currently has a law banning gender-affirming care for minors on the books – including a provision that prevents healthcare providers from recommending care outside the state – and a proposed ban currently in the state legislature to ban “adult cabaret performances” in “any location other than an adult cabaret where minors may be present, that is harmful to juveniles or obscene.” This ban would include drag performances. 

“There is simply not room in the City’s budget or staff capacity to indulge these unconscionable policies which do nothing but distract us from our primary goals of building a strong, sustainable, and welcoming community,” Kepple wrote in a letter to the Lakewood Observer. 

Above and beyond

Although many Ohio municipalities have passed LGBTQ+ equality ordinances over the past few years – from LGBTQ+-inclusive nondiscrimination protections, to proclamations declaring June as Pride Month, to the bans on conversion therapy on minors – Lakewood’s “Gender Freedom Policy” goes far beyond any existing local measure in Ohio. 

Strebig said that Ohioans and Lakewoodites deserve better than the discriminatory policies being put forth by the state and federal government and that the “Gender Freedom Policy” is a step towards greater protections. 

“With our home-rule authority limited and shrinking under the Republican-controlled [Ohio] Statehouse, we can still identify our priorities and commitments to keeping Lakewood a diverse and welcoming community,” Strebig said at the September 22 meeting.

LGBTQ+ equality advocates praised the resolution. 

Dara Adkison, executive director of TransOhio, said that few municipalities in Ohio have been open to making a public statement that LGBTQ+ people – and specifically trans people – are welcome and deserve the same rights as everyone else within city limits.

“Choosing to prioritize the needs and values of residents shouldn’t be bold or not worthy, but this is where we find ourselves, and Lakewood City Council gets that,” Adkison told The Buckeye Flame.

Michael Miller, a Lakewood resident and father of a trans child, thanked the council and expressed hope that the council’s actions would inspire others to pass similar legislation.

“Even in Lakewood, Ohio, those of us who are raising transgender kids often feel like we’re standing alone,” Miller said. “Tonight, by talking about this Gender Freedom policy, we feel like you are standing up with us.”