AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — The Austin City Council on Thursday approved a resolution declining enforcement of the state’s laws banning physicians from providing gender-affirming surgeries and medications to minors — the first city in the state to do so.
The resolution’s lead sponsor, Councilmember José “Chito” Vela, said that he hopes his office’s “transgender protection resolution” will offer some comfort to the transgender and non-binary community in Austin. With the measure’s passage, the city will not provide municipal staff, funds and resources that can be used to “investigate, criminally prosecute, or impose administrative penalties upon…” people seeking gender-affirming health care or those who provide and/or help provide access to such care unless required by law.
“Trans people deserve the right to self-determination,” Vela said just before the vote on the resolution was held. “Our state has forced them and their medical providers into hiding and that is wrong, Austin should not be a party to that any more than we legally have to be.”
Passing 10-1, the resolution makes Austin the first city in the state to take such a stand nearly a year after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 14, a law that prohibits physicians from prescribing hormone therapies to or performing surgeries on any minor with gender dysphoria. The law was a priority for Republican lawmakers who control the state house, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott who signed the bill into law this past June. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a former member of the Texas Senate, voted in favor of the resolution.
Councilmember Mackenzie Kelly was the only holdout on the resolution. She told her fellow members that her opposition to the measure was based on concerns about directing city personnel to ignore state law and the possible stifling of interagency cooperation with state law enforcement.
“To me, this resolution sends an explicit yet confusing message to our law enforcement officers to act in conflict with state law,” Kelly said. “As a home rule city, Austin does indeed have a significant degree of autonomy, however, as a political subdivision of the state of Texas our autonomy should not be construed as a license to continually undermine state law.”
Some of the residents who attended Thursday’s council meeting and spoke against the resolution voiced similar concerns to Kelly. In addition, many also urged the council to reject the measure due to what they perceived as the harms of gender-affirming care for children.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly responded to the council's action in a statement, saying his office would seek to ensure compliance with the law.
"Texas municipalities do not have the authority to pick and choose which state laws they will or will not abide by," Paxton said. "The people of Texas have spoken, and Austin City Council must listen."
Of the over 40 people who provided comments on the measure, a majority asked the council to adopt it. Bridgit Bandit, a local drag performer and activist, said that misinformation spread by “hate groups” over the past year has brought hardship to the city’s queer community. "The state of Texas may let us down; the city of Austin [will] take the opportunity to pave the way in leading Texas into a more progressive, inclusive, future for all," Bandit said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Texas Pediatric Society, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association have endorsed gender-affirming care practices for transgender youth. These medical groups as well as others have also argued against measures like SB 14, saying that they are harmful to young people who have gender dysphoria.
Despite the support for gender-affirming care from the medical community, 22 states including Texas have passed laws restricting minors' access to care.
Transgender youth and their parents have sought to fight Texas’s ban in court. The Texas Supreme Court is currently considering a case brought by five families and three doctors who claim SB 14 violates their rights under the Texas Constitution.
This is not the first time the Austin City Council has taken steps to rebuke state lawmakers' politics and policy. In July 2022, the council unanimously voted to adopt a series of measures meant to protect residents’ access to reproductive care. That action came a month after the United States Supreme Court upended the constitutional right to abortion with its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women's Health Organization.
With the passage of the transgender protection resolution, it is unclear how lawmakers will respond in turn. With another legislative session on the horizon next year, some lawmakers such as Texas House Representative Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, have promised to file legislation that would strip Austin of its autonomy as a city and form it into a district akin to the District of Columbia.
Despite such threats, the city looks to be continuing its mission to be a progressive outlier in a predominantly conservative state.
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