On Tuesday, the Worcester City Council passed a resolution declaring the city a sanctuary for transgender-identifying individuals. In line with the council’s recent approval of a $500,000 fund in support of “LGBTQIA” advocacy this measure is in response to President Trump’s recent Executive Orders to preserve female sports and protect children from harmful transgender interventions and ideological indoctrination in K-12 schools.
During the public comment portion of the city council meeting where the measure was approved, proponents of the resolution were often unhinged and hysterical in their testimony. Watch the video below that contains testimony from leftist clergy members, Worcester teachers, a drag king, and an activist from Love Your Labels, a group that teaches fashion classes for kids and includes them in queer fashion shows with adults.
Disclaimer: The testimonies in the video clips contain graphic language. Viewer discretion is advised.
To watch the entire meeting click here.
While the public comment at this week’s meeting, and the city council’s vote that followed have shocked people nationwide, those of us familiar with Worcester were not surprised.
In recent years Worcester has become a battleground between progressive ideology and the traditional values of many of its residents. In 2021, the Worcester school committee voted to accept the 3Rs, a graphic and inappropriate sex ed curriculum for K-12 students. We helped parents fight back by starting the Opt Out of Graphic Sex Ed Movement, to educate parents about the dangers of this curriculum and inform them of their legal right to protect their child. This movement is still going strong today and has received support from local faith leaders, including the Diocese of Worcester.
Pro-life advocates in Worcester have also been caught in the fray when in 2022 two pregnancy resource centers were vandalized by radical activists following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Then in 2023 Worcester PRCs faced a different kind of threat when the city council considered unconstitutional, unethical ordinances that would have impeded their lifesaving work. MFI stood by these PRCs and successfully stopped these ordinances from passing.
In 2024, Pride Worcester, the LGBTQ activist organization at the center of Worcester Pride, sent a drag queen to dance on a table at Sutton High School as part of the Connections Conference. And later that same year we learned of the sad story of Griffin Sivret, a young social media influencer who grew up in Worcester and died after years of damaging surgeries related to gender-affirming care. Sivret attended Worcester public schools and was active in the local LGBTQ youth outreach “Safe Homes.” Her Facebook posts, accessed posthumously, allege that grooming and abuse had occurred there. Safe Homes continues to operate today.
The adoption of the transgender sanctuary city resolution is just another step in the progressive push to remake Worcester into a haven for woke ideology. While residents of Worcester face real issues such as economic insecurity, a failing educational system, increasing homelessness, and a lack of affordable housing, the city council is busy kowtowing to the emotional manipulation of a cadre of activists. A resolution like the one passed this week does not provide the people who spoke out in support of it any protections not already present in MA law. It does, however, reinforce the notion that unrestrained arm-twisting works in advancing woke agendas.
Pray for the members of the Worcester community who have been victimized by sexual and gender ideologies that have brought insecurity, fear, and confusion to their lives. And contact the Worcester City Council to urge them to resist the demands of special interest activists and instead focus on crafting policies that uplift all members of the community.
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