Pittsburgh is on its way to becoming a sanctuary city for gender-affirming health care, under legislation approved Tuesday by City Council.
Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, sponsored a measure that will shield gender-affirming health care providers, recipients and legal guardians from out-of-state prosecution or investigation.
A second, related bill will deprioritize local enforcement of any ban on such care if one were to be enacted at the federal or state level.
The legislation defines gender-affirming care services as “the range of social, psychological, behavioral and medical interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity when it conflicts with the gender they were assigned at birth.”
“Twenty states have introduced legislation criminalizing gender-affirming care, and those include Ohio and Michigan,” Warwick said during a city council discussion of the measure last week. “Twenty-six states have restricted gender-affirming care for minors or adults, including West Virginia and Kentucky. That’s where this comes out of.”
In the legislation, Warwick cited statistics indicating 93% of transgender and nonbinary youth have reported worrying about being denied access to such care.
“If Pittsburgh’s going to be a city where we prioritize human rights and LGBTQIA rights, it’s a good law to have on the books,” Warwick said.
The measure will “leave health care between the doctor and the individual,” said Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side.
The measure making Pittsburgh a sanctuary city for gender-affirming care mirrors legislation sponsored by Wilson and approved by City Council last summer that similarly protects Pittsburgh abortion providers from out-of-state prosecution.
Mayor Ed Gainey’s office has voiced support for the effort to protect gender-affirming health care providers from out-of-state prosecution and investigation.
Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Gainey and the first transgender woman to hold such a role in the city, said the administration was “incredibly proud of this piece of legislation.”
“Gender-affirming health care is life-saving health care,” she said after the bill was introduced. “I can say that because it saved my life.”
