Kansas City declares itself a LGBTQ+ sanctuary city

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FILE - Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks to reporters after taking the oath of office in Jefferson City, Mo., Jan. 3, 2023. A Kansas City Council committee will consider a resolution on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, that would designate the city as a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, even as the state’s attorney general is proposing a new restrictions on the procedures for adults and children. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File)

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Un manifestante en contra de las prohibiciones a los transgénero, en la Legislatura de Jefferson City, Missouri, el 20 de marzo de 2023.. (Foto AP /Charlie Riedel)

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Mayor Quinton Lucas listens to public comments on a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people during a committee meeting to consider the resolution, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The move comes in the wake of Missouri legislators voting to ban gender-affirming care and trans athletes. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Councilmember Andrea Bough speaks in favor of a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people during a committee meeting to consider the resolution, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The move comes in the wake of Missouri legislators voting to ban gender-affirming care and trans athletes. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Supporters of a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people celebrate outside of city council chambers after a committee approved the resolution, sending it to the full council for consideration, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The move comes in the wake of Missouri legislators voting to ban gender-affirming care and trans athletes. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Dr. Molly Uhlenhake speaks in favor of a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people during a committee meeting to consider the resolution, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The move comes in the wake of Missouri legislators voting to ban gender-affirming care and trans athletes. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Merrique Jenson speaks in favor of a resolution that would make Kansas City, Mo, a sanctuary city for transgender people during a committee meeting to consider the resolution, Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The move comes in the wake of Missouri legislators voting to ban gender-affirming care and trans athletes. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Missouri state Rep. Chris Sander, R-Lone Jack, and House Democrats speak with reporters Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in the state Capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. Sander, who is gay, slammed fellow lawmakers for passing a ban on puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries when used as gender-affirming care for minors. If signed by the Republican governor, Missouri’s Medicaid program will no longer cover gender-affirming health care, and transgender and nonbinary prisoners and inmates would no longer be able to get surgeries. (AP Photo/Summer Ballentine)

Officials in Missouri’s largest city approved a resolution Thursday to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state lawmakers who voted a day earlier to ban such care for minors and restrict it for some adults.

Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas praised the 12 to 1 vote, saying the city is committed to being a “welcoming, inclusive, and safe place for everyone, including our transgender and LGBTQ+ community.”

Kansas City’s new, sanctuary status sets it apart as a Democratic-leaning city in a state with a Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature. Similar actions have been taken in cities that oppose state actions to restrict rights for transgender people, as in Austin, Texas.

GOP Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign into law the ban on gender-affirming care, joining at least 16 other states that have enacted similar laws restricting or banning such care for minors.

The resolution also comes as a judge considers a proposed emergency rule from Republican state Attorney General Andrew Bailey that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy — and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatment.

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A committee signed off Wednesday on the resolution, which says the city will not prosecute or fine any person or organization that seeks, provides, receives or helps someone to receive gender-affirming care such as as puberty blockers, hormones or surgery.

It also says that if the state passes a law or resolution that imposes criminal or civil punishments, fines, or professional sanctions in such cases, personnel in Missouri’s largest city will make enforcing those requirements “their lowest priority.”

Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. who’ve attacked gender-affirming care as part of a larger effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights have argued that they’re protecting children from decisions they may later regret. But gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.

“This is an important first step in Kansas City’s commitment to trans and nonbinary people,” Merrique Jenson, founder of Transformations KC, said in a written statement after the vote. “I look forward to trans leaders and Kansas City working together to address the health disparities in our communities and ways we can have sustainable funding & programming reaching all trans people.”