Councilmember Rue Landau, the city’s first openly LGBTQ Council member, plans to introduce a resolution Thursday calling for public hearings focused on how Philadelphia can prepare for President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
Landau said she gets texts nearly every day from people who are worried for their LGBTQ children, people who are worried about their marriages being legal, and from immigrants who are scared of their families being deported to places they’ve never even been.
“The fear is real, it’s palpable, and we need to have the conversation now, publicly, so that we can let people know that they are as safe as they can possibly be in Philadelphia and also know that the city is ready to protect all of our communities and protect all of Philadelphians equally” she said.
Landau’s resolution calls for the Committee on Law and Government to hold hearings “exploring Philadelphia’s readiness and commitment to protecting its immigrant, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities in advance of the impending Trump Administration.”
“A Trump preparedness summit,” she said.The hearings would bring together the city’s administration and groups focused on LGBTQ rights, immigration, and reproductive freedoms, she said.
Republican lawmakers have already begun to target Delaware State Sen. Sarah McBride, who was just elected to be the nation’s first openly transgender member of Congress, with a bill that would ban her from using the women’s bathroom at the Capitol. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, quickly made the proposal a reality by announcing Wednesday that “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office buildings … are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the Hill reported.
» READ MORE: Republican lawmakers are attacking Sarah McBride and her right to use the bathroom. She isn’t taking the bait.
Landau also plans to introduce a resolution with Councilmember Kendra Brooks to honor Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is Wednesday. The day holds particular weight this year, Landau noted, as Trump prepares to take office after a successful campaign fueled in large part by attacks on LGBTQ rights.
“Since Trump has come on the political scene, he has fanned the flames of hate and fear,” Landau said. “We have seen more violent acts on the ground. We have seen school boards banning books, and now we’re even seeing it in Capitol Hill.”
Trump has said his administration will only recognize male and female genders, and threatened school funding over issues related to transgender students.
While Philadelphia has protected people based on their sexual orientation since 1982 and gender identity since 2002, the same explicit protections don’t exist on a state and federal level, Landau said. The Council member wants to make sure the city has the needed resources to investigate any hate crimes and to stand against any anti-LGBTQ bills that may arise and could target bathroom access, schools, and gender-affirming care.
Landau said that during Trump’s first administration, the Supreme Court at times prevented him from rolling back civil rights, and she doesn’t expect the same protections now that Trump has a conservative majority in the highest court.
» READ MORE: LGBTQ Philadelphians are speeding up gender-affirming care and seeking legal advice before Trump takes office
“These are things that we haven’t seen before,” she said. “Our local law protects people based on their gender identity throughout every part of their lives in Philadelphia. But there are definitely fears about what could happen under a Trump 2.0 presidency that could threaten some of these protections.”
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said earlier this month that she is preparing to work with the Trump administration and is working with Council President Kenyatta Johnson to create a legislative agenda. She called the city’s top lawyer, Renee Garcia, “the best city solicitor in the nation.” Her administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration sued the Trump administration several times over issues like immigration and health-care policy, butParker has so far taken a less antagonistic approach.
