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Advocates for the transgender community say they want Lansing City Council members to consider declaring Lansing an LGBTQ sanctuary city.
Members of Lansing Advocates for Trans Safety requested the designation during a meeting of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
The meeting was scheduled as a forum on transgender safety after several people expressed concern during last week’s City Council meeting about alleged threats made to transgender individuals at The Avenue Cafe.
The Lansing Police Department says the threats were “unfounded and not criminal in nature.”
But participants in the forum say the issues go beyond any single incident.
One speaker said they will be performing at The Avenue on Saturday. They say people are on edge – including themselves, saying they have more stage fright than they have in more than a decade of performing.
“A balloon popped at The Avenue the other day, and the people there thought they were about to be the next Pulse massacre,” they said.
Some participants had questions about the investigation into the alleged threats made at The Avenue. But the Lansing Police Department was disinvited from the forum at the request of advocates.
One such advocate says they don’t believe police are an effective preventative measure.
“Increased police presence in the queer community can feel, for a lot of us, like increased surveillance and make people feel less safe,” they told the committee.
Instead, they say they want support for locally owned queer businesses to implement their own security measures.
“Small queer businesses struggle as the economy suffers and the threats they suffer put both economic strain on them as well as having deeply negative effects on their staff and customers,” one participant said.
Councilmember Brian Jackson suggested having a representative from the police department attend future meetings to provide updates and receive feedback. But the idea was met with shouts of “no” and surprised laughter from the audience.
“Sometimes the presence of police in a situation where there’s violence potential could make some people feel safe,” Jackson said.
State Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) urged the city to train police officers on how to recognize biases.
City Council members could take up a resolution expressing support for the LGBTQ community as soon as next Monday.
Advocates are also asking Council members to consider designating Lansing an LGBTQ sanctuary city.
Mick Teti-Beaudin is the board secretary for the Salus Center, a LGBTQ community center in Lansing.
She says the Salus Center gets many emails from people wanting to move to Lansing because they hear it is welcoming for queer and transgender individuals.
“I think it’s important that we honor that and we really show that that’s absolutely true,” Teti-Beaudin said.
Jackson says he is open to exploring the LGBTQ sanctuary city designation but is concerned about garnering increased scrutiny from the federal government.
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