WORCESTER—The city of Worcester already has a policy regarding gender identity and expression, according to City Manager Eric Batista, but Councilor At-Large and City Council Vice Chairman Khrystian King is calling for deliberate action related to the policy.
King asked that the city create or ensure that a gender non-discrimination policy be enforced following a protest outside of the city’s emergency shelter last week. The protest, organized by Project Priceless, called out the lack of available shelter space in the city, particularly for women, and claimed transgender people have been turned away from the emergency shelter.
“Folks who are transgender should not be turned away from shelter, if indeed that has occurred,” King said during the council meeting Tuesday. “The capacity should be there for folks as a very minimal expectation as relates to providing services.”
A city ordinance that was enacted in 2014 is meant to ensure that people or businesses supplying goods or services to the city have policies consistent with the city’s own gender identity and expression policy.
That policy states that the city “shall not deny any person access to any opportunity, service, program or facility, including without limitation employment, educational, and recreational opportunities, solely by reason of sex or gender identity or expression.”
Batista said when his office learned of the encampment set up outside the former RMV building on Main Street that houses the shelter, his office discussed all the things that the city needed to support the individuals protesting and individuals who needed assistance.
“In regards to the individual that was transgender, there was a conversation that I had with SMOC [South Middlesex Opportunity Council] and said what is your current policy, do you have a policy, was this individual turned away? Are we able to make accommodations,” Batista said.
Then Batista said he spoke to the city solicitor who informed him about the city’s existing gender identity and expression policy and said he spoke to SMOC, who runs the shelter, and found that they have a gender identity and expression policy as part of the development and training of their staff.
“But oftentimes, depending on location, and depending on the accommodations of the individual and how the event unfolds…they may not be able to provide all the accommodations and they may not be able to have the capacity depending on the severity,” Batista said.
Batista said when he learned of the encampment outside of the RMV shelter, he and SMOC reached out to the state to increase the shelter’s capacity. They were given approval to do so, increasing the number of beds from 60 to 82.
Starting at 2 p.m. on Jan. 10, the protestors and people staying in the encampment were informed by police that they could either leave the parking lot or come into the shelter by 4 p.m.
A little after 5 p.m., officers arrested two men and one woman, who were all charged with trespassing. One of the men was charged with resisting arrest and another was charged with assault and battery of a police officer, according to Worcester Police Lt. Sean Murtha, who indicated that none of the individuals who were arrested are homeless.
A couple of hours later three individuals that were staying in the encampment came in and used the additional beds, along with five people who hadn’t been a part of the encampment.
On Thursday, unhoused people who were staying in the shelter told the Worcester Guardian that they hadn’t seen the people staying in the encampment at the shelter before and noted that many of the protestors got in their cars and left when the police became involved. One 50-year-old woman who identified herself as Anne questioned who the group was fighting for and said they were not fighting for her, claiming the group had made things difficult for the population staying at the shelter who had to stay inside during the protest.
King asked Batista Tuesday if the emergency shelter had the capacity to ensure that transgender people who have concerns have a safe space to be in that facility.
“They have the ability to accommodate,” Batista said in response, “but depending on the different accommodations an individual requests, which can be based around things like their gender identity or accessibility, the shelter may not be able to meet all of their accommodation requests.
“They may not be able to accommodate 100%, maybe 60%, maybe 40%, maybe 75% depending on their facility and their staffing capabilities.”
The emergency shelter has 45 beds reserved for men and 15 reserved for women, which are separated for safety reasons, according to a statement from SMOC. The breakdown is based on census data.
The city’s shelter system has been operating at capacity, with the additional 60 beds at the emergency shelter only cutting down the city’s shelter bed shortage to 137, according to Batista’s office.
“I think it’s safe to say that the expectation should be 100% of the time who’s eligible already to be provided the service of the shelter,” said King. “They should have the ability to do that regardless of how they identify.”
King said the point of his order is to see if there is anything additional they can do for shelters in terms of making a safe space for people regardless of gender identity. He amended his order to reach out to state legislators to see if there was any related legislation that could be filed.
King also added a second order that the city manager provide a report to the council every six months with data collection related to gender identity.
The council voted unanimously to send King’s orders to the city manager.
King said he’s looking for deliberate action to be taken.
The city takes the issue seriously, according to Batista, and said they have been working with community partners and agencies to make sure they are providing as much support as possible.
Kiernan Dunlop is an award-winning journalist who has spent the past five years reporting in Worcester, New Bedford and Antigua and Barbuda. She’s been published in Bloomberg, USA Today, Canary Media, MassLive and the New Bedford Standard Times, among other outlets. She can be contacted at kdunlop@theworcesterguardian.org
