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The Rise of LGBTQIA+ Sanctuary Cities–Including, Possibly, Tallahassee

November 30, 2023 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

Minnesotans hold a rally at the state capitol in St. Paul to support trans kids in March 2022. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Minnesotans hold a rally at the state capitol in St. Paul to support trans kids in March 2022. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

By John E. Finn

LGTBQIA+ sanctuary declarations help cities take a stand to defend rights – but may not have much actual legal impact

Minnesotans hold a rally at the state capitol in St. Paul to support trans kids in March 2022.
Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

John E. Finn, Wesleyan University




Several cities and towns, mostly in the American Midwest and South, are responding to a surge of proposed and approved legislation that restricts gay and transgender people’s rights by declaring they are “sanctuaries” for people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

States like Alabama, Texas, Florida, North Dakota and Montana have passed 84 laws in 2023 alone that restrict LGBTQIA+ rights, primarily targeting transgender kids.

Some of these laws require teachers to call trans students by the name and pronoun they were assigned at birth, for example, and prohibit any students from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity.




In September 2023, the small town of Lake Worth Beach, Florida, was the latest to say that it was “a safe place, a sanctuary, a welcoming and supportive city for LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families to live in peace and comfort.”

At least 15 states and cities have dubbed themselves LGBTQIA+ sanctuaries over the last several years.

Sanctuaries are generally considered local refuges, where people who are afraid of persecution or discrimination have legal immunity from particular government policies or laws.

As a scholar of constitutional law and a student of sanctuary movements, I think that sanctuary declarations of all kinds raise important questions of constitutional law.

The most difficult is the question of whether and when these declarations violate the U.S. Constitution by placing state or local law above federal law.




The short answer is that it depends on what these declarations actually promise.

People hold signs that say 'Love is love,' and 'say gay loud!' Some of the people wear large yellow wigs.
People protest Florida’s anti-LGBTQIA laws during a pride parade in Wilton Manors in June 2023.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Sanctuaries’ history in the US

Sanctuaries are a long-standing part of the United States’ constitutional history.

In the 1980s, for example, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston, among other places, said they would not cooperate with federal immigration officials trying to deport Central American migrants. These cities’ representatives said the migrants were eligible for asylum and had fear of returning to their homelands because of persecution – but federal judges still did not give them the right to stay in the U.S.

More recent examples include the proliferation of Second Amendment sanctuaries in local towns and counties in 42 states, which say they will not enforce a variety of federal gun laws.




Now, Tallahassee, Florida, is among the places that is considering declaring itself a LGBTQIA+ sanctuary. Other places – including Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri – have also made themselves LGBTQIA+ sanctuaries over the last few years.

Most of the sanctuaries focus on the rights and protection of trans kids and their families, in particular.

In some places, like Austin, the aim is to create a “safe place, a sanctuary, for transgender children and their families.” In Kansas City, the intent is to make the city “a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care.”

Are they legal?

Sanctuary declarations raise important and difficult questions of constitutional law, especially when they claim immunity from federal laws or the U.S. Constitution. That’s because the Constitution contains Article 6, commonly known as the supremacy clause, which says that the Constitution and federal laws trump any state or local law.

The supremacy of the Constitution to state and local laws is a key part of how the U.S. government works. It means that state and local governments must act within the confines of the Constitution, even when state or local lawmakers disagree with federal law.

So, does the Constitution allow places to say that they will not follow discriminatory laws, such as those that prevent trans students or faculty from use of the restrooms that match their gender identity?

The answer often depends on a sanctuary declaration’s precise wording and meaning.

Some sanctuary declarations, like the Lake Worth Beach resolution, are simply rhetorical statements of support or opposition to a particular cause or policy. They have little or no legal consequences.

Others, like some Second Amendment resolutions, announce that local officials, often sheriffs or other law enforcement personnel, will not enforce or comply with laws restricting guns that they regard as unconstitutional.

In these sorts of cases, the proclaimed sanctuaries directly challenge what the Constitution says, specifically that the Constitution and federal laws are “the supreme Law of the Land”. State laws or laws passed by lower levels of government cannot overrule them.

Children wear rainbows on their shirts and dance in front of people also wearing rainbows and waving rainbow flags.
People dance during a drag story time in Austin, Texas, in June 2023.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Devil is in the details

It is important to note, however, that not all sanctuary declarations violate Article 6.

When it comes to whether sanctuaries declared by states, cities or small towns are legal, the devil is in the details – as with most things concerning the Constitution.




A sanctuary resolution that only says that local officials disagree about what the Constitution means or requires, without pledging to break federal law, is simply freedom of expression.

Consequently, a claim of sanctuary for LGBTQIA+ people that simply declares a city or a town a safe and welcoming space, without calling for anything else or any kind of direct violation of federal law, is constitutionally protected. This is what the Lake Worth City sanctuary declaration does.

A more complex case arises when sanctuary spaces claim immunity not from federal law, but rather from state or local laws that impede a certain group of people’s rights. These kinds of sanctuary declarations do not ordinarily challenge the authority of Article 6 or the Constitution, in general, because the sanctuary claim is made against state laws, not federal law or the Constitution.

Indeed, in many such instances, these sanctuaries seek to protect people’s federal civil liberties and rights against discriminatory state laws. This is what the Lake Worth Beach resolution and other LGBTQIA+ resolutions do.

These sanctuaries actually reinforce the Constitution’s authority by insisting upon the power of people’s basic, constitutional principles and rights over discriminatory state laws.

Sanctuaries that promise a safe space for people who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community do not undermine federal constitutional law.

Instead, they seek to make good on the Constitution’s commitments to equality and human dignity against discriminatory policies. Unlike some sanctuary resolutions, most LGBTQIA+ sanctuaries do not threaten the Constitution – they celebrate it by insisting upon the supremacy of basic constitutional rights and principles without violating Article 6.

John E. Finn is Professor Emeritus of Government at Wesleyan University.

The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marc Crane says

    November 30, 2023 at 10:37 pm

    It is not clear that the group needs special rights.

  2. Laurel says

    December 1, 2023 at 2:22 pm

    Marc Crane: It’s not really special rights, it’s protection.

  3. Laurel says

    December 1, 2023 at 2:46 pm

    Well, I never expected to see my old town here on this site! Anyway, when we lived in Lake Worth (now the City of Lake Worth Beach since 2019), the city hired a tans City Manager named Susan Stanton. Not everyone was so accommodating, so her stay was not very long.

    Lake Worth had a really cool, eclectic mix of people. There were Swedes, Germans, Haitians Hispanics, and lots of Finns who spent their winters there. They purchased little homes and painted the concrete *lawns* green so as to not have to worry about maintaining grass from long distance Finland! The city had a large gay community. Central American migrants started moving in with mixed results. For quite some time, they hung out at Home Depot jumping in truck beds in search for work, while frightening the passive shoppers. Local billboard were in Spanish. Actually, the immigrants had more to fear themselves as they would walk in groups to prevent getting robbed.

    The gay community started moving to Wilton Manors, which is a city located within Ft. Lauderdale, which had a lot of small, old, starter homes that the growing population turned into really cool homes. Very creative and imaginative homes. Lake Worth turned more Hispanic and the Europeans started going to Florida’s west coast. The population grew with a lot of new, young people moving in.

    Lake Worth Beach has always had so much potential to be a really great place, but they could never quite make one of two major highways, Dixie Highway, look the part. Lake and Lucern are great spots to hang. I truly wish them well.

    You can imagine what it is like for us to move from there, to here, where the far right sphincters are tight as can be.

  4. The dude says

    December 1, 2023 at 6:47 pm

    I can’t even keep up with the proper acronyms anymore… they seem to get longer and longer every time I look.

    Anyway, I totally agree with Marc.

    They don’t need any special rights.

    They just need the same rights the rest of us get.

  5. Skibum says

    December 2, 2023 at 3:50 pm

    To Marc and The dude: Newsflash!!! If the LGBT+ community were allowed to have the same rights and were treated like the vast majority of people are treated here in FL and all over this country, we wouldn’t even be talking about this. And this state’s Hitleresque wannabe presidential candidate and current governor, who by the way will NEVER be president, is one of the reasons why we DO have to talk about it. He specifically is making it more difficult for LGBT citizens to merely live their lives free of harassment and discrimination. He is the one trying to erase the word “gay” from the dictionary and allowing school libraries to ban books simply because the book’s author is gay or there are a gay reference or character in the book. One book that was on the banned list was there because the author’s last name was Gay, although she wasn’t!!! You cannot make this stuff up. More and more, gay citizens need to be careful about everyday decisions and activities that maybe you, Marc and dude, make without a thought or a care in the world, but could have serious consequences for someone who is gay. Not to mention business owners who want to discriminate and refuse service to someone who is gay for no other reason than “my religion tells me that I disagree with their ‘lifestyle’ and therefore I am refusing to do business with them”. And that is one of the least serious consequences compared with all of the physical gay bashing and assaults that occur in some cities against people who may look or act like they might be gay. So your comment about gay people needing the same rights as everyone else is correct, but your assertions to the contrary are the problem that many people like yourselves share.

  6. Atwp says

    December 3, 2023 at 11:34 am

    Hey Dude I finally agree with you. The acronym is getting longer. Knowing the Republicans, it will become harder if mote impossible for the children to get an education, medical attention, or their parents to vote.Welcome to the real world of hypocritical Republicans.

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