The controversy surrounding the accusations of transphobic treatment of Worcester City Councilor Thu Nguyen continues to dominate city politics. Previously, the Council had voted in favor of officially apologizing for the transphobia councilor Nguyen had faced both locally and in the national media. According to Nguyen, Worcester’s Chief Equity Officer and the City Manager’s office also indicated that an investigation into the accusations of discriminatory conduct from other City Councilors was underway. 

However, on January 23 the City Manager wrote to City Council and stated that the City Manager lacks the authority to conduct an investigation of this nature. 

The Scarlet spoke with Allie, an organizer with Queer Residents of Worcester and Our Allies, who explained that there does exist a chain of command with the City Manager at top and an HR structure to which issues are reported. However, according to the City Solicitor , the members of City Council themselves aren’t employees of the city, and there is no precedent for a councilor filing a complaint against another member of council. Allie said that a third party investigator would need to be hired, but the City Manager wouldn’t be able to do that unless Council voted to give him that authority. 

Asa, another organizer with Queer Residents of Worcester and Our Allies, believes that the convoluted nature of these questions are not the barrier to action that opponents are making it to be.

“If they truly cared, and they didn’t see this as a threat to the political clique that they are all a part of, they would be trying much harder to figure this out,” Asa said.

On January 28 City Council passed a petition calling on City Council and the City Manager to engage with LGBTQIA+ organizations to create a plan to address safety concerns around discrimination. The Council also passed a petition requesting City Council and the City Manager to commit to providing $500,000 annually to a queer and trans resilience fund. 

On February 11, City Council voted to designate itself as a “sanctuary city” for people who are trans and gender diverse, according to Spectrum News1. 

Originally, Nyugen had announced a month-long absence from council due to the transphobic comments. However, on February 19 Nyugen said that their absence will be indefinite.