MILWAUKEE — Pastors and spouses, Cameron and Jonah Overton, know a few things about sanctuaries.
"Sanctuary is safety. Sanctuary is sacred," Cameron said of how he defines the word.
Jonah talked about the sanctuaries in their life like home, Zao MKE church, friends, and family.
As two transgender people, they also know that for many trans and non-binary community members sanctuaries can be hard to find as the queer community is often faced with discrimination.
"There's that daily chance of emotional, physical, and medical violence that hangs in the air," Jonah said of the all too common trans experience.
When the Overtons heard about a proposal to make Milwaukee County a sanctuary county for transgender and non-binary people they were pleased. But they also feel like more needs to be done.
I asked Cameron if Milwaukee County is a sanctuary for the transgender and non-binary community.
His reply? No.
"I think over the last year, we here at Zao have held vigils for multiple Black trans women that have been murdered," Cameron explained.
"Sanctuary is something we need to work towards. Every step matters, but no step is going to be the last step for a long, long time. People don't feel safe," Jonah added. "People don't feel safe in their intimate partner relationships, they don't feel safe in their housing, and people don't feel safe in their jobs. There is a wealth of opportunity here to intervene to create more safety rather than waiting until trans people are legally under attack to try and minimize the consequences of that."
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the sanctuary resolution Thursday morning. Supervisor Ryan Clancy, a sponsor of the resolution, agrees that if the resolution passes it's just a first step.
"This is a first step and not a last one," Supervisor Clancy clarified. "Clearly there's much more that we need to be doing at county, city, state, and national levels... I want to make sure we're stopping crimes against trans, non-binary, and intersex folks before they happen."
If the resolution passes, the Overtons will certainly applaud it.
"I think this is a statement that I can then go and hold people accountable for. But we have a lot of work to do," Cameron said.
And they will already be in the sanctuary they've created at Zao MKE Church working on the next steps.
"We should care what happens to the most vulnerable in our communities. We should listen to the most vulnerable people in our communities," Jonah shared.
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