Residents of the Massachusetts city that’s declared itself a ‘trans sanctuary’ say they’re worried that social justice warriors have hijacked their council and are running their hometown into the ground.
Worcester entered the national spotlight this month when colorfully-dressed activists took over a hearing and demanded city hall give them more ‘protection’ because of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
A parade of crusaders clad in wigs, make-up, jewelry, and drag costumes complained about being ‘unsafe’ in the liberal bastion, yelling and crying as they aired grievances from the podium.
But long-time residents say the hearing was an ’embarrassment’, and told DailyMail.com their progressive council is more interested in showboating than tackling a soaring murder rate.
City Hall is obsessed with trans rights, Israel’s war in Gaza, migrant protections, and ‘virtue signaling’ as the second Trump administration rolls out its hardline policies, they said.
They named trans activist Allie Cislo, and non-binary councilor Thu Nguyen, who vacated their post complaining of ‘transphobia’ and a ‘toxic council culture’, as ringleaders of the movement.
All the while, they said, the city council’s real work has been abandoned, and problems such as homelessness, crime, poor social services and shuttering businesses have festered.
They also federal funding vital to the services used by 207,000 residents could be at risk if the city becomes a nemesis of the Trump administration.
Johanna Hampton-Dance, a local musician who twice ran to serve on the council, says Worcester has become a national joke as its local bureaucracy was spinning ‘out of control’.
‘Radicals are pushing their agenda for social justice, when the city council should be about clearing the trash and paving our streets,’ Hampton-Dance told DailyMail.com.
‘For the vast majority, the screaming and shouting is foolish and embarrassing, and these people should pull themselves together and have adult conversations about tough issues.’
Chris Ryan, a local GOP committee member, said the council’s 9-2 vote to become a trans sanctuary was little more than ‘performance theater’ that did not affect the rights of anybody.
‘They were having at temper tantrum, bullying the city council into giving them what they want to make them fell good,’ Ryan told DailyMail.com.
‘They just can’t tolerate the fact that President Trump won the election. This is just their way of acting out.’
The February 11 session saw Cislo and others denounce Trump’s orders against trans women competing in women’s sports and directing the federal government to only recognize two sexes, male and female.
One speaker, wearing a blue wig, white gloves, and comical eye make up, said she needs the city to protect her because the federal government will not, and that she was ‘afraid of Trump’.
Another speaker said they were ‘shaking right now’, while mourning the deaths of numerous LGBTQ friends.
The individual also complained about ‘fascism’ in government and said they were ‘pleading for my life’.
Hampton-Dance and others said the speakers looked hysterical and unhinged.
The Democratic stronghold is tolerant and welcoming, she added, hosting major Pride events and several LGBTQ bars, clubs, and venues.
It wasn’t the first time that Worcester’s council got drawn into hours-long debates about minorities, or issues far beyond its remit.
In January, dozens of speakers spent two hours railing about the massive Palestinian death toll in Gaza, but failed to secure backing for a resolution on ending the humanitarian crisis there.
The city’s Democratic Mayor Joseph Petty that same month used a council meeting to decry Trump’s crackdown on irregular immigrants.
Officials and cops would not cooperate with federal deportation raids, he vowed.
In another public comment section, council members advanced a petition to create a $500,000 Queer and Trans Resilience Fund to be topped up every year on the taxpayers’ dime.
Colleen West, 61, a Worcester native, says there have been too many loony council meetings narrowly focused on special interest groups.
‘It’s just crazy to me,’ the self-described ‘conservative’ told DailyMail.com.
‘A $500,000 fund annually for their community. Now every subgroup will ask for their own fund. No matter where you are socially, nobody wants to pay for that.’
Partisan debates have seen the council ignore mundane but vital issues, such as crime, homelessness, drug addiction and filling in potholes, she added.
‘The city has definitely changed over the years,’ said West.
‘I still feel safe where I live. But you gotta watch yourself when you go anywhere after dark.’
Worcester was once a major industrial hub of central Massachusetts, but the economy tanked when manufacturing declined after World War II.
An influx of immigrants and education, medicine and biotech firms have buoyed the city, but signs of social problems persist.
Worcester Police Department in 2024 recorded its worst year in decades for homicides, with 16 cases – a big uptick on the six in 2023. Gun crimes have been creeping up there for years.
Police raided an apartment, arrested three people, and seized weapons, ammunition, cocaine, fentanyl, and crack cocaine on February 10, that latest in a series of busts.
Worcester has a serious drug problem, at times ranking as the worst city in the Bay State for opioid overdose deaths.
The area’s homelessness crisis is also deepening.
It jumped by 20 percent from 1,607 unhoused people in 2023 to 1,927 in 2024, many of them kids, says the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance.
In a sign of Worcester’s declining economy, a Price Chopper supermarket shuttered in January.
That followed the closure of two local branches of Stop & Shop last year.
Some locals without vehicles were left struggling to stock up on groceries, said Hampton-Dance.
Jay Givan, a resident of nearby West Boylston, says city officials should focus less on ‘preferred pronouns and lifestyle choices’, and more on the budget and crumbling infrastructure.
‘Worcester currently has the fourth worst per capita pension debt in the country, the roads are a mess, and commercial taxes are the seventh-highest property tax rates in the state,’ said Givan.
Worcester has in recent years turned to multimillion dollar federal grants for transport and infrastructure upgrades, homelessness shelters and support for first-time homebuyers.
Meanwhile, city coffers are running dry.
Worcester Public Schools last year trailed plans to axe 163 teaching positions from across its 45 schools in its 2025 budget, faced with a looming $22million deficit.
Against this backdrop, Worcester residents say they’re worried that antics in the council could anger the Trump administration and threaten future federal payouts, which keep the city afloat.
‘We have Donald Trump in the White House. He does have the ability to stop funding from coming into our city,’ said Hampton-Dance.
‘That money pays for programs for the youth and a hundred plus programs that benefit everyone in the city, not just marginalized groups.’
DailyMail.com reached out to Cislo and Nguyen for comment.