The Boston City Council passed a resolution Wednesday declaring the city to be "a Sanctuary City for members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, with a specific commitment to protecting transgender and gender-diverse individuals."

The move comes amid President Donald Trump's efforts to fight "ideologues who deny the biological reality of sex," which civil rights advocates say amounts to an attack on the freedom and privacy of residents everywhere.

Although the resolution is largely symbolic, it urges city agencies not to comply with federal efforts that would take away the resources that safeguard the rights of the LGBTQ community. It says that Boston will not cooperate with federal or state policies that harm transgender or gender-diverse people, and asserts that the city will remain committed to ensuring they can access health care, housing, education, and employment without fear of discrimination.

Councilor Liz Breadon, the first openly gay woman to be elected to the council, was one of the resolution's primary sponsors.

"During the election and since, there's been an incredible escalation in anti-trans rhetoric and violence that has caused incredible stress and anxiety to our LGBTQIA+ community and especially to our trans brothers and sisters," Breadon said.

The resolution passed with a 12-1 vote. Only Councilor Ed Flynn opposed it.

Flynn insisted that he has been a longtime supporter of the LGBTQ community, saying that he has advocated for LGBTQ veterans, partnered with Breadon to mark the repeal of the "don't ask don't tell" policy, and met with those affected by bomb threats that targeted gender-affirming care.

Flynn said he would not use a procedural motion to block a vote, but said that he could not support the resolution without learning more about how it would affect city services and the city government as a whole.

"I don't want to be disagreeable, I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody, but it's just something I would like to have before I vote," he said. "I need to do my due diligence. That's not questioning anyone else's due diligence. It's just my due diligence. I want to know what impact this will have."

The adoption of the resolution follows similar efforts in places like Worcester and Cambrdige. Officials in both cities declared them to be "sanctuary cities" for the LGBTQ community in recent weeks as a response to the Trump administration's new policies.

The term "sanctuary city" is broad, not clearly defined, and has become highly politicized. Most often, it refers to communities with laws in place that limit how much federal authorities and local police can cooperate on immigration enforcement.

"Boston recognizes that sanctuary policies are a critical tool to ensure that all residents-regardless the identities they may hold-have inalienable human rights and deserve to feel safe, welcome, and supported," the resolution reads.

As the Trump administration works to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrations, federal officials have targeted Boston and other major cities with "sanctuary" policies in place. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was thrust into the national spotlight earlier this month when she was called to Washington, D.C., to testify before lawmakers on the topic.

Whether or not the resolution passed this week causes the Trump administration to further target Boston remains to be seen.

The City Council was initially preparing to vote on this resolution in early February, but councilors decided to wait due to the "heat" that Boston was already taking over its immigration policies, Councilor Julia Mejia said. But advocates soon made it clear that they did not want to wait any longer.

Many councilors who spoke during Wednesday's meeting said that they had received abundant feedback from constituents urging them to support the resolution.

"I see all of my colleagues as having listened to the community," Council President Ruthzee Louijeune said. "My hope is that the family, the trans family, the LGBTQ+ family works together on showing us the way on building what true safety looks like for these communities."

But councilors also said they heard from residents who said that the resolution should not be voted on yet because "protections on the ground" are not in place for the LGBTQ community, Councilor Henry Santana said. He was advocating for the resolution to be sent to committee, so that community members could be heard from and legal language could be hammered out. But Santana said he eventually agreed with his colleagues that they should not wait any longer.

Mejia and others stressed that more work needs to be done.

"This resolution ... is the first step. It's an opportunity for us to come together in agreement as a body that we acknowledge that the work must be done collectively and that this moment is more than just a symbolic resolution," Mejia said. "We didn't file this to check off a box ... we filed this because it is necessary for the harder, more concrete work that is to come."