So many LGBTQ refugees are fleeing from Republican-controlled states to Seattle that the city’s LGBTQ Commission is calling on the mayor to issue a civil emergency order.
The commission said the throngs of 2SLGBTQIA+ people streaming into Seattle were leading to a strain on community organizations and a lack of resources available to them.
‘We’re seeing families coming to Seattle to protect their trans kids.’
“We are at risk of seeing some of these community-based organizations ceasing to exist in the next three, six, or 12 months,” LGBTQ Commission member Jessa Davis said.
“The downstream costs of letting people slip through the cracks is going to cost the city more,” Davis continued.
She admitted that there were not “busloads of thousands of people coming here” but said that “the numbers are significant.”
On Saturday, members of the Mutual Aid Network for Trans and Intersex Individuals in Seattle and the Gender Equity Movement organized a rally to push for the emergency declaration.
“With the kind of awful stuff that’s going on today, we need to say something,” 76-year-old Maridee Bonadea said.
A report from KIRO-TV verified nine fundraisers through GoFundMe from members of the LGBTQ+ community asking for help to relocate to Seattle.
One fundraiser asked for $2.2K to help three transgender roommates move from North Carolina to Seattle in order to seek “gender affirming care” so they can truly enjoy life. They have only raised $295 from six donations so far.
Mayor Katie Wilson (D) stopped short of issuing the emergency order but said the city would push for greater coordination to provide better access to resources.
She also called for a new city team to “develop community-informed responses that center housing, behavioral health, food, transportation, legal navigation, and survivor-centered violence prevention.”
Davis responded positively to the mayor’s order in an email statement to Blaze News.
“We’re pleased to be working with the Mayor’s Office and City Council as part of the inter-departmental team (IDT) being set up to address this issue,” she wrote. “We’re also preparing to continue engaging with this topic as it relates to the urgent needs our community at this time and will have further comment as we formulate more in-depth policy recommendations in light of the IDT’s objectives.”
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“Trans people are coming, from especially red states, to Seattle, not just for gender-affirming care but for safety,” commission member Andrew Ashiofu said. “We’re seeing families coming to Seattle to protect their trans kids.”
Wilson said she would work with the commission to ensure “Seattle is a place of safety, dignity, and inclusion for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.”
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