Speak up and be heard

Regardless of the level of your experience with prejudice – whether it is workplace discrimination that violates civil rights laws, or an everyday microaggression that you think might be too minor to make a formal report on – there are avenues for making your voice heard and your experiences count.

Reporting the impact of Executive Orders

Important community request from Washington State LGBTQ Commission, January 2025:

If you or someone you know is being affected by any of the recent Executive Orders please contact the Washington State LGBTQ Commission and share your story, experiences and concerns. Your voice can help inform the Governor and the Legislature on issues that impact 2SLGBTQIA+ Washingtonians.

Please note that the Commission has a small staff, so you may not receive a response quickly – but please know that your response is being tracked. Please note that communications shared with any state office may be subject to public disclosure pursuant to Ch 42.56 RCW.

For an analysis on whether the EOs and other federal policies are enforceable or even legal, consider reading Erin in the Morning, a news publication covering trans legislation and life, by award-winning transgender journalist Erin Reed..

Reporting workplace discrimination, housing discrimination, and other civil rights violations

If you have experienced discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation or seeking credit and insurance, you can file a complaint online with the Washington State Human Rights Commission

If the incident occurred in unincorporated King County, you can also start a civil rights complaint with the King Country Civil Rights Program.

Reporting other bias incidents

If the incident that you experienced does not rise to the level of a civil rights violation, you can still report it to the King County Coalition Against Hate & Bias , which is a coalition of local nonprofits that collects information on hate and bias incidents through a simple low-barrier survey. The anonymous information is added to a database which is used to inform local policy-making.

Examples of reported incidents include, but are not limited to, theft or destruction of LGBT-affirming signs, prejudiced remarks made by strangers in public spaces, and online abuse directed at local 2SLGBTQIA+ events.

More serious incidents, such as hate crimes, can also be reported to a coalition partner. The coalition partner taking the report will not share information with the police, unless you request their support with making a police report.

Advocacy regarding legislation impacting 2SLGBTQIA+ people

If you want to provide input on state legislation, the Washington State LGBTQ Commission tracks legislation impacting 2SLGBTQIA+ Washingtonians and provides a Legislative Toolkit to help you find different ways to engage.

The ACLU tracks anti-LGBTQ bills nationwide.

For legislation that impacts trans people, Trans Legislation Tracker is an informational resource:

When contacting the representative or senator of your district, be sure to include the number of the bill that you are commenting on. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the hatred expressed by the sheer number of these bills, but please bear in mind that most of these bills don’t become law.

Gender Justice League and Planned Parenthood organize the annual Trans Advocacy Day, which brings busloads of 2STGD Washingtonians to the state capitol to meet with elected officials. GJL also engages in advocacy throughout the year. To receive updates about their efforts, consider signing up for their newsletter.

Many thanks to the wonderful community members who shared these resources with us!

Disclaimer

We make no warranty as to the accuracy, timeliness, or completeness of the information on this page The material in this document is provided for informational purposes only. You should not use this information as a basis for making decisions without consulting primary, more complete, and more up-to-date sources. This page contains links to websites maintained by other organizations. We provide these links solely for convenience, and do not endorse any organization listed on this page. We make no warranties as to the purposes of any website that this page links to. (Last update January 2025)