LGBTQ+: For You and for Them Too

At Issaquah Salmon Days, a devoted mother of a transgender child approached me, hesitant and uneasy. She had been misled by the hate spread by my opponent's campaign supporters. A heartfelt, sometimes heated, 20-minute conversation followed — a prime example of how finding common ground is more effective than a purity test.

Ultimately, both of us agreed that every child deserves measurable safety outcomes and that results should be tracked across demographics, ensuring no one is left behind. We agreed that parents must be informed and engaged in their child's identity development, unless there is a real danger at home. Her child, she said, would never have thrived if she hadn't been involved every step of the way. We also discussed how language has been weaponized, how tests of fealty to opposing positions are used to divide us, and how censorship is employed to shut down attempts at alignment.

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We didn't agree on everything, but we ended with a warm handshake. When we listen long enough, we find the shared outcomes we want and we come up with brighter ideas — and that’s progress.