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LRP is a recognized leader in Washington State and nationwide for advancing the wellness of Black communities. We utilize legislative advocacy, direct support, and narrative change to dismantle systemic barriers harming Black communities. As a Black Trans Feminist organization, our work strengthens community power across the entire Black community, changing policies to protect the most vulnerable individuals.

We advocate for the rainbow of racial justice issues facing Washington state. To learn more, visit: lavrights.org

2025 Legislative Session

105 Days of the 69th Biennium

This report provides an overview of the 105-day Legislative session and our priorities. We offer our summary of how LRP contributed to direct legislative advocacy.

Celebrating Wins

When you fight, we win.

We highlight the legislative victories that our diverse coalition partners pushed for this session. We also summarize bills that "died" this session.

Jaelynn Scott

Jaelynn Scott

Executive Director

"We will continue to work to embody and grow our understanding of intersectionality as praxis; we wholeheartedly believe that it is a Black trans feminist framework that will ensure our civil rights and progressive values continue to thrive in Washington and across the nation. When we get it right for Black trans women, we get it right for the entire Black, LGBTQ+, POC, and Femme community. I am very proud of our 2025 Legislative agenda and its unapologetic grounding in Black trans feminist praxis. We invite you to work closely with us as we grow, ensuring that Washington State remains a leader in progressive, pro-Black, LGBTQ+ advocacy in Washington State and how you can support our work."

Bryanna A. Jenkins

Bryanna A. Jenkins

Policy Director

"In Washington, we have the unique opportunity to advance deeply intersectional policies that makes sure no one is left behind."

Media Mentions + Further readings

Oliver Treanor Miska

This report was developed by Oliver Treanor Miska, LRP's political consultant and founder of Solidarity Policy and Public Affairs.

Solidaritypolicy.com

2025 Legislative Priorities

Prior to the start of the 2025 legislative session LRP developed an ambitious legislative agenda based on our organizational priorities and our desire to exist at a state where policymakers prioritize an intersectional approach to solving issues that are pressing to Washingtonians, especially those from historically marginalized communities.

Full Repeal of I-2081

The 2025 Legislature must fully repeal I-2081. The law is a direct attack on transgender youth and creates harm for them in our public school systems. Our concern lies with impacted transgender students as well as affirming teachers and educators who face harm under this current law. Transgender students deserve to attend school in safe and affirming environments that validate their identity.

New Anti-Trans Legislation

The 2025 Legislature must vote against any and all legislation whose effect is to attack the dignity and livelihood of transgender people. This includes proposed legislation that concerns gender affirming care, health care, public accommodations, educational opportunities, housing, elder law, and any other areas of policy that touch the lives of transgender people.

Anti-Poverty Laws

The 2025 Legislature must vote against any legislation that punishes and criminalizes people for simply being poor. Additionally, the legislature must introduce and pass legislation that includes benefits cliff and other progressive mechanisms.

Rent Control Legislation

The 2025 Legislature must pass rent control legislation. The legislature should and must prioritize access to affordable housing as a way to radically reduce housing inequities and homelessness.

Reparations

The 2025 Legislature must support HB 1100 and any other legislation that studies and provides implementation steps for reparations for Black Washingtonians. Black communities have faced centuries of harm, and we must begin the process of repair.

Restoring DEI

The 2025 Legislature must support policies that restore and expand Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives across Washington. Recent attacks on DEI programs have harmed marginalized communities and must be reversed.

What LRP Did This Session

LRP was proud to participate in the 2025 Legislative Session through several collaborative efforts with longtime coalition partners while centering an intersectional approach to advancing policy and defeating legislation that causes harm to LGBTQ communities, specifically Black trans women in Washington State.

Coalition Participation

This session we worked with a growing LGBTQ, racial justice, and gender-affirming coalition with organizations including: Q Law, Pro Choice WA, ACLU WA, WEA, Planned Parenthood, Gender Justice League, Legal Council for Youth and Children, Oasis Youth Center, Legal Voice Washington, Washington Bus, Vocal WA, Build 206, Team Child, Southwest Washington Equity Coalition, and various student groups.

Legislative Priorities

Our policy team developed legislative priorities that we released on our new landing page for all things legislative, these can be found at lavrights.org/tracker.

Legislative Tracker

Our legislative tracker, found on our website, and distributed in our newsletter and on social media, provided resources that allowed for community engagement with the fast moving pace of the legislature with relevant updates. Our tracker provided up to date information about bill status, as well as action items for community members to take civic action, anywhere from registering to testify, narrative support, and published articles.

Social Media

We developed video updates that provided background information, updates, as well as calls to action that together reached ~30,000 views.

Testimony

Our government relations specialist (lobbyist) provided testimony in hearings throughout the session, as well as provided support for parents and youth to testify in front of the legislature.

Narrative + Storytelling

Our team heard from families, parents, students, and educators about their stories dealing with on-going discrimination in our schools across Washington State. These stories helped inform lawmakers' floor speeches and galvanized support amongst democratic caucus members for the importance of our legislative priorities.

Print Media

Our policy team worked with print media to support public narrative framing for our priority legislation this session, HB 1296 and SB 5181. We contributed to publications in The Seattle Times, The Stranger, and Real Change. Links to these media mentions and productions can be found in the Resources section.

Community Education

During the session and after, we attended and presented at coalition meetings, community forums, panel discussions, and legislative recap sessions.

LRP Team at Washington State Capitol

LRP advocacy team working at the Washington State Capitol

Celebrating Wins

Legislative Wins

HB 1296 / SB 5181

Over a hundred so-called "Parents Bill of Rights" have been proposed across the country, mostly originating in republican controlled state legislatures.

Since 2021, 23 states have passed versions of the Parents Bill of Rights, with Ohio becoming the 23rd this year. States like Florida, Utah, Arizona and Texas were the first states to pass such laws, supported by groups like Mom's for Liberty and have since been taken up as a key part of Project 2025, with the US house passing HR 5 in 2023 and further actions expected in Congress during Trump's presidency.

California mega-millionaire and hedge fund manager, Brian Heywood relocated to Washington and reignited the fight for "parents rights" here in Washington State, pouring over $6million of his own funds into a slate of ballot initiatives.

Paying for signature gatherers, Brian Heywood's six initiatives, which included repealing our state's Capital Gains Tax and the Climate Commitment Act, also included a "Parent's Bill of Rights" or I-2081. Heywood's $6m contribution successfully raised enough signatures to qualify all initiatives.

LRP team with legislative allies at Washington State Capitol
Coalition partners and advocates celebrating legislative victory

HB 1296 and SB 5181 took slightly different approaches at the beginning of the session, each addressing particular issues with I-2081, but also included further protections such as explicit codification of our state's transgender student model policy for provisions such as no-dead naming, correct pronoun use, gender affirming bathroom use, and student rights to privacy.

Throughout the session we watched the Democratic Caucus defend these bills on the house and senate floor against harmful, transphobic and fear mongering language.

We are grateful to our Democratic Caucus for taking a stand on these important bills, sitting through six hours of painful floor discussion, and working together to align the two chambers' slightly different bills throughout the session.

We, at Lavender Rights Project, argued that these bills should go further, as we are experiencing increasing attacks on our black and brown students, teaching about race and racism, and DEI.

We argued that if we want to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination we must have intersectional protections in place for the same harmful local policies banning affinity groups, DEI, and what has been demonized under the anti-CRT movement led by the Freedom Foundation's Christopher Rufo.

We expect that the fight against the LGBTQ community and racial justice will only continue at the state legislature next year and we are committed to defending and proactively fighting for intersectional solidarity within these movements through both education policy reform and economic justice.

Fortunately, the Democratic Caucus worked in the house and senate to pass ESHB 1296 (engrossed substitute House Bill 1296) as session law and the bill awaits the Governor's signature. On May 20th, the Governor signed ESHB 1296, officially turning the bill into state law.

HB 1971

The bill would require health plans that cover prescription hormone therapy to reimburse a 12-month refill supply. Despite its potential for conservative opposition, the bill received an overwhelming majority of bipartisan support, as these medications are used for more than hormone therapy for gender affirming care, including regulating blood pressure and blood sugar, healthy metabolism, and infertility. We celebrate the hard work of Representative Macri (43rd LD) for sponsoring and carrying this bill forward in such a way that demonstrates the importance of not only gender affirming care, but also expanded coverage for healthcare plans in these uncertain times.

The Governor signed the bill into law on April 25th, which means it will take effect 90 days after session.

Intersectional Legal and Social Services for Gender Diverse Community Proviso

LRP received $750,000 in ongoing state funding to continue and expand our direct legal and social services. This funding will allows us to better serve the Black and gender diverse community through direct representation, navigating systems, and providing the services that are either difficult to access or do not exist in mainstream organizations. LRP is grateful to Representative Santos (37th LD) for carrying this proviso.

This funding marks a step toward more sustainable funding for Black-led and trans-led organizations.

Reparations Study Proviso

A historic first, the legislature allocated $125,000 to conduct a reparations study for Black Washingtonians. This study will examine historical and ongoing harms to Black communities and provide recommendations for repair. We are grateful to Representative Street (37th LD) for her leadership in advancing this critical work. This is the first state-funded reparations study in Washington and a significant step toward addressing centuries of systemic harm to Black communities.

Covenant Homeownership Program

The legislature allocated significant funding to expand the Covenant Homeownership Program, which provides down payment assistance to first-time homebuyers in communities that experienced racially restrictive housing covenants. This addresses the long-term impacts of redlining and discriminatory housing practices that prevented Black families from building generational wealth through homeownership.

HB 1217: Rent Stabilization

While not the comprehensive rent control legislation we advocated for, HB 1217 establishes statewide rent stabilization measures that limit rent increases and provide tenant protections. This represents important progress toward housing affordability, though more work remains to be done to address the housing crisis facing Black and low-income communities.

We will continue advocating for stronger rent control measures and comprehensive housing justice policies in future sessions.

Trans Day of Visibility Resolution

The legislature passed a resolution recognizing Trans Day of Visibility, affirming Washington's commitment to supporting and celebrating transgender communities. While symbolic, this resolution sends an important message of acceptance and inclusion during a time when transgender rights are under attack nationally. LRP was proud to support this resolution as part of our ongoing work to advance trans liberation.

Bills that "Died"

While we celebrate the victories from this session, it's important to acknowledge the legislation that did not advance. These bills represent ongoing work and priorities for future legislative sessions.

HB 2046 / SB 5797

Concerning criminal justice reform. HB 2046 and SB 5797 would have created a task force to study racial disparities in the criminal justice system and recommend reforms. Despite bipartisan support for the concept, the bills did not advance due to disagreements over the scope and composition of the task force.

The bills would have also established grant programs for community-based alternatives to incarceration, focusing on restorative justice and rehabilitation programs that have proven effective in reducing recidivism while addressing the root causes of crime.

LRP supported these bills as part of our broader commitment to criminal justice reform and addressing the disproportionate impact of the justice system on Black communities. We will continue advocating for comprehensive criminal justice reform in future sessions.

HB 1147

Concerning comprehensive sex education. This bill would have required all public schools to provide comprehensive sex education that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ identities and experiences. The curriculum would have included information about consent, healthy relationships, and resources for students of all identities.

Opposition to the bill centered around claims of "parental rights" and concerns about age-appropriate content, despite evidence showing that comprehensive sex education leads to better health outcomes and reduces rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

LRP supported this bill as part of our commitment to ensuring that all students, particularly LGBTQ+ students, have access to information and resources that support their health and wellbeing. The failure of this bill represents a missed opportunity to protect vulnerable students and provide them with life-saving education.

HB 1274

Concerning anti-poverty programs. This bill would have expanded access to basic needs programs and eliminated barriers that prevent people from accessing assistance. The bill included provisions to address the "benefits cliff" where small increases in income result in large losses in benefits.

Despite strong advocacy from anti-poverty coalitions, the bill faced opposition over concerns about cost and program administration. LRP supported this bill as part of our commitment to economic justice and our opposition to policies that criminalize poverty.

HB 1816

Concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion in state government. This bill would have strengthened and expanded DEI requirements for state agencies, contractors, and institutions receiving state funding. The bill would have also created accountability mechanisms to ensure that DEI commitments translate into meaningful change.

The bill faced significant opposition from conservative groups who framed DEI as "divisive" and "discriminatory." This opposition reflects the broader national backlash against efforts to address systemic racism and promote equity.

LRP strongly supported this bill as part of our commitment to intersectional justice and our belief that addressing systemic racism requires sustained, institutional commitment to equity and inclusion.

The failure of this bill demonstrates the ongoing resistance to racial justice work and the need for continued organizing and advocacy to advance equity in all areas of government and society.

Post 2025 Session Takeaways

Rainbow of Racial Justice Issues

LRP celebrates the many wins from the 2025 Washington legislative session. HB 1296 represents what can happen when legislators take the risk of advancing policy that is intersectional and life saving to so many communities in Washington. LRP looks forward to continuing to work with Senators and Representatives while availing ourselves as a resource educating officials about how to engage on these important issues.

LRP will continue to prioritize progressive policy in the areas of DEI + Criminal Justice Reform, Economic Justice, and LGBTQ + Gender Affirming Care. Additionally, we look forward to supporting the forward movement of the groundbreaking reparations study championed by Representative Street.

Our power lies in our collective movement and powerbuilding throughout Washington. As LRP works to maintain our presence in the LGBTQ work groups we will also work to deepen our relationships in Black work groups and create new reciprocal partnerships.

While Washington is a bastion for change and equality, we know that we are not immune to threats from entities working to challenge our progress. We all must continue to work at the intersections of racial, gender, and economic justice moving forward.

Understanding Where We Are and What We Are Saving

Legislative Environment

Despite progress on HB 1296 and SB 5181, the broader legislative environment remains challenging for transgender and BIPOC communities. Anti-trans sentiment continues to influence policy discussions, making our advocacy work more critical than ever.

Community Resilience

Our community has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of discriminatory legislation. Students, families, and educators continue to advocate for inclusive policies while building supportive networks across the state.

Strategic Priorities

Moving forward, our focus remains on complete repeal of I-2081, protecting access to gender-affirming care, and building stronger coalitions to advance comprehensive civil rights protections.

Bryanna A. Jenkins

Bryanna A. Jenkins

Policy Director, Lavender Rights Project

Support Our Work

Lavender Rights Project provides life-saving legal and direct services that are by-and-for Black and gender diverse communities throughout WA and the United States.

Your donation makes it possible for us to support our community.

Your generosity frees the organization from common funding restrictions and allows us to better serve our community in crucial ways; however, we must rely more heavily on community-based funding sources and individual donors like you.

By investing in the ability for Black gender diverse community members to protect, assert, and fight for their legal rights, for their right to the pursuit of happiness, we all come closer to true self-determination, autonomy, and resilience.

We are excited to serve our communities, and you can be a part of making the magic happen by making a donation to Lavender Rights Project today.

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Resources

Please use the following resources to dive deeper into the legislative session, the bills we highlighted in this report, and upcoming campaigns LRP will be participating in and developing during the 2025-26 interim and legislative session.