Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

The Trans and Queer Community Stabilization Interdepartmental Team (TQ IDT), which was created by the Office of the Mayor and the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) in June in response to an ongoing internal Trans refugee crisis, has suddenly been closed. At the same time, Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck has proposed a $300,000 amendment to the supplemental budget to fund community stabilization, which is headed to council for a vote on August 11.

The Seattle LGBTQ Commission has been a key player in the TQ IDT efforts, and representatives received an email on August 3, which included:

“Our next meeting on Tuesday August 4 will mark the conclusion of this configuration of the IDT. During our meeting, we will be outlining the City’s next steps for 2026 that will focus on rapid relief as well as our 2027-2028 work plan that will focus on actioning the medium and long-term objectives that were identified by the IDT […] In lieu of continuing the IDT through the end of August, we will be repurposing that time for City staff to begin our rapid relief plans for 2026 and setting up our 2027-2028 action items which will require extensive internal and external coordination across the City.”

The Commission said it was surprised, and that throughout this process, it had encouraged the TQ IDT to have more thoughtful and robust engagement with community to “center the real-life experiences of Trans and Queer internally-displaced persons in our City.” The Commission also stated that it expressed its letdown with the group’s “lack of internal cohesion and organization, which has resulted in minimal output and little coordination.”

In early June, the Seattle LGBTQ Commission issued a 32-page proposal for ways to immediately stabilize community needs and sustainably expand capacity, and improve the coordination and competency of the government, among others. It has provided the TQ IDT with additional support and recommendations since.

“Notably, the Commission’s initial proposal to the TQ IDT requested that the Mayor’s Office allocate funding from their supplemental budget to support Trans and Queer Stabilization efforts. However, to the Commission’s disappointment, it was discovered during our 4th TQ IDT meeting on July 21st, that the Mayor’s Office chose not to add any line items to the supplemental budget related to this work and would also not be declaring a civil emergency,” the Commission stated.

Although Councilmember Rinck’s proposal to the Mayor’s supplemental budget, which unanimously passed through the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee on August 4, has brought hope to community members who have been ringing alarm bells for months, it isn’t enough.

“We know that $300,000 will barely scratch the surface as hundreds of thousands of people flee their hometowns for protective cities like ours while nonprofits are drained of their funding for serving Trans and Queer people,” according to the Seattle LGBTQ Commission.

Final recommendations and multi-pronged relief plan

The Mayor’s Office shared the TQ IDT’s final recommendations, which consist of rapid response efforts, like providing immediate resources to community members and community-based organizations (CBOs), and helping people enroll in city resources and services. Other near term goals include building on material resources, evaluating Seattle’s definition of “refugee,” and a possible expansion, discovering community-navigation options, and routinely engaging.

Long-term goals are to create a sustainable and centralized community navigation infrastructure within the City, build trust with communities, and improve coordination between departments. The multi-pronged relief plan has a $150,000 Request for Proposal from the Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs, with the assistance of SOCR, to CBOs.

The second approach is a community resource fair that will feature onsite benefit enrollment support, information on anti-discrimination protections, and immediate material relief. SOCR is expected to both coordinate and manage this fair with a $100,000 budget.

“The Seattle LGBTQ Commission has long identified the need for increased infrastructure within the City of Seattle to serve the needs of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and, as such, included establishing an Office for Trans and Queer Affairs into our two year work plan in April 2026. We know that the current infrastructure has been inadequate, often leaving our community with exacerbated housing, safety, employment, and other basic needs gaps,” the Commission stated.

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