Seattle, Washington is on the verge of declaring a civil emergency for an unexpected reason: The city has seen such a high influx of LGBTQIA+ community members moving to the area from Texas and other red states that it’s struggling to provide a consistent level of support for the recent transplants.
A letter drafted by the Seattle LGBTQ Commission stated, in part, “Many [internally displaced persons] have relocated from states such as Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Kansas, and Idaho due to anti-trans legislation, threats to personal safety, and barriers to healthcare and legal recognition.” It goes on to explain the myriad ways mutual aid networks and LGBTQIA+ organizations have helped these individuals get used to life in a new city, writing, “Community-based organizations are already responding to this crisis — These organizations provide critical services, including emergency financial assistance, transportation, housing navigation, legal support, safety planning, community connections, and access to gender-affirming healthcare.”
But those networks and organizations are now struggling to keep up with demands. The Seattle LGBTQ Commission says that organization leaders are reporting “that demand has rapidly increased; in some cases, demand already exceeds available capacity.” Pressure is currently being placed “on community-based service providers, housing systems, and public health infrastructure.” If this continues without added assistance, it will become even more difficult for people to easily and comfortably establish the lives they’re desperately seeking to live outside of oppressive areas.
One Texan, Victoria Scott, has already made the move to Seattle. She told Chron that as a trans woman, she struggled to find a safe community in Houston. She reported things were more often hostile when she lived in Texas, whereas she experiences more acceptance, kindness, and compassion in her adopted city. “It’s done more for my day-to-day lived experience and mental health as a trans woman than basically any other thing I’ve ever done,” Scott said.
Being able to experience a sense of safety and improved mental wellness are only two parts of the equation when it comes to figuring out what exactly is leading to this mass “exodus” out of the Lone Star State.
Several factors are contributing to the “exodus” out of Texas
Many members of the LGBTQIA+ community share Victoria Scott’s sentiments about the hostility they usually experience living in Texas. One of the biggest contributing factors to this is the statewide ban restricting how transgender people can use the bathroom. Currently, Texas bans transgender individuals from using the bathroom consistent with their gender identity in buildings and places owned by the government, like schools and colleges. It’s one of several anti-LGBTQIA+ laws that are impacting people’s ability to live comfortably, freely, and openly.
This restriction is the primary reason why these community members are moving out of Texas, but other issues, such as availability of jobs and housing, are also playing a detrimental role. Aspen Coyle is the manager of TRACTION’s Open Arms program, and she spoke with Chron about the matter in-depth. Coyle wrote in an email, “It is absolutely dire. People are leaving because they can’t get healthcare, they can’t get a job, they might get arrested for going to the bathroom, they get harassed in public. The baseline hostility to their existence is unbearable.”
Scott can attest to how things are better for her in Seattle than they were in Houston. She said the cost of living in Washington is better compared to Texas, and there are more local and state laws protecting LGBTQIA+ people there. Coyle described the number of Texans following in Scott’s footsteps as an “exodus,” which is commonly defined as “a mass departure.”
These mass departures are only expected to increase—it’s a fact that Dallas real estate broker, Bob McCarnie, is all too familiar with. He created a service, Flee Red States, to help marginalized members of Texas’s community find real estate opportunities in other areas with ease. He spoke with Houston Public Media about this issue back in 2024, two full years before Seattle started mulling over the idea of declaring a civil emergency to address the exodus.
McCarnie said at the time, “Every legislative session, our rights are the ping pong balls that they play with. They are passing bills that attack our community. Why would you stay there when there are other places that want you to come that will treat you with respect and protect your civil rights?”
Being treated with respect and having civil rights protection should be freely given in Texas, but as long as they aren’t, residents will seek greener (and more accepting) pastures elsewhere.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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