FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 31, 2025
Seattle, WA
$80,000 in direct cash contributions and $20,000 in in-kind staff time bolster Washington Families for Freedom as extremists target transgender students, schools, and basic civil rights
Gender Justice League (GJL) today announced that, in 2025, the organization has contributed $80,000 in direct cash and $20,000 in in-kind staff time—a combined $100,000—to Washington Families for Freedom (WFF), the statewide campaign working to defeat two ballot initiatives aimed at undermining all students’ safety, dignity, and equal opportunity in Washington’s schools and youth sports.
This major investment comes amid an escalating national political assault on transgender people—especially transgender youth—driven by the Trump Administration’s repeated efforts to frame transgender existence and support for transgender kids as “extremism” and “gender ideology.”
At the state level, the latest attacks are being pushed by Let’s Go Washington, a political committee founded by Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager who has used his personal wealth to fuel deeply unpopular initiative campaigns in Washington State.
“Trans young people deserve to hear this clearly: you are not alone, and you are not up for debate,” said Danni Askini, Executive Director of Gender Justice League. “When politicians and wealthy ideologues try to bully kids out of public life—out of classrooms, sports teams, and our community—we meet them with organization, love, and a relentless defense of your right to exist. That’s why Gender Justice League has contributed $100,000 this year to Washington Families for Freedom—because Washington will not be used as a testing ground for dehumanization.”
WFF is organizing to defeat IL26-001 and IL26-638, two initiative efforts that target student rights and protections—part of a broader wave of attacks that attempt to push transgender youth out of school communities and restrict fair participation in youth sports. GJL’s contribution represents one of the campaign’s most substantial grassroots investments to date—powered by working-class community members, not mega-donors.
“There’s a stark contrast here,” Askini continued. “Brian Heywood is a hedge fund multi-millionaire using out-of-state wealth and political machinery to target our kids and community. Gender Justice League is a 12-year-old, Washington-based, grassroots organization supported by more than 2,500 community donors each year. In 2025 alone, we served over 500 survivors of gender-based violence. We know what real safety looks like, and it’s built by communities—not by scapegoating and demonizing children just trying to play with their friends.”
GJL emphasized that the fight over these initiatives is also a fight over fundamental democratic freedoms and civil rights: the right to be free from invasive medical exams, the right to an equal education, the right to freedom of expression, and the basic promise of non-discrimination in schools and sports.
“We will not go backward as a state and subject every girl in Washington to invasive and unnecessary medical exams simply because one hedge-fund multi-millionaire thinks he can score political points,” said Sophia Lee, board member of Gender Justice League. “We have fought hard in Washington State to give every young person, regardless of their race, class, or gender, an equal chance to succeed in school. We won’t allow this one man to use his wealth to bully the few transgender kids brave enough to be their authentic selves in school.”
About Gender Justice League
Gender Justice League is a grassroots civil rights organization working to advance justice and safety for transgender and gender-diverse people through direct services, advocacy, and community-led organizing.
Media Contact:
Kai Aprill-Tomlin, Communications Director
Gender Justice League
press@genderjusticeleague.org | 206-861-9259