October 16, 2025
Gender Justice League has provided crisis response and support services directly to survivors of gender-based violence and assault for over a decade. Grounded in care for survivors, our work strives to secure safety and justice for Trans communities throughout Washington State.
Trans people, in particular, know all too well the realities of violence. We are far more likely to be the targets of violence and harassment than the perpetrators of it. Over the past several years, in particular, Washington has seen a dramatic rise in hate crimes against Trans people¹ with the number of reported anti-Trans hate crimes in the state nearly doubling between 2020 and 2025². In the last six months alone, there have been numerous stories of recent anti-Trans attacks³, not to mention attacks in previous years⁴ or those that go unreported.
The baseless insinuation by Brian Heywood of Let’s Go Washington that Gender Justice League or our partners in Washington Families for Freedom⁵ have any connection to recent attacks on signature gatherers is offensive and dangerous. These kinds of unfounded claims further fuel hostility toward already marginalized communities and toward those exercising their constitutional rights to organize and speak freely.
Gender Justice League unequivocally condemns any violence against anyone exercising their First Amendment right to gather petition signatures. We also affirm that ‘decline to sign’ campaigns are themselves constitutionally protected free speech. Such campaigns—which have been used in Washington many times before, including against Heywood’s first set of initiatives in 2023—educate voters about the potential harm of a ballot measure and invite them to refuse to sign peacefully and respectfully.
The Washington Families for Freedom campaign’s ‘decline to sign’ efforts will be conducted in that spirit: peacefully, from a distance, and without direct engagement with signature gatherers. We urge supporters to avoid confrontation with signature gatherers, to keep interactions nonviolent and non-disruptive, and to respect everyone’s right to participate safely in democracy.
Gender Justice League remains committed to advancing safety, dignity, and justice for all—and we reject any attempt to distort that mission for political gain.
¹ U.S. Department of Justice, “Washington,” Hate Crimes — State Data, last modified February 3, 2025, https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/state-data/washington.
² Seattle Police Department, “Bias/Hate Crime Data,” Bias Crime Dashboard, Seattle.gov, accessed October 15, 2025, https://www.seattle.gov/police/information-and-data/data/bias-crime-unit/bias-crime-dashboard
³ The Stranger, “Seattle Area Trans Women Are Being Attacked by Groups of Men,” The Stranger, September 23, 2025, https://www.thestranger.com/news/2025/09/23/80249464/seattle-area-trans-women-are-being-attacked-by-groups-of-men; The Guardian, “Four people arrested in Washington after alleged hate crime attack on trans woman,” The Guardian, September 20, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/20/four-arrested-washington-state-hate-crime-trans-woman; KUOW, “Victim of alleged transgender hate crime ‘distraught’ at news of second attack,” KUOW, April 2, 2025, https://www.kuow.org/stories/victim-of-alleged-transgender-hate-crime-distraught-at-news-of-second-attack.
⁴ U.S. Department of Justice, “Washington Man Sentenced for Hate Crime Targeting LGBTQI+ Community at Seattle Nightclub,” Office of Public Affairs, October 3, 2023, archived, https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/washington-man-sentenced-hate-crime-targeting-lgbtqi-community-seattle-nightclub