Dear friends and neighbors,

At a time when the Trump administration and many other states are targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Washington is fighting back. We want our state to continue to be a safe place for all people.  In the 2026 legislative session, we worked to improve life for our state’s LGBTQ+ community. As the senior member of our Legislature’s LGBTQ+ Caucus, I work with my colleagues each session to prioritize legislation that will advance fair and equal civil rights protections for everyone.

I sponsored and passed SB 6081 this year to prevent the Department of Licensing and the Department of Health from disclosing records about sex designation changes. This change will provide critical privacy for information in both driver’s licenses and birth records. In other states, we are seeing trans people told their driver’s licenses are now invalid. The legislation will protect trans folks here in Washington who are stalked, harassed, or forced to change how they live because their personal information is made public. This bill will build upon legislation I sponsored and passed in 2023 to allow gender expression and identity as reasons to seal name changes from public disclosure. You can watch my floor remarks on the bill here.

Other key bills passed this session to protect the health and privacy of the LGBTQ+ community include:

  • SB 6183, which ensures that health plans cover HIV antiviral drugs without requiring restrictive utilization management protocols like prior authorization or step therapy. The legislation will increase access to early treatment to prevent disease progression and reduce transmission.
  • HB 1604, which provides parameters for conducting searches of transgender and intersex individuals confined in a local jail in compliance with federal law. It will allow individuals to express a preference for the gender of the staff conducting their search or to request a medical professional.

Protecting LGBTQ+ youth

In 2018, I was proud to help lead efforts to ban so-called “conversion therapy” in Washington state. The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision putting the free speech rights of people who perform “conversion therapy” on queer youth above the rights and safety of queer youth is shocking. The practice endangers the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth and leads to increased rates of depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness and suicide. Our Attorney General is reviewing the decision in anticipation of further litigation. We are already planning steps we can take in 2027 to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ Washingtonians and the progress we have made here in Washington.

Cal Anderson Memorial

Last year I helped secure funding to build a permanent memorial on the Capitol Campus in Olympia to honor Senator Cal Anderson, who represented our 43rd Legislative District. Capitol Hill’s central park was named in his honor in 2003 and soon our Capitol will have a permanent tribute to our state’s first openly gay legislator, honoring his work to advance LGBTQ+ rights in the face of bigotry and harassment.

I’m excited to report that the design and planning work is nearly complete and construction will begin later this year. The memorial is scheduled to be completed in early 2027 with a ribbon cutting scheduled in June 2027.

New resource for LGBTQ+ community

In 2019, I was proud to co-sponsor and vote for legislation establishing the state’s LGBTQ Commission. The commission works to identify the needs of the LGBTQ+ community and ensure there is opportunity in state government for advocacy for those needs and for LGBTQ+ equity. The commission recently launched the Washington State Rainbow Resource Hub to help the people find the support they need with a consolidated list of resources, tools and information.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter. If you missed my newsletters on the Millionaires Tax, affordable housing, or efforts to protect Washington from the Trump administration, they are available on my website. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions at Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov.

Best wishes,

Jamie