What a wild ride the first four weeks of the legislative session has been. My initial takeaways are that the system is not made so that the working person can easily participate in these proceedings. Things move at lightning pace: if there is a bill you care about, you may only have a couple days notice to try and get off work and spend hours or possibly your whole day driving and then waiting to give your three minute testimony. (Get our action alerts or follow us on social media, as we try and keep you updated to important bills to help ease the chaos!)
My heart is also heavy as I write this, as two bills infringing on LGBTQ+ rights (my rights) have passed their initial hearing, with a third waiting for assignment. It feels hard to write about things that I have not fully had a chance to process.
I spent last Friday waiting hours on zoom to testify against SB 99, which would prohibit minors from receiving gender-affirming care, and penalize people like teachers if they respect their preferred name and pronouns. It was beautiful to watch person after person share Trans joy, gender euphoria, and remind us that no matter what a few people try to impose on us, we are resilient and powerful. There is also a possibility of these bills being defeated on the Senate floor, and many groups have sprung up to organize around this; so though things seem dark, I want to offer you hope.