Welcome to The Newsfeed.

In 2025 alone, over 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced throughout the country.

That's led to an influx of trans people fleeing their home states for Seattle.

Many advocates say it's a crisis, including Seattle's LGBTQ Commission, which recently asked the mayor to declare a state of emergency.

Here's multimedia journalist Jaelynn Grisso with the story.

- Elle Cree moved to Seattle from Arkansas after she was notified her gender-affirming surgeries were canceled.

- They canceled everything.

And they said, we are no longer going to honor that.

And they they cited the 2024 elections in that conversation.

They said, "We no longer feel that the nation is going in a direction that allows for these kind of things to take place."

After facing continuous harassment, Cree says that was the final straw.

She had decided she was going to end her life.

That is, until she received a call from a local organization working to relocate trans folks.

I was truly at the end.

I had I had decided that I didn't need to continue.

And so it was very, very fortunate that I had that phone call that day.

Cree is one of many trans people fleeing hostile environments to places like Seattle.

Estimates put the number of trans refugees nationwide in the hundreds of thousands.

The increased influx led Seattle's LGBTQ commission to ask the mayor to declare a state of emergency.

- Very quickly, we started to have community partners come to us, to our commission meetings, to our community meetings and tell us that they were seeing a very large increase, in, clients, trans clients who were coming here and seeking refuge and asylum.

- We've been hearing and seeing thousands of people coming to Washington state, probably to Seattle, Washington, for those kinds of resources, Among those community partners is Gender Justice League.

with the influx is the stark reality is that, you know, as much as a thing exists, doesn't necessarily mean it will happen.

But, yes, we might have public housing, but how long is the wait list or yes, you know, we may have shelter, but are the shelters accessible for trans people?

Commissioner Allen said the state of emergency could help provide more funding to community organizations, some of which had said they're at risk of closing altogether.

- This is going to become much more of a crisis.

And without extra funding, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that that lives are on the line here.

Many of those I spoke with made it clear that although Seattle is a safer place for trans folks, that doesn't mean it is safe entirely.

In May, a trans person from Santa Fe named Juniper Blessing was killed in the University District.

Cree understands both the safety and the threats within Seattle well.

For her, declaring a state of emergency only validates what she's already seeing.

It's saying what is obvious.

It's saying the quiet parts out loud.

There is an emergency going on.

Just come out here on Wednesday night and see.

People are starving.

People have no homes.

People have no jobs.

This is the reality.

So whether the the emergency is actually declared all's its doing is is validating what we already have going on.

So it is this wonderful city of opportunity and at the same time, it's a wonderful city of barriers.

And these barriers need to be removed.

And we do need help.

We need help to survive.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching.

To see our stories on of LGBTQ pride and resilience, visit CascadePBS.org/TheNewsfeed