04/03/2026
In 2023, state legislatures across the country
introduced and passed repressive legislation in a wave of nationwide transphobia. This led to a mass displacement of trans people to Minnesota, a supposed trans refuge and the number one destination for trans people to relocate to within the United States.
However, the Trans Refuge Bill endorsed by Tim Walz and passed in 2023 does not provide any housing, financial assistance, or any other resources to support the ever growing Trans communities in Minnesota, who now make up 1% of the state’s population. This has led to many new transplants to the state finding themselves impoverished, unhoused, and ultimately unwelcomed. The state and local government has also failed to secure our safety and wellbeing, most notably in 2024, with the attacks against two trans women at the Warehouse District Light Rail stop, a block away from a police station. After the attack, the MPD officers arrived on the scene, only to then mock the victims. Minneapolis failed to protect Ra’Lasia Wright, a Black and Latina trans woman who was killed in front of her very own home in December of the same year, and the countless other Black, Brown, and Indigenous trans people who have faced violence simply because they chose to live their lives the way they wanted to.
In recent months, red states have only increased their
repression of our communities, beginning with SB 244 in Kansas, which invalidated the ID’s of every trans person with a corrected gender marker and laid the legal groundwork for bounty hunters to target trans people for the crime of using a public restroom. In the month since SB 244, even worse legislation has been introduced, with HB 754 in Tennessee creating a public list of all trans people’s medical records, and Idaho passing HB 752, the most oppressive bathroom ban in the country, threatening trans people with a 5 year prison sentence for a second offense and a life sentence for fourth offense.
In light of these attacks, organizers in the Twin Cities
have formed Communities Against Transphobia, aiming to build a network of resources to better support incoming transplants and newcomers to the region where the state and local governments have failed to do so. We have begun reaching out and connecting with local trans and q***r led organizations in both Minnesota and Kansas, and networking with other relocation efforts across the country to support our trans siblings in their time of need. Whether people decide to stay in their home states or to relocate to Minnesota,
CAT is here to support them.
