Newly elected, WA’s first openly transgender legislator ready to ‘stand on business’

When Jaelynn Scott arrives in Olympia in January, she doesn’t want to be labeled a one-note legislator. 

Elected by voters last week, Scott will be Washington’s first openly transgender state lawmaker, and the first Black transgender legislator in the nation. But she doesn’t want to be seen as only focused on LGBTQ+ rights.

Scott, who will also be one of two members of the Democratic Socialists of America in the Legislature, wants to be a leader on tax reform, housing policy and criminal justice reform.

“I’m going to stand firmly and stand on business for (the) LGBTQ community and trans rights, but we’re going to be talking about the agenda for working people and the poor,” she said in an interview this week. “I think it will be challenging to resist from whatever, whichever, directions the tokenizing of me as a trans woman and trans elected, but I’m doggedly committed to this agenda for working people.”

Scott, who leads the Black trans advocacy organization the Lavender Rights Project, is sailing into office with more than 87% of the vote in the 37th Legislative District, which covers diverse south Seattle communities like Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley, Columbia City and the Central District.

She’s one of six transgender and nonbinary legislators elected this month who will make history as their state’s firsts. 

“It is very important and powerful that we have a representative in Jaelynn Scott,” said Vanessa Clifford, of the Working Families Party. “And not only is that great for Washington, but I think that’s important to show to the rest of the country.”

Election night was emotional for Scott, 49, not just because of her trailblazing victory but because of the success of a conservative-backed ballot measure to stop transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports. She figures people who voted for her must’ve also voted for Initiative 638, which she sees as bringing about “legalized segregation,” though it faces a legal challenge filed this week to stop it from taking effect.

She hopes the lawsuit will be successful. She’s reminded of the role the legal system played during the civil rights movement; Scott is originally from the South. 

“I’m very hopeful that at least the law will find balance and give us time and room to actually have a cultural conversation about what type of Washington we want to live in,” she said. 

“Do we want a commonwealth where all of our children feel welcome and loved, and can just have fun with their friends, or do we want to build a society where we use the law to bully a handful of kids out of playing sports?” she continued.

Scott said she had it “slightly” easier than other transgender candidates in terms of death threats and harassment — especially since she doesn’t read social media comments. 

After the August primary, Scott said she felt being the first was a “heavy burden.” Now she feels differently. It’s “a privilege that is not afforded to a lot of people like me,” Scott said.

“It’s not feeling heavy,” Scott added. “I’m feeling very well supported, and I’m excited about the opportunity of bringing the entire community’s needs forward, and the power of having Black women in office, and trans women in office, and representation in office that understands the urgency of this moment and the critical crises that our communities are in.”

She’ll join a Democratic caucus that will have a supermajority for the first time in decades, potentially allowing transformational changes to state law. Scott hopes the growing majority will help the Legislature deliver on her goals, such as reducing recent cuts to childcare funding.

“We’ll have no excuses if in the end we are passing down an austerity budget with serious cuts that threaten the social safety net for communities,” she said. “I think the supermajority is a mandate not to do business as usual.”

Scott is part of a triumvirate of new representation in the 37th. Rep. Chipalo Street is moving to the Senate to replace Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, who won election to a seat on the Metropolitan King County Council. Educator Kelabe Tewolde, a progressive Democrat, defeated Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, the House’s longest-serving active member. He’ll serve in the House alongside Scott.

Tewolde said he “couldn’t be luckier to have a seatmate like Jaelynn.”