Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul. Courtesy photo.
Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, made history in 2022 when she was elected to the Minnesota Legislature as the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker. Finke was instrumental as Democrats passed her bill to make Minnesota a trans refuge state, including key protections for trans Minnesotans and their ability to access gender-affirming care.
Finke — who was named USA Today’s 2023 woman of the year for Minnesota — was beloved by grassroots Democrats and considered a rising star in the DFL Party.
Now just two years later, Finke walks the halls of the Capitol knowing the tide has turned against her, underscoring the fragility of trans rights even in relatively progressive Minnesota.
Minnesota Republicans, no doubt emboldened by 2024 election results and anti-trans rhetoric and executive orders coming out of the Trump administration, have moved to pare back the rights of trans Minnesotans.
The attacks on Finke are at times deeply personal. First-term state Rep. Drew Roach, R-Farmington, misgendered and criticized Finke with an offensive remark for not showing up on the first day House Democrats returned to the chamber last month after their weeks-long boycott. Finke was moving her partner into Minnesota and couldn’t attend the session.
Nor is opposition only coming from Republicans. Some Democrats have grown weary and wary of defending positions like allowing trans women to play school sports, when an overwhelming majority of Americans side with Republicans on the issue. A January New York Times poll found that 94% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats believed transgender women should not compete in women’s sports.
House Democrats removed Finke from public safety committee
In the middle of the House Democrats’ weeks-long boycott of the Capitol last month, a group of protesters led by a transgender activist disrupted a Republican House public safety committee hearing, with protesters shouting obscenities and calling lawmakers names.
“You don’t get to sit here and move in silence and smirk and act like a f**king smug a**hole when you don’t have quorum … I’m done with it,” activist Amber Muhm told the Republican members of the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.
Republicans blamed Finke for encouraging the aggressive behavior on social media, a charge she rejects. Finke promoted a post the morning of the protest, encouraging people to attend a protest outside the Capitol to object to the Republican-only hearings, but she said she didn’t support the disruption inside the committee room.
After the committee disruption, now-House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, on social media said “there will be accountability for the criminal extremists and the no-show Democrat legislators who instigated what we saw today.”
Prior to the weeks-long battle over control of the House, Finke had been assigned by the DFL caucus to the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee. When a power-sharing agreement was announced earlier this month, however, Finke was no longer on the public safety committee. It had been a key priority for her because she represents a troubled Midway neighborhood that’s seen an increase in drug-related crime.
“I was assigned, at my request, to the public safety committee, and — as I understand it — at the request of Republican leadership I was pulled off of that committee,” Finke said.
Finke, who is in her second term, said she wasn’t part of negotiations but believes Republicans blamed her for the committee disruption and asked that she be removed from the public safety committee because of it. Finke said House DFL caucus leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, told her as part of the power-sharing agreement, she was being reassigned.
“We had to get back into session, so we had to do what we had to do, but it was a real disappointment,” Finke said.
A Republican House spokesperson said the caucuses made their own decisions about committee membership and declined to comment further.
When asked if Hortman agreed to unseat Finke from the public safety committee, a DFL caucus spokesperson said, “Committee assignments are always subject to change.”
Finke said she’ll stay engaged on public safety issues, in part because she feels a special responsibility to the trans community, which has become more vulnerable in just the past two years.
“A lot of what keeps our vulnerable communities safe happens in that committee, and I think it’s important to have trans people on it.”
Rep. Brion Curran, DFL-White Bear Lake — who uses she/they pronouns — was supposed to be on the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee. After the power-sharing agreement was finalized, leadership told Curran they would be swapping places with Finke — Curran was now on public safety, and Finke the environment committee.
“If the Republican members of the public safety committee in the House had an issue with a trans member being on their committee, they should have been more careful about asking for a replacement,” said Curran, who is another queer House member. “It’s a very personal attack on our only trans woman elected in the state of Minnesota. I don’t know what else to call it.”
A less-welcoming Capitol for LGBTQ lawmakers
Minnesota House Republicans are using their temporary majority — a March 11 special election is expected to bring the lower chamber back to a tie — to hear a slew of anti-trans legislation.
Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, introduced legislation stating only females at birth can participate in girls sports teams. Conservative activist Riley Gaines will rally at the Capitol Monday in support of the bill.
Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, introduced a bill banning transgender inmates from the state’s only women prison. Minnesota Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Snell testified Tuesday that there are currently three trans women in the prison.
Rep. Mike Wiener, R-Long Prairie, introduced a bill making the “castration or sterilization of minors” a felony.
None of these bills will pass the House; 68 votes are needed, and Republicans only have 67 members.
Curran, who is chair of the Minnesota Queer Legislators Caucus, said anti-trans people feel empowered at the State Capitol thanks to President Trump, who’s already signed anti-trans executive orders, including declaring that the federal government would only recognize two genders.
Rep. Liish Kozlowski, DFL-Duluth, said that no matter what Republicans do or say, LGBTQ Minnesotans and lawmakers will keep fighting back.
“To our GOP colleagues who want to punch us down — we punch above our weight and we’re not going anywhere,” said Kozlowski, who uses they/them pronouns and is the Legislature’s only two-spirit member. “We are going to stand together and protect each other, including at the Capitol.”
Finke said the Capitol feels less welcoming than two years ago: “The atmosphere is much more deflated, much more difficult. The mood feels different.”