Building Collective Power
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How we build power:
Learning together (education)
Changing the rules (advocacy)
Getting ourselves organized (organizing)
Building collective power (leadership development)
Our Work
Civic Engagement
Economic Justice
Housing Justice
Gender Justice
Community Data
Civic Engagement
Advocacy for Policy and Systems
LGBTQIA+ people face homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, and social isolation. Many in our community are doubly or triply impacted by racism, displacement, lack of stable housing or employment, healthcare discrimination and other issues that lead to long-lasting healthcare, housing, and well-being inequities.
We work with community partners, leaders, and elected officials to effectively build power and pass policies that advance economic opportunities for LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC community members.
Civic Engagement Cohort
In 2025, QPA launched the Civic Leadership Cohort to cultivate LGBTQIA+ grassroots leaders from underrepresented communities. We recruited eight members and provided stipends to ensure accessibility and equity. From August to December, participants completed four bi-weekly training sessions covering eight topics: queer movement history, government systems, policy tools, organizing, testimony, media strategy, and voter engagement, supported by guest experts and community partners.
The cohort applied their skills through hands-on civic engagement, including voter registration and educational outreach. The program concluded with a community graduation where fellows shared their leadership journeys and were connected to continued opportunities across QPA and allied organizations.
The cohort strengthened the region’s civic infrastructure, expanded the pipeline of LGBTQIA+ leaders, and built a foundation for long-term advocacy in housing justice, LGBTQIA+ protections, and economic equity.
Legislative Priorities
2026 Legislative Priorities
Trans & Queer Liberation
Housing Justice
Worker Rights & Economic Justice
Democracy & Civic Power
Surveillance & Privacy
Legislation We’re Tracking
Trans Rights in Washington
Past Legislative Efforts
2025
2024
Economic Justice
LGBTQIA+ people deserve dignity at work
Queer Power Alliance works to change economic policies, build leadership and expand the collective power of LGBTQIA+ workers both in the workplace and across our broader economy.
LGBTQIA+ low-income and working-class workers face systemic barriers rooted in gender identity, sexual orientation, race , disability, age, and class. Too many queer and trans people are denied fair treatment, job security, and wages that meet the cost of living. We believe LGBTQIA+ workers deserve dignity, safety, and a living wage.
Our Economic Justice program exists because our lives as queer and trans people cannot be separated from our realities as workers. We stand in solidarity with all workers and laborers, and we organize to ensure that LGBTQIA+ people have the tools, knowledge, and collective power to advocate for themselves and one another.
Through education, leadership development, and worker-led organizing, we provide spaces for LGBTQIA+ workers to learn their rights, build community, and push for just and equitable labor practices.
Strippers are Workers (SAW) - L&I Advocacy
We advanced worker-led economic justice through our Strippers Are Workers (SAW) L&I project, launching a Dancer Committee that is developing Know Your Rights materials and completing the full production of 9 micro-learning safety and labor education videos. Thanks to the generosity of Trial and Error Productions, which provided videography pro bono, we reinvested funds back into the community by increasing stipends for dancers and community leaders. We remain on track to deliver Washington’s first comprehensive, dancer-led safety and labor education tools, created with, for, and by sex workers.
SAW Workers Rights Education
In 2025 SAW advanced dancer-led organizing, legal advocacy, and community care. We filed an L&I wage theft appeal, expanded outreach through multiple events, and deepened worker organizing inside clubs and across the broader sex work community. SAW supported dancers through new and ongoing L&I claims, mobilized partners to stop harmful legislation, and launched mutual aid efforts to meet the community's urgent needs. This powerful worker-led movement continues to build safety, rights, and dignity for dancers and sex workers across Washington.