Lansing-Area Lawmakers Discuss Future Priorities, Emphasize Community Support In LGBTQ+ Town Hall

Michigan Advance

October 23, 2025

In a town hall on LGBTQ+ issues hosted by the “Capital Caucus,” a group of state legislators who represent the area around Lansing, legislators seemed focused on their future legislative priorities — priorities that many acknowledged might only be passed if Democrats regain a trifecta. The town hall was hosted Wednesday night at the Central United Methodist Church in downtown Lansing.

“We try to do what we can and show up where we can. And that may not mean passing a lot of legislation right now, but we sure as hell will be building the case for it,” Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) said. “So as soon as we have the gavel back, we can just start to touch that domino and knock things over, because we need to hold on to the progress that we’ve made.”

Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Okemos) acknowledged the power of still having a Democratic governor, attorney general and state Senate, especially in responding to federal attacks on access to gender-affirming care.

However, in terms of passing legislation, she expressed similar sentiments to Dievendorf, saying, “I like to view it as a brief holding period for this two year period that we’re in until we can again march forward and move forward in the next cycle when we get our Democratic majority back.”

Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing) presents an opening statement during the Capital Caucus LGBTQ+ town hall. Oct. 22. | Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance.

Others did highlight more recent legislative victories, including the removal of anti-LBGTQ+ language from the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, as Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) emphasized.

“Some bills are attacking the LGBT community, the trans community, and a lot of the bills, again, they are unenforceable, but they still are an attack on this community, and we can’t let that stand,” Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) continued.

But while many questions — submitted in advance by attendees and presented by Michigan State doctoral student Sterling Bentley — centered on responding to the Trump administration’s policies rolling back access to gender-affirming care and misinformation about the LGBTQ+ community, many panelists emphasized the need for community engagement and care in response to that.

“One of the ways that we can combat misinformation that is out there about those of us who identify as queer and trans people is that we have to do the work around supporting our young people,” Jarred Daniels, an implementation specialist at the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health, said.

“I think by raising awareness around these issues, and making sure that our young people have access to sexual health education is going to do so much in the impact of combating misinformation,” Daniels continued.

And Lilianna Angel Reyes, the Health Equity and Outreach Director at the Ruth Ellis Center in the Detroit area, emphasized that folks with access to education — both formal and informal education — should work to support those without it.

The crowd listens to lawmakers and advocates at the Capital Caucus LGBTQ+ Town Hall. Oct. 22. | Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance.

“Cohesion and access to other people and resources increase education access,” she said.

Later going on to recount her own story as a transgender woman who began transitioning in the early 2000s, Reyes added, “We came from a place that was very, very, very dark, and so I don’t think that we should even fathom that we could go back.”

“I think we will do better when we have more voices that reflect our community, and we’ve definitely had that since Rep. Dievendorf came to the legislature,” added Rep. Kara Hope (D-Holt).

But Amber Moe-Olds, director of movement building at Equality Michigan, shared a somber reminder of what is at stake, calling transgender people the “canary in the coal mine right now for civil rights.”

“The administration is testing how far they can go and what they can get away with using the transgender community right now. And so if we sit silent and we let this happen, we are complicit in losing every other right along the way,” she said.

A point of disagreement came between Dievendorf and Brixie near the end of the panel, in response to labor organizer Bridget McConaughy’s question on how to respond, or not respond, to GOP attacks on trans people.

Brixie told those in the room not to “take the bait” of having to respond to each attack, attacks that have no legislative potential to pass.

“It’s easier to take a strategic move of saying we as a caucus are not going to give oxygen to the Republicans’ twentieth hate filled resolution that they pass,” she said. “If we recognize that what they’re doing is just pushing our buttons, and if we don’t react, then it’s not going to be on the news.”

Groups, including the Salus Center, Rooted Counseling and DeWitt Pride all presented information to attendees at the Capitol Caucus LGBTQ+ Town Hall. Oct. 22. | Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance.

Dievendorf, however, pushed back strongly against this. As the only non-binary member of the legislature, they said, “even when the attacks on us are not in the news, they don’t go away for us.”

“As long as that bill is being introduced, we may not be talking about it, but other folks are,” they continued, referencing the threats that their own office has faced. “That is our opportunity to get in front of the misinformation, correct the lies, and also build community among ourselves, because the attacks were disregarded.”

As the panel came to an end, Daniels added in response to fears about conversion therapy bans being overturned, “Community will be the thing that saves us, no matter when the law is too slow, when justice cannot be found, we will have us. We will save us.”

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