The Lavender Rights Project and ANEW have the privilege of welcoming a variety of organizations to our collaborative community event, Town Hall Meeting: LGBTQ+ in the Trades on Saturday, July 14.

Each organization will share information about the services and resources they can offer to LGBTQ+ folks in the trades before a community discussion around pertinent issues and possible strategies of action for the protection of and advocacy for non-traditional blue-collar workers.

Learn more about each organization below:

Fair Work Center

Fair Work Center serves as a hub for workers to understand and exercise their legal rights, improve working conditions and connect with community resources.

Fair Work Center supports the community by:

• Providing resources outlining employee rights in various languages;
• Conducting know your rights and workplace health & safety workshops in various languages;
• Helping workers navigate city, state, and federal government agencies; and
• Providing free legal clinics for workers to seek advice about potential workplace violations.

You can find information about your rights, legal clinics, and how to contact the organization for a consultation on their website.

Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA)

GSBA, the largest LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce in North America, represents over 1,300 small business, corporate, and nonprofit members who share the values of promoting equality and diversity in the workplace. GSBA supports the community through four pillars: Business, Community, Advocacy, and Philanthropy. 

Explore events happening in the area on GSBA's Calendar, which includes both community events and GSBA events, which are open to the public (but sometimes have participation fees). You can also learn more about the benefits of becoming a member and how to do so.

Ingersoll Gender Center

Ingersoll Gender Center, officially formed in 1977, is one of the oldest organizations by and for transgender and gender nonconforming communities in the US. Ingersoll provides support and resources in the following ways/areas:

• Peer Support Group
• Economic Justice
• Healthcare Access

• Community Financial Assistance
• Training and Technical Assistance

You can also find information about your rights in housing and employment, healthcare access, amending IDs, police interactions and incarceration, and immigration; browse their gender affirming healthcare provider database; and learn about becoming a volunteer support group facilitator if you'd like to get involved.

Pride at Work

Pride at Work is a national organization representing LGBTQ+ union members and their allies, highlighting issues such as:

• Transgender working people
• Bathroom access
• Religious exemptions

• Workplace discrimination
• Contract negotiation rights
• LGBTQ-inclusive contracts & policies

Learn more about their mission, staff, how to get involved, and more at www.prideatwork.org

Labor Archives of Washington

The Labor Archives of Washington (LAW) serves the labor movement by collecting, preserving, and making accessible records of working people in the Pacific Northwest. As is stated on LAW's website, their "collections document the intersection between labor unions and social justice, civil rights, and political organizations that feature a labor relations or labor rights dimension as part of their focus."

You can explore various digital collections such as the Seattle General Strike of 1919 and Its Aftermath; browse interviews and documents in the SeaTac-Seattle Minimum Wage History Project and Oral History Portal; visit archived union websites; and more.

Connect with representatives from each of these organizations, network with LGBTQ+ folks in the trades, and connect with community members invested in creating positive change for non-traditional workers at our town hall this Saturday.

This town hall serves as the kick-off event for the Reckoning Trade Project, an initiative that aims to train, educate, and retain non-traditional blue-collar workers from a community-based framework that addresses intersections of oppression from a legal, systemic, and historical approach focusing on women, transgender, and gender non-conforming people.

Check our Calendar for more Reckoning Trade Project events in the future and Contact us with any questions or concerns.