Speaking Truth. Naming Harm. Holding Space.
At Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS), we believe that silence is complicity. When our community is grieving, under attack, or demanding justice, we speak — not just for visibility, but for accountability, clarity, and care.
Our Community Statements exist to:
- Name the harm when violence, injustice, or systemic failures occur
- Stand in solidarity with those most impacted — especially when institutions refuse to
- Clarify our values and position, so our community knows exactly where we stand
- Offer resources, context, and response options when crisis hits
We keep our statements public and visible because our community deserves transparency. These are not press releases. They are part of a living archive — a record of where we were, what we believed, and how we responded in moments that mattered.
Whether it’s a vigil, a protest, a policy shift, or a public tragedy, our statements are a promise:
We will not look away. We will not stay silent. And we will always name what needs to be named.
Public Statement: ALPR Deployment in Redmond and Redmond Pride Safety
August 18, 2025
The Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS) and our event safety program, SOOP (Securing Our Own People), are aware that the City of Redmond recently implemented Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology in public areas. We have been in direct communication with Pride Across the Bridge (PAB) about this development, given its potential impact on Redmond Pride and on the marginalized communities we serve.
Since we became aware of the rollout last week, DAPS/SOOP has been actively working to gather information. We have sent formal inquiries to City officials and the Redmond Police Department and are coordinating with PAB, their community partners, and legal advisors to understand how this program was implemented, whether it complied with Washington State law, and how it may affect community members attending major events in Redmond.
We want to be clear: we remain fully committed to supporting and securing Redmond Pride 2025. Our focus is on ensuring that everyone — attendees, vendors, performers, and volunteers — has the information they need to make safe travel and participation choices.
We will continue to share updates as our inquiries progress. In the meantime, SOOP will remain in close coordination with PAB and other partners to uphold our shared commitment to safety, equity, and community celebration.
Public Statement: Armed Escalation and Accountability After the 50501 Rally Shooting
June 18, 2025
On June 14, at the “No Kings” rally in Salt Lake City—organized by the Utah chapter of the 50501 movement—an armed volunteer identified as a “peacekeeper” opened fire at a man allegedly carrying an AR‑15-style rifle. The intended target was seriously injured. But in the process, Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, a beloved fashion designer and queer community member, was fatally struck as a bystander.
He was not the threat.
He was not a participant in the confrontation.
And now he is gone.
As a community-led security organization, we know exactly why movements like 50501 exist.
We do not simply “recognize” the importance of community safety—our organization was founded on it.
We exist to protect our people from police brutality, state violence, and political repression.
But if our efforts are reckless, uncoordinated, and unsafe—then we are no better than the police we are protesting.
Carrying a weapon is serious. Firing into a crowd is not a calculated risk—it is dangerous, it is reckless, and it took a life.
The individual who fired was reportedly military-trained and chosen as part of the event’s safety team. They were labeled a “peacekeeper,” yet acted in direct contradiction to 50501’s own public-facing protocols.
According to Streetwise & Steady: A Workbook for Action Peacekeepers or Event Marshals, peacekeepers are:
- Not expected to confront or disarm armed individuals
- Advised to maintain calm, create distance, and evacuate crowds when a weapon is present
- Trained to observe, coordinate, and de-escalate—not escalate
- Instructed to prioritize safety, not intervention
- Reminded that drawing attention to a gun should focus on moving people away—not moving toward the person with it
The document explicitly states that in most situations, the correct response is to move people to safety, avoid sudden movement, and de-escalate without provocation or aggression.
This was not a misunderstanding of protocol.
This was a full deviation from it.
Labeling someone a “peacekeeper” while authorizing or allowing them to carry a weapon into a crowd—without clearly defined authority, coordination, or restraint—is not safety. It is chaos waiting to happen.
We demand:
- A transparent, independent investigation into the use of deadly force
- A public accounting and full review of armed roles at all future 50501-led and affiliated actions
- The strict separation of armed security and de-escalation teams—in language, training, gear, and responsibilities
We believe in protecting our people.
We believe in community-led safety.
But we do not believe in losing lives to preventable harm.
Arthur Folasa Ah Loo should still be alive.
And if the shooter had followed the very protocol they were trained under—he might be.
Community defense is only meaningful when it’s rooted in accountability, discipline, and care. Anything else puts our people at risk.
-Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound & SOOP Directors
Public Statement: SCOTUS Has Sacrificed Trans Youth
June 18, 2025
This week, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth to go into effect in over half the country.
Let us be absolutely clear:
This is not a delay. This is a death sentence for some of our most vulnerable youth.
By refusing to block these bans, SCOTUS chose violence. They chose to let states criminalize medical care, punish parents, and abandon trans kids to fear and suffering.
This did not happen in a vacuum.
This is the direct result of Donald Trump, whose presidency lit the match.
Under Trump:
- Trans students were stripped of Title IX protections
- Trans healthcare was gutted in HHS guidelines
- A trans military ban was reinstated
- SCOTUS was stacked with justices hostile to LGBTQIA+ rights
- Over 300 anti-trans bills flooded state legislatures in his wake
- At least 20 states passed bans on gender-affirming care between 2021 and 2023 alone
These weren’t isolated policies.
They were a political strategy.
And the consequences are deadly:
- 86% of trans or nonbinary youth say recent political attacks have hurt their mental health
- 54% of trans youth in banned states have seriously considered suicide in the past year
- 1 in 4 now fear being forcibly removed from supportive parents
(Source: The Trevor Project, 2023–2024)
This is not about disagreement.
This is about death.
SCOTUS, Trump, this Republican agenda—they are sacrificing children.
To appease extremists. To hold political power. To erase queer lives.
And now, children in more than 25 states will lose access to the only care proven to reduce suicide risk among trans youth.
Parents will be criminalized.
Doctors will be driven out.
Young people will die.
This is genocide in slow motion—legally permitted, politically celebrated.
At DAPS, we do not recognize rulings that target children for who they are.
We do not respect courts that enable state violence.
And we will never accept a system that lets trans youth be collateral damage.
We demand:
- Immediate federal protections for gender-affirming care
- Legal sanctuary and emergency resources for trans youth and families in every safe state
- An end to the judicial and legislative war on queer life
To every trans child and teen reading this:
They are wrong. You are not.
You are worthy of care, safety, and joy.
And we will fight like hell to protect you.
— Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound
LGBTQIA+ led. Community-rooted. Unbought.
Public Statement: Forced Birth of Brain-Dead Missouri Woman Is a Violation of Human Rights
June 18, 2025
Earlier this year, in February, Adriana Smith, a 31-year-old nurse in Georgia, was declared brain-dead while nine weeks pregnant. Her family, who had already said their goodbyes, were told the hospital could not remove her from life support because of Georgia’s “heartbeat” abortion ban, which recognizes fetal personhood as early as six weeks.
For nearly four months, her body remained on life support—not to preserve her own life or per her family’s wishes—but solely to allow the fetus to develop under law.
On June 13, the fetus—a boy named Chance, weighing 1 lb 13 oz—was delivered via emergency cesarean section. Adriana was taken off life support two days later.
This case has been public for weeks. The world knew. Her medical team knew. And still, the state forced her body to stay alive—against nature, ethics, and the wishes of her loved ones.
This is not medicine.
This is not care.
This is state-sanctioned violence.
Let us be absolutely clear:
- Death is final—consent cannot be given by a corpse.
- Keeping a brain-dead woman alive to serve a law is a violation of human dignity.
- This is not compassionate care—it is coercion.
Georgia’s law makes no allowance for brain death. That’s not a loophole. That’s purposeful design.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned:
- Pregnant people have been criminalized for miscarriages
- Patients have been denied life-saving procedures
- Doctors have been arrested for offering standard medical care
- And now—a body was kept alive, against all moral, medical, and familial consent
We at DAPS stand unwavering in defense of bodily autonomy, reproductive justice, and human rights.
We demand:
- Federal protections for medical and end-of-life autonomy
- Immediate repeal of laws that remove personhood from pregnant people
- Legal safeguards ensuring that consent—and humanity—endures even in death
This is not justice.
This is barbarism.
We will not look away.
We will not normalize this.
And we will not rest until no one is forced to gestate against their will—in life or in death.
— Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound
LGBTQIA+ led. Community-rooted. Unbought.
Reflections on the Pride Flag Raising Disruption at the State Capitol
June 5, 2025
Yesterday, at the Washington State Capitol in Olympia—a symbolic center of power for all the communities we serve across Washington—what should have been a moment of Pride and visibility was disrupted.
During the official raising of the Pride flag on Capitol campus, a large formation of Washington State Patrol cadets marched through the assembled crowd, cutting across the ceremony mid-event. The disruption was jarring, unnecessary, and avoidable.
Both the Governor’s team and the Washington State Patrol issued a swift and public apology following the disruption. In our follow-up with Lisa Keating, Executive Director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission, who hosted the event, we were told:
“There was a swift response by the Governor’s team and WSP. WSP did not hesitate to take responsibility and apologize. It also opened up a deeper conversation with the Governor’s team about Pride, the history of police brutality, and the harm that exists today.”
Seattle Gay News, who had reporters present at the flag raising, published a similar account in their coverage.
We appreciate that leadership is taking accountability and engaging in conversation with community. We’re glad those conversations are happening with people on the ground—those who live and breathe this work every day.
At the same time, what happened needs to be addressed.
The disruption may not have been intentional—but it was avoidable. We now know that a plan was in place, developed in advance by the Commission to ensure both events could happen respectfully. But in the moment, that plan wasn’t followed, and WSP cadets marched through a Pride flag-raising ceremony instead of around it. That choice—regardless of scheduling or intent—caused harm.
Real-time awareness matters. Community safety requires more than planning—it requires common sense, presence, and the ability to adapt in the moment.
We’re grateful that WSP and the Governor’s team took accountability and were willing to engage in deeper conversations with community leaders. That is how repair begins. But recognizing harm is not the end of the work—it’s the start of doing better.
Olympia is not just the state capital—it represents all of us. And Pride is not just a celebration—it is a space that must be protected.
We will always show up to hold that space, and to make sure that when harm occurs, it does not go unspoken.
Statement on Seattle’s Pride Flag Raise 5/31
May 31, 2025
This morning, the Mayor of Seattle and members of City Council raised the Pride flag over City Hall—without any public notice, press release, or community invitation.
The only mention of the event was a single Instagram livestream on the Seattle LGBTQ Commission’s account.
It was held on May 31, not during Pride Month, and with no acknowledgement of the violence Seattle inflicted on queer community members just days earlier.
This was not celebration.
This was damage control disguised as visibility.
This was virtue signaling at its finest.
While the flag was going up, the Seattle Police Department posted on all its social media platforms, stating:
“Everyone deserves to feel safe, valued, and celebrated. Pride Month and every day, SPD is committed to collaborating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. We are here for you.”
This, just days after SPD violently arrested 23 queer and allied protesters at Cal Anderson Park—one of Seattle’s most historic LGBTQIA+ spaces.
This, after Seattle Police assaulted our clearly identified trans Medical Director—a licensed provider, visibly marked and offering aid on-site.
This protest took place on the eve of the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder.
It followed a now well-documented pattern: the City of Seattle deploying police to protect fundamentalist hate groups gathering in queer spaces, while criminalizing the community members who oppose them.
This is not new.
Seattle has interfered with LGBTQIA+ events and Pride permitting every single year—most notably and aggressively in 2022.
This city’s pattern of symbolic inclusion and systemic harm is not a coincidence. It’s policy.
Raising a flag—days after attacking queer protesters—does not make you an ally.
Posting about safety while assaulting medics does not make you a protector.
Celebrating Pride while enabling hate in our spaces does not make you part of our community.
This is not solidarity.
This is betrayal.
We call on all LGBTQIA+ organizations, elected officials, and allies:
Do not mistake these gestures for justice.
Do not stand beside those who stand behind our arrests.
Do not lend your presence to pageantry designed to distract from harm.
We do not need rainbow filters and empty words.
We need accountability. We need acknowledgment. We need change.
Pride is not the flag you raise when it’s politically convenient.
Pride is the people you choose to protect—especially when it’s not.
— Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound
LGBTQIA+ led. Community-rooted. Unbought.
Statement on Seattle’s Pattern of Harm
5/25/2025
Earlier this year, the City of Seattle reaffirmed its sanctuary city status—an action that, on its face, should signal safety and solidarity. But yesterday, on the eve of the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, Seattle Police violently arrested at least 23 people at Cal Anderson Park, a historic gathering site for Seattle’s LGBTQIA+ community. The arrests followed counter-protests against a known fundamentalist hate group. The location and timing of these arrests are no coincidence—they are a reminder.
Cal Anderson Park sits at the heart of Capitol Hill, long recognized as Seattle’s LGBTQIA+ neighborhood. It is where Pride was born in this city. It was the site of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) in 2020, when communities rose to demand justice for Black lives and accountability from police. And it is, again, where our people are being met with state violence.
Let us be clear: There is no sanctuary when queer and trans people are criminalized for showing up in defense of each other. There is no safety in a city that pledges inclusion by day and unleashes tear gas, batons, and zip ties by night.
We carry the impact of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests with us. The tear gas, the rubber bullets, the violent dispersals—and the $10 million in lawsuits the City of Seattle was forced to pay to protesters they harmed. At that time, the Chief of Police was Carmen Best, and the Mayor was Jenny Durkan.
DAPS board members—past and present—were there on the front lines. We were gassed on rainbow streets on the first day of Pride. We weren’t just witnesses—we were organizers, medics, protectors. We didn’t just observe history—we helped shape it.
Before that, the city enabled violence against trans and queer protestors at the SPL WOLF protest in 2019. In 2022, as Pride returned in person, we encountered interference, delays, and roadblocks from city departments during permitting. These aren’t isolated incidents. This is a pattern.
And this is why we have never worked directly with the City of Seattle. Not once. We do not work with institutions that harm us. We do not accept partnerships that come with brutality. And we call on those who have partnered with the City—especially on this year’s sanctuary city resolution—to recognize your responsibility now. If you helped call this government in, then it is your job to hold it accountable. We ask you to do that. Publicly. Because silence protects no one.
We also know what it looks like when communities step up in the absence of care—mutual aid networks, street medics, volunteer security teams. These models of protection are not new. Our SOOP (Securing Our Own People) program was founded in 2018, long before George Floyd’s name became a national rallying cry. It was built from the urgent, ongoing need for safety that does not rely on police. A need that still exists. A need that was proven again—yesterday—when SOOP medical team members were on site, responding to injuries and de-escalating harm while the city escalated violence.
We do not work with police. We never have. We believe that community keeps community safe—and yesterday’s arrests only strengthen our resolve.
There is a better way. It does not begin with a press release. It begins with listening, with relationship, with action.
Tacoma is one of the cities that has been doing that work. Since 2021, the City of Tacoma has partnered with us to uplift and protect marginalized communities. This year, they reaffirmed that commitment by raising the transgender flag over the Tacoma Dome—a visible, public act done in true collaboration with community. That’s what it looks like when a city doesn’t just make statements, but makes space.
We know every government is flawed. But working with flawed institutions requires more than press releases and empty symbolism. It requires listening, sharing power, and being willing to act when it’s uncomfortable. It requires showing up in the ways community asks for—not just the ways that are politically safe.
Tacoma’s actions as a government aren’t perfect, but they are collaborative. They are built on trust earned through years of relationship—not on virtue signaling or headline chasing. That is the difference. That is the work. And that is the standard we will continue to hold.
We stand with those arrested. We stand with those who continue to show up. And we ask that our allies—especially those in positions of influence—look beyond performative proclamations. Look to your community. Look to Tacoma. Look to the people doing the work.
Our history is not made in council chambers. It is made in the streets. And we will not forget.
— Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound
Trans-led. Community-rooted. Unbought.
Public Statement on Organizational Restructuring
February 20, 2025
To Our Valued Community Members, Partners, and Supporters;
As a dedicated organization committed to serving our community, we continually assess how best to meet evolving needs. In response to the radically changing circumstances of our Country and thus the needs of our community; Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS) is undergoing a complete and total strategic restructuring to enhance our impact and better serve those who rely on our services.
Over the past year, we have been carefully evaluating the shifting landscape of community needs through feedback, as well as national and local evaluations regarding the current Administration. Ultimately we found that restructuring programing and organizational structure was necessary in order to serve the community to the best of our ability. This restructuring will allow us to align our programs and services more effectively, ensuring sustainability and responsiveness to the most pressing challenges the trans and LGBTQIA+ community as a whole are currently facing.
Key changes include:
Program Adjustments: The org will be refining our initiatives and once again directing our focus to our 3 pillars; Support, Advocacy, and Community Action through; mutual aid, individual and community advocacy, and security/medical services and consulting.
Operational Shifts: Leadership and programming roles will be made up of current community volunteer security & medical team members of Securing Our Own People (SOOP), and any other community volunteers who are interested in leadership roles.
Collaboration & Partnerships: The org will be re-evaluating all partnerships to see where we may be able to still work together, and seeking new opportunities to partner, learn from, and assist.
We recognize that change can be challenging, but we are confident that these adjustments will position this organization to make the greatest impact it can during this time.
We have been honored to be able to serve in person so openly, so unabashedly, for so many years now. We are not hiding, nor asking you to either, instead we are recognizing where we can help and where we can’t, and allowing those that can, the assistance to do so.
We deeply appreciate your ongoing support as we move forward. Together, we will continue building a stronger, more resilient community. We will not be erased.
With gratitude,
The DAPS Board of Directors
Rainbow Center Statement
2/9/2024
The Board of Directors, Executive Director, and Voting Members of Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS) stand in solidarity with the former staff who have gone public about the harm done to them during their time at Rainbow Center (RC), we also stand behind the former board members, and community partners who were harmed during this time.
DAPS believes and supports the BIPOC individuals, persons with disabilities, and two-spirit, transgender, and gender diverse individuals who were harmed by neglectful, bigoted, and ableist behavior, both those who have come forward and those who have not.
As an organization we chose to leave a 20+ year partnership with the Rainbow Center in April 2023 after the space became unsafe for our members due to: ongoing behaviors by the now former Executive Director and Deputy Director, having our groups canceled without notice, being asked to sign a blank contract that required us to seek money from those we served among other inappropriate asks, as well as, several other harmful and abusive situations arose. After unsuccessfully attempting to meet with RC, and their Board of Directors, several times, we chose to seek partnerships elsewhere.
We ask for accountability and radical change from the current Board of Directors of the Rainbow Center. DAPS believes that the Rainbow Center must take the necessary steps to make real change within their organization surrounding ableism, transphobia, and various other harms done to the internal and external community in order to begin to heal the broken relationships and lack of support to those they were entrusted in serving.
As community service organizations we have an obligation to our community, our partners, and each other. When we fail to meet these obligations, it is imperative that we re-evaluate and work to actively make real change. RC must confront these biases, make changes, listen to those they serve, and those they serve with, in order to move forward, harm must be addressed.
UPDATE: Rainbow Center has worked with an Interim Executive Director and the community at large to make significant changes that mirror those called for by the public and those harmed, the Board has resigned and a new Board is being chosen with the help of a community committee. We believe this is exactly how leaders in this community should respond in these situations and are excited to see a new Rainbow Center grow from this.
Roe v. Wade Response
On May 2, 2022 a leaked brief from SCOTUS revealed Roe v. Wade was likely to be overturned in the near future, this decision would have catastrophic consequences for the trans and gender diverse community, among other disenfranchised minority populations. While current and historical rhetoric has framed the fight for reproductive rights to be that of cis women, specifically privileged white cis women, the reality is that people with uteruses have varying socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, races, and genders. The refusal to add the rest of those affected by these laws, or lack thereof, is negligent and abusive.
The removal of Roe v. Wade would not only have devistating consequences in the way of unsafe abortions and forced pregnancies, but would also create a slippery slope of the removal of other rights. What impact would this have on the ability of trans and gender diverse individuals to transition? Would marriage equality stand? Would discrimination protections stand? What would this mean for those who are disproportionately oppressed within our already marginalized communities? Would Black trans men and gender diverse individuals see more incarceration or higher death rates? What collateral damage would we see from this decision, and what would the removal of Roe v. Wade allow SCOTUS the societal power to remove next?
The right to one’s body should not be governed, should not be something you are given permission to use, or something that can be revoked. The right to be treated as a human being should not hinge upon the beliefs of 9 people.
Black Lives Matter
Our rights were fought for by Black Trans Women, our roots are entwined within the Civil Rights movement, to not stand beside our Black siblings would be to turn our backs on our history. What happened to George Floyd is not something new, White Men in power have stood on the necks of Black Men for hundreds of years and yelled from roof tops, but fallen on deaf ears. What happened this summer is we were silent enough to listen for a few moments. The response from Police, was unacceptable and we must continue to hold them accountable for their actions. Continue to speak out, continue to use our privilege, continue to raise our voices up. Until we truly seek out change for our oppressed siblings, change will not come.
Ingersoll Demand for Accountability Statement
The Board of Directors of Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound (DAPS) stand in solidarity with the Ingersoll Staff and Former Staff Collective. DAPS believes and supports the BIPOC individuals and persons with disabilities harmed by bigoted and abelist behavior; that have come forward and those who have not. We support the demands for accountability and improvement from Ingersoll Gender Center. DAPS believes that Ingersoll must take the necessary steps to make real change within their organization surrounding racism, ableism, misogyny, and sexism. As organizations who serve our community, we must actively confront these biases, make changes, listen to those we serve, and those who serve with us. In order to move forward, harm must be addressed. We support the demand for accountability for the following:
1. Immediate resignation or termination of the Directors as follows: Karter Booher, Jonathan (Lee) Williams, and Louis Mitchell.
2. A revised group of board members that uphold our community values.
3. An issued statement of process of accountability by Ingersoll Gender Center that will address actions to prevent future harm to members and staff.
Trans in Jail Coalition
After several Trans individuals were arrested this summer and experienced sexual assaults, harassment, misgendering, placed into solitary confinement, and into custody under their deadnames, a coalition was formed to work with DOC to begin to work on the treatment Trans individuals experience while in custody. Through several negotiations we have been able to begin toward more appropriate and safe care while in custody. Negotiations are still underway and the next step is educating the public on this project.