Fall 2025 Newsletter & Annual Report

READ THE FALL 2025 NEWSLETTER & ANNUAL REPORT HERE

Dear Supporters,

Fifteen years ago, Gender Justice was founded on a vision that is both simple and radical: that no one’s life should be limited by their gender. That your body, your identity, or your biology should never determine your worth or your rights.

That vision hasn’t changed, but the landscape around us has. We are no longer facing isolated policy fights or legal setbacks. We are living through the rise of a coordinated, authoritarian movement—rooted in White Christian Nationalism—that is seizing control of who belongs to our democracy, who holds power, and who gets to live freely and safely.

We see it in ICE raids and militarized crackdowns. In the rigging of electoral maps to cement minority rule. In Supreme Court rulings that greenlight racial profiling, censorship, discrimination, and the denial of care. We see it in the ruthless executive actions of a second Trump administration: trans people being systematically erased from public life, reproductive care gutted, and extremists convicted of anti-abortion violence pardoned.

These threats aren’t distant, they’re here. The assassination of Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband by a religious extremist marked a heartbreaking turning point in Minnesota. Movements for abortion access and LGBTQ+ liberation have always seen violence, but here, in a state known for political civility, it shattered a sense of safety many of us had worked hard to protect and believed was real. Now, new fears follow leaders into the Capitol. Community gatherings require new precautions. What once felt distant has become undeniable: White Christian Nationalism isn’t just shaping policy, it’s fueling political violence and it’s here.

At Gender Justice, we’ve spent the past year asking big questions: What does justice require of us now? What kind of strategy can help us rise to this moment with clarity and courage? The result is our new five-year strategic plan. It’s bold, regional, and grounded in how power moves: from the values people hold and the stories they hear, to the systems and laws that shape their lives.

Our new case Mudra v. Buffalo Wild Wings exemplifies this strategy in action. The case drew national attention because it exposed a painful truth: anti-trans panic has made even the most basic parts of public life unsafe, particularly for Black and brown youth and LGBTQ+ people. Our client’s story resonated far beyond Minnesota, reaching the floor of the Texas Legislature where pro-equality lawmakers cited it in debate as evidence of how bathroom bans fuel gender-based harassment.

In the PDF below, you’ll see how we’re putting our new plan to work: deepening our legal impact, preparing for the next legislative session, advancing a strong Equal Rights Amendment in Minnesota, and building people power in North Dakota.

Thank you for standing with us.

Megan Peterson
Executive Director
(she/her/hers)

READ THE FALL 2025 NEWSLETTER & ANNUAL REPORT HERE