Politics

Trans trailblazer Leigh Finke is facing a brutal, national attack campaign from the right

She has been accused of supporting pedophilia for her work to protect LGBTQ+ people from those accusations.
By
Rep. Leigh Finke
Rep. Leigh Finke Photo: Finke campaign

“There were attacks from inside the House, including members on the floor using their time on the floor to attack me. There was the national hate group, Gays Against Groomers, that attacked me. And they’re sort of built on a national campaign against me… that never really slowed down,” Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke (D) tells LGBTQ Nation.

Finke has been the target of a right-wing campaign that falsely accused her of supporting pedophilia. There is no evidence for this assertion. “I was targeted. I received death threats. I had regular meetings with the Sergeant at Arms and the state troopers at the Capitol about security. My protocol on my email and voicemails were changed.”

Related:

Trans councilwoman Andrea Jenkins explains Obama is the (2nd) “coolest motherf••ker” she ever met

LGBTQ Nation put Jenkins in the hot seat to talk poetry, the Black Panthers, and of course, Bullwinkle J. Moose.

Finke has been in the spotlight ever since she was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2022. Representing District 66A in northern St. Paul, she comes from an area that’s booming with queer people. As the first out trans state legislator in Minnesota, Finke has made history while being in a position where she can model herself as someone truly belonging to her constituency.

Those she represents can see this in everything from the policies she’s passed to the way she dresses. Standing out from her colleagues, she is often seen with dyed hair – pink or purple – tattooed arms and black leather jackets over skirts and dresses. She makes sure she stands out so that queer people can see themselves in someone who can enact meaningful change in their state.

Finke comes from an activist background, having previously worked for the state’s ACLU chapter and as a documentarian. Some of her most notable work while in office includes passing the famous trans refuge bill that guarantees safe passage for those fleeing other states for the persecution of gender-affirming care. She codified trans rights under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, secured millions in funds for HIV care, and helped push through a bill that protects homeless LGBTQ+ individuals by creating more inclusive shelters.

Her political stardom has come with both benefits and drawbacks, however. While she’s been someone that the politically left-leaning members of the state can rely on and has been named as one of USA Today’s Women of the Year in 2023, she’s also been the target of much vitriol for existing as a trans woman in politics.

“There is a segment of the Republican party in Minnesota that is using my work on trans protections as a liability against those who are supporting my work. It’s a really similar thing that we’ve seen in the national landscape where people attack me. They call me, they use offensive terms and dehumanizing language and misgendering, and then they attack individuals who have supported the work that I’m doing at the Capitol.”

Finke fought to take down outdated wording from the 1993 Human Rights Act, as she believed it could be interpreted in ways that could attack LGBTQ+ individuals. 

The wording itself, “sexual orientation does not include a physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult,” appears innocuous by excluding pedophilia. However, Finke and LGBTQ+ rights advocates recognized that, with groups like Gays Against Groomers and far-right Republican politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), those looking to oppose LGBTQ+ rights may unjustly label a queer person as a “pedophile” without any actual rationale, leading to even more persecution.

Gays Against Groomers is a far-right group that claims to be made up of cisgender gay, bisexual, and lesbian individuals who oppose transgender rights. They often label trans people “groomers” and “pedophiles,” a tactic also seen with Republicans like Greene, who also target LGB individuals.

Finke’s move to take down this wording is her most controversial one – she became the target of right-wing media, with Gays Against Groomers sending legions of people after her for supposedly trying to “make pedophilia a protected class.” This is in spite of a PolitiFact fact check that debunked their claim. 

The rightwing Daily Caller and Fox News also piled on Finke, making her a target for online harassment in the right-wing sphere.

LGBTQ Nation was able to confirm that Finke did, in fact, receive death threats, as seen through public documentation of such by civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo on X.

Minnesota conservatives frequently put Finke in the spotlight. When she talks positively about gender-affirming care, accounts big and small attack her. LGBTQ Nation has found multiple such accounts, including “@LeftistsofMN,” a popular right-wing account that tracks prominent left-wingers in the state, and “Action 4 Liberty,” a right-wing activist organization.

These attacks weren’t just coming from the right-wing outrage machine, however. They also came from inside the state House.

Finke cited social media attacks from Minnesota right-wing lawmakers who represent, she said, just a sliver of the type of vitriol that she receives from some of her colleagues. One, which Finke said was an attack on her, came from state Rep. Dawn Gillman (R), who said, “Period. Biological males need to stop colonizing women’s spaces, be it a locker room, fitting rooms, women’s/girls sports.”

The other comes from state Rep. Mary Franson (R), who said publicly, “However, Finke (who is a man cosplaying as a woman) supports the dispossession of women [sic] spaces.”

Her colleagues, though, aren’t facing the same attacks. While allies may get it to some degree, the bulk of the focus has been on her.

These constant attacks have hurt Finke’s health, but she is still committed to serving the Minnesota public regardless of the attacks against her.

“I continue to do the work I was brought to do. It has become a very heavy toll [on me] personally. It’s obviously hard to be attacked, but I have good support in my community and my family and in my colleagues at the house. There’s a contingency of the Minnesota GOP who is not shy about using me as a weapon in their political efforts. And that’s going to continue and to the extent that it is.”

“I believe I’m getting a little bit better at not letting it get into me personally, but you never know what’s next.”

Finke isn’t going down easy. She plans on pushing back – by continuing to win elections and do the work that she signed up to do.

“I will do the same thing I’ve always done, which is ignore their specific attacks and push for what I think is good and right. My philosophy, the basis of my work, is that trans people have always existed. We deserve basic dignities and human rights, freedom and safety and security to be who we are, wherever we are. So that will be my message no matter what.”

“If they come after trans people, like they have done and they will continue to do, I will continue to make the case. What matters is the movement, what matters is protecting people. So they can and will say things about me and my community and the pushback that we will have is to continue to win elections based on the work of protecting vulnerable communities.”

This can be seen through some of the ways that she’s been pushing back by getting legislation through. Finke has a connection to her constituents because she does a lot of the hands-on work in reaching out to them. She knocks on doors, supports fundraisers in the House, and advocates for colleagues who are trying to win elections elsewhere.

In other words, a core element of her work to combat anti-trans vitriol is building a community with trans people and her constituents. The end goal is to maintain the Democratic trifecta in the state—Democrats have control over the state’s House, Senate, and governorship. This helps progressive legislation pass easily, allowing these politicians to better meet the demands of their constituents.

“A lot of the work I’ve done has been around queer rights, a lot of the work has been around trees and advocating for trees and tree planting. But I want to get more into work around incarceration and justice issues there… But the needs of the trans community are urgent.  I’m going to focus on that until I feel like we are in this place where I don’t need to. But when the time comes, I’d really like to expand the sort of portfolio of working and doing.”

And as for the actionable steps she plans on taking, these include getting the Equal Rights Amendment passed to solidify LGBTQ+ rights in the state’s constitution, as well as focusing on work for queer youth in schools.

Finke, above all else, wants to solidify herself as both an activist for the LGBTQ+ community and for marginalized people everywhere.

“I’ve been an activist for many years in LGBTQ rights and the Black Lives Matter movement, and I’ve also organized pretty deeply in the reproductive justice movement. That predates my work in the Capitol. It will continue probably long after. I am a deeply committed advocate of full human and civil rights for the people who are in my community, whether it’s incarcerated folks, Black and brown communities, folks with disabilities, and every other community that faces the impacts of white supremacy and patriarchy.”

Don't forget to share:

Politics
Gays Against Groomers Leigh Finke Republicans Transgender

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Once Monthly Annually

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

Pete Buttigieg concisely explains why he doesn’t trust Trump’s disavowal of a federal abortion ban

Previous article

Idaho sued for a law that pushed libraries to go “adults only”

Next article

More on LGBTQ Nation