Public Meeting Day 1

Join us for our first public meeting of the year! 

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On Friday January 17th and Saturday 18th the Washington State LGBTQ Commission will convene for their first public meeting of 2025. With the Legislative Session starting just 4 days prior, the State of the State address happening on Tuesday, and the Govenor's Inaugural Ball on Wednesday, Olympia is going to be an exciting place to be that week! We hope you are able to find some time join us to hear more about Commission work, and we highly encourage 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals around the state to tune in and share public comment with us, in-person or virtually, during meeting day 2, Saturday, starting at 11:30am. For more information on what public comment is and how to submit or share your comment, read below.

Please note agenda & meeting materials will be available on this page no less than 24 hours prior to the start of Friday's meeting day.

Date & Time:

Friday, January 17th from 12:00pm-4:30pm

Saturday, January 18th from 9:00am-12:30pm (Please note, public comment will start at 11:30am on Saturday)

Location:

Helen Sommers Building, Capitol Campus See Parking Map

106 11th Ave. SW

Olympia, WA 98501 

If you are interested in attending this meeting virtually, please email contact@lgbtq.wa.gov and staff can assist.

What is a public meeting? 

The Washington State LGBTQ Commission hosts five public meetings a year in different locations across Washington. Public meetings are opportunities for all 15 Commissioners to gather together in-person (or online) to discuss Commission business, engage with other state agencies on matters affecting 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the state, familiarize themselves with community organizations working with 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and hear from actual 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals from across the state during public comment. 

What's public comment? How do I give public comment? 

The public comment portion of our public meetings is a time for individuals to share their experiences as a 2SLGBTQIA+ person in Washington. Example of comments could include sharing how a state policy has positively or negatively affected you as a 2SLGBTQIA+ person, explaining a problem or issue you are seeing in your community, or simply stating how you feel living in Washington as a 2SLGBTQIA+ person. Please see below for the process and rules around public comment.

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• Written comments can be received prior to the meeting. Please email your comment to contact@lgbtq.wa.gov. Please include your name and organization affiliation, if applicable. Please make the subject line January 18 Public Comment. 
• Public comments will also be received live either in-person or via Zoom. If you are in-person, there will be a sign in sheet. If you are attending virtually, there will be digital sign in shared in the chat.
• Public comments will be limited to 1-2 minutes. Commission staff will notify the public either verbally or in writing, about how much time each person will have to share their comments, based on the number of people 
  signed up to speak and the time allotted for public comments during the meeting. 
• Each individual can only give one public comment per meeting.
• Commissioners are not expected to respond to public comments during the meeting, but instead direct comments that merit action to their relevant committees.
• All public comments must be respectful. The Commission reserves the right to limit the time of public comments for individuals who use vulgar or derogatory language.