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Non-profit

TRACTION

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Website:

https://tractionpnw.org/
Location:

Everett, WA
Formation:

2019
President:

Shelley O’Neill
Type:

Transgender activism

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TRACTION (also known as TRACTION Community Action or TRACTION PNW) is a far-left transgender activist group operating in the Pacific Northwest. TRACTION supports “decolonizing gender,” a radical movement that claims that “transphobia” is a product of social systems imposed by European colonists to subjugate people. In addition to far-left gender activism, TRACTION has supported COVID-19 lockdowns, COVID-19 vaccination, homelessness prevention, and is a member of the Asylum Seekers Immigrant/Refugee Coalition. 1

Association with Washington State

TRACTION receives some funding from the Washington state government through the Washington State Department of Health, which TRACTION lists as a “supporter and community partner” on its website. 2

In January 2022, Washington Secretary of Health Dr. Umair A. Shah spoke at a TRACTION conference. 3

In Spring 2021, TRACTION partnered with the Washington State Department of Health to create advertisements for trans and non-binary families to encourage COCID-19 vaccinations. 4

In January 2021, TRACTION partnered with Heartspark Press and the Washington State Department of Health to create advertisements to encourage trans and non-binary families to take precautions against the COVID-19 pandemic. 5

School Events

In April 2019, TRACTION and the Gender Family Alliance held a Trans 101 Panel at Gateway Elementary School in Lee County in western Washington. 6

In December 2019, TRACTION led a “reflection session” in a “Community Immersion” program at Bellevue College in Bellevue, Washington. Some of the space for the event was offered by Seattle Central College. Speakers talked about advocacy for transgenderism, two spirits, and sex workers among other topics. Other attendees included representatives from “government agencies,” TRANSform Washington, the Pride Foundation, the Lavender Rights Project, the Greater Seattle Business Association, J Mase III, the Seattle Indian Health Board, Minority Veterans of America, UTOPIA, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, Echo Glen Children’s Center, and Gender Diversity. Funding came from Bellevue College’s RISE Learning Institute, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and the Bellevue College Gallery Space. 7 8

Emerge!

In September 2019, TRACTION hosted Emerge!, a now-annual “gender summit.” The conference was sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Coordinated Care, the Greater Seattle Business Association (an LGTBQ+ affiliate of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce 9), MadGenderScience, Pride Foundation, Repair Revolution, and YouthCare. 10

Emerge! 2021 was an event attended by numerous prominent northwestern transgender activist groups: Lavender Rights Project, Black Trans Task Force, Gender Justice League, and UTOPIA Washington. 11

Speakers for the event, which was themed “Decolonizing Gender,” included Malcolm Shanks, a “Black, queer, anti-colonial gender-bender, socialist” 12 who at the conference self-identified as “gaseous or plasma-like,” and Ganesha Gold Buffalo, a trans female prostitute. 13

The thesis of the event, as described by Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, is that the modern gender binary was imposed on Native Americans and other peoples by European colonizers after their conquest and genocide of the Americas to divide and subjugate people for the benefit of white elites. The movement to “decolonize gender” seeks to return the gender paradigm to a supposed peaceful, tolerant precolonial state by destroying capitalism, white supremacy, imperialism, and “European land ownership.” Until this is achieved, panelists urged straight white people to give cash reparations to non-gender conforming people: “Pay people directly. Give them the money so they can have the financial security in order to rest and to heal and to connect with their communities… Pay that money to us now.” 14

Rufo points out that in addition to TRACTION, many other attending groups have received government funding, including the Gender Justice League, the Lavender Rights Project, and Black Trans Task Force from King County, and Utopia Washington from Washington State, King County, and the city of Seattle. 15

Leadership

TRACTION’s president and board co-chair is Shelley O’Neill. The TRACTION website offers no other information about O’Neill. 16

TRACTION vice president, treasurer, and board co-chair C. Michael Woodward is a community health development specialist in the Transgender Medicine Department at Borrego Health Systems in Southern California, as well as the founder of lgbtQ&A Inclusion Consulting. Woodward is the former director of the Gender Odyssey conference and was an adjunct professor at Tacoma Community College. 17 18

Advisory council member Aleska Manila is a drag queen, queer activist, and program manager in the public health department in Seattle and King County. Manila is the founder of Pride Asia and was a national drag ambassador for Drag Out The Vote National Campaign. 19 20

Advisory council member Kalisto Zenda Nanen is a trans actor and drag queen. Nanen’s speaker profile for Emerge! lists Nanen performing in the play, Black D*ck Matters. 21 22

Advisory council member Isyss Agaiotupu Honnen is the project director for TRANSform Washington, the finance associate for Pride Foundation, the co-coordinator for the Alphabet Alliance of Color in Seattle, and co-chair for UTOPIA, a “fa’afafine and trans womxn of color-led organization in Seattle.” 23 24

Advisory council member Coleen Ogi is a member of the Seattle Children’s Hospital Transgender Medicine Advisory Board. 25

Board member Lara Americo is a transgender female performance artist who in 2020 wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about her experience of going through puberty four times as she repeatedly changed her hormone profile in an eventually successful attempt to impregnate her partner. 26 27

Partner Organizations

TRACTION lists the following partner organizations: Gender Justice League, Group Health Foundation, The Logical Alternative, the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation, the Pride Foundation, Tech Soup, UTOPIA Washington, and the Washington State Department of Health. 28

References

  1. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  2. “That you to our supporters and community partners.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/about-us/.
  3. “Community Campfire: 2022 and Beyond.” Traction. January 17, 2022. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/community-campfire-2022/
  4. “Winter 2021: Protecting Our Families.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/covid-19/.
  5. “Winter 2021: Protecting Our Families.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/covid-19/.
  6. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/
  7. “RISE Immersion for Faculty and Staff Focuses on Trans Experience.” Bellevue College. June 23, 2020. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.bellevuecollege.edu/news/2020/06/23/rise-immersion-for-faculty-and-staff-focuses-on-trans-experience/.
  8. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  9. “Welcome to the GSBA, Washington’s LGTBQ+ chamber!” GSBA. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.thegsba.org/.
  10. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  11. Rufo, Christopher R. “The ‘Gender Variant Universe.’” City Journal. June 6, 2022. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.city-journal.org/transgender-activists-in-their-own-words.
  12. “Malcom Shanks.” Twitter. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://twitter.com/queerthunder?lang=en.
  13. Rufo, Christopher R. “The ‘Gender Variant Universe.’” City Journal. June 6, 2022. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.city-journal.org/transgender-activists-in-their-own-words.
  14. Rufo, Christopher R. “The “Gender Variant Universe.”” City Journal. June 6, 2022. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.city-journal.org/transgender-activists-in-their-own-words.
  15. Rufo, Christopher R. “The ‘Gender Variant Universe.’” City Journal. June 6, 2022. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.city-journal.org/transgender-activists-in-their-own-words.
  16. “About Us.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/about-us/
  17. “Emerge! Keynote: Leadership Panel.” Traction. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/summit/keynote/.
  18. “About Us.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/about-us/.
  19. “All About Aleska.” Aleska Manila. Accessed June 24, 2022. http://www.aleksamanila.com/about.html.
  20. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  21. “Emerge! Keynote: Leadership Panel.” Traction. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/summit/keynote/.
  22. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  23. “Emerge! Keynote: Leadership Panel.” Traction. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/summit/keynote/.
  24. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/.
  25. “Happy Birthday, Traction.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/happy-birthday-traction-2020/
  26. “About Us.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/about-us/.
  27. Americo, Laura. “Four Puberties, One Baby.” New York Times. April 15, 2020. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/parenting/fertility/transgender-pregnancy.html.
  28. “That you to our supporters and community partners.” TRACTION. Accessed June 24, 2022. https://tractionpnw.org/about-us/.
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