Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: Leigh Finke is poised to make some history. Finke won a DFL primary for a St. Paul area House seat Tuesday night. And if she wins in the overwhelmingly Democratic district in November, she will be the first transgender person to serve in the Minnesota Legislature. Our reporter Brian Bakst talked with Finke yesterday, and she said at first she couldn't believe that she won.

LEIGH FINKE: It's never happened before, and I wasn't really willing to let myself assume anything until we had the data. So it was extremely exciting. Everybody was super excited. We worked so hard. We have a team of just incredible people. Yeah, we couldn't believe it, but we were very excited.

BRIAN BAKST: When you talk about what hasn't happened before, you're referring to what?

LEIGH FINKE: So a trans person has never been elected to the Minnesota State Legislature, never won a primary. This is a historic win for our state. And until we got the numbers that said we had it, it just seemed like there's a reason this hasn't happened before, so we're going to wait until we see for sure that we have it.

BRIAN BAKST: I want you to talk about that a little bit. Talk about how far you and how far you and your fellow trans Minnesotans have come. It wasn't so long ago when even being identified or out as trans was a big deal. And to now get to this point where you're on the doorstep of a political entry into the Capitol, it has to be amazing to you from a progress standpoint.

LEIGH FINKE: Yeah. I think it's really important to note that Minnesota, statewide, has-- we passed trans protections in 1993. We were the first state to do that. But since then, not a lot has happened. But we also have Council Member Jenkins in Minneapolis, Council President Jenkins. And Philippe Cunningham was elected there, and there has been the start of trans electeds in Minnesota.

But at the same time, I was the first trans person that I ever voted for. We just simply don't have representation. And the idea of being able to vote for yourself as the first trans person you've ever seen on the ballot is special, but it's also indicative of just how much work there is to be done. We've really only started moving forward and finding a way to claim our own political space, to help educate people that we are a part of all of the communities, and every community includes trans people.

There may not be a lot of us. If there's 1%, that doesn't sound like a lot, but that's 60,000 people in Minnesota. So we're around, and we deserve representation. And we have a lot of work to do to let people know what it means to have an inclusive government, to have an inclusive state, and to protect everyone.

BRIAN BAKST: I'm sure you're well aware that in recent years there have been many pieces of legislation introduced at the Capitol to marginalize the people from the trans community. How will you being at the Capitol help push back against some of those measures?

LEIGH FINKE: We have had some very ugly stuff come up in the Minnesota Capitol. And thankfully, we have a governor who's not going to allow that stuff to move forward, and a divided legislature. But I think that it's much harder to take away someone's human rights when you have a member of the community at the table with you. That's what I'm hoping to do. I'm hoping to be able to go into a space where there just simply has never been a trans person and say, hey, what we're doing here is wrong.

And we need to think more clearly about what it means to take away the rights of children, to push laws that would make it harder for people to be safe, to have health care, to belong in their communities, to love who they love. I think it's harder to tell someone, hey, you can't do that, if they're looking you in the eye. I'm not expecting to get in and pass a bunch of trans-friendly laws, but I am hoping that we can start to change people's minds and hearts, because that's the first step.

SPEAKER 1: That's Leigh Finke. Leigh won the Democratic primary in House District 66A Tuesday night and is poised to become the first transgender person to serve in the Minnesota Legislature. She spoke to our reporter Brian Bakst.