Name: Jenna Damron
Organization: ACLU of Idaho, Statewide LGBTQ+ Rights Strategist
Location: Boise, ID
When did you start getting involved with being an advocate and why?
I got involved in advocating for trans inclusion in sports in 2019. I was a personal trainer at the time and had friends that were queer and trans. I wanted them to be able to have the same access to sport and recreation that I had. At the time, a friend of mine got banned from competing in a powerlifting meet, and in response I joined an organization called Pull for Pride and worked with a team across the US to host deadlifting competitions that raised money for LGBTQ+ organizations. Even in conservative Idaho, our event was hugely successful and raised a critical amount of money for the local LGBTQ+ community center. The next year, Idaho became the first state in the US to pass a law banning trans women from competing in sports, and I connected with the ACLU of Idaho for the first time. That year set off a cascade of anti-trans laws in Idaho and across the nation, and I knew I wanted to be dedicating time and energy into standing up for my friends.
What are the issues that you focus on?
I focus on LGBTQ+ rights in Idaho. Trans folks have been the subject of discriminatory laws and policies in Idaho for several years, but recently we’re seeing that broadened to attack LGBTQ+ rights, including recent proposals that seek to ban anti-discrimination protections and petition the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 same sex-marriage decision.
How does your work help build our community bigger and stronger?
My work straddles both legislative work and community advocacy & organizing. While actively fighting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, I also serve as an important link between what’s happening in the capitol and our LGBTQ+ community. I seek to maintain connections to organizations and people across Idaho to ensure that they’re informed, involved, and taken into consideration in our work. Over the past few years, I’ve organized several events that ensure our community is more visible in the statehouse, including the 48k heart drop in 2024, where advocates collected and dropped 48,000 paper hearts in the rotunda, representing 48,000 LGBTQ+ Idahoans. I think seeing a big show of support like that and seeing your community and allies turn out to testify against laws that would harm you brings a lot of visibility, hope, and resiliency to our community.
What is the greatest achievement you have had in the work you are doing?
In the past several years, I’ve worked with organizations across the state to mentor leaders in organizing, legislative advocacy, and community building tools. Last year, I launched a Trans Futures: a leadership development program to train and support 5 trans, nonbinary, and 2S Idahoans to design and implement community-based projects that address local needs and empower existing organizing efforts. Participants across the state learned about local organizing, mutual aid, safety planning, and know your rights materials and designed local projects, including resource fairs, trans-inclusive job fairs, and art shows. I’m proud of the work we’ve done in collaboration with trans led community events.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in doing your work?
Working towards LGBTQ+ justice in Idaho can be a real challenge. Often, our neighbors are far more welcoming and accepting than the people making our laws. Idahoans tend to mind their own business, but our lawmakers bring 15-20 bills each year targeting us. It’s a battle that is uphill, relentless, and feels dehumanizing to our identities and our families. That motivates me to bring humanity to the work I do, even through the challenges.
How can others help you in the work you are doing?
Support your local mutual aid fund providing support to trans and queer people in rural areas.
What calls to action would you ask of our community?
The LGBTQ+ community and those that love us must come together to support each other. Hug your friends, share meals, and make sure nobody gets left behind. These laws and the millions of dollars poured into advancing a hateful rhetoric take their toll. Visibility matters, if you are safe to be visible it is critical to our survival.
Looking at the current climate, what words of hope do you have for our community and what should we be most concerned about?
I think about pendulum theory a lot. I can acknowledge that we are in a backswing of the pendulum swing right now, and I know that the work we’re doing today will be important in the future when the pendulum begins to swing the other way. As for what we should be most concerned about… I believe that we are heading in a dangerous direction as a country with the increased criminalization of everyday life and the erosion of privacy protections with increased surveillance. We are already seeing the effects of this on LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and activists, but some day it will affect every single person in this country.
Who inspires you to keep fighting the good fight?
The resilience of trans Idahoans, farmworkers, and immigrants in Idaho brings me so much hope. There are people here that love Idaho so much and want to fight for it to be the great place we all know it can be. I’m inspired to keep fighting alongside them. Trans people & immigrants existed before MAGA Republicans, and they’ll continue existing long after the fall of MAGA Republicans.
