I’m running for CBRC

Late in 2025, I was helping out at a special convention as the head teller. I had several volunteers helping in the work, and ran a tight ship. One was a non-binary student from a local college. Midway through the day, they quietly approached me and asked, “I keep getting misgendered by other volunteers here even though I’ve told them my pronouns. Is that something I can expect at DFL events?”

I had to tell them that yes, that is absolutely the norm, but I’m working to change it.

When I ran from the floor to be Ward Rep at the 2025 Ward 10 Convention, I joked on the mic that the delegates should vote for me because they don’t have to worry about gender balance. As a non-binary person, I essentially don’t count. The rules around gender equity in the DFL have a hamfisted exemption for non-binary people - better than forcing us to choose to align, but one that feels strange to begin with. We’re clearly an afterthought.

Gender Balance rules come from a good place. It’s to ensure that volunteer orgs are cognizant of who they have in leadership and actively working to include people of different lived experiences. It came about from the work of the original Feminist Caucus back in the 80s and 90s, and was an effort to ensure that the perspectives of women were included in leadership.

But we live in 2026, and a rule that uses terms like “gender identity,” and “male and female,” and refuses the terms trans or non-binary is outdated and in bad need of a rewrite. It’s also one of the rules that volunteer leadership like our caucus conveners struggle with understanding the most - often, after caucuses, work needs to be done to redo the gender balance because the rules are hard to understand and implement.

All of this to say: I’m running to join the CBRC in order to reform this and other outdated and archaic rules. One of my main passions in life is accessibility - people need to be able to understand information and instructions at the level where they are, not at the level we wish they were. The barrier to entry for DFL participation is incredibly high, and weirdly phrased archaic rules like this gender balance one are part of why.

One month from today, the convention for Congressional District 5 will elect two people to the CBRC. I hope that the delegates will see fit to put me in one of those seats.