Text of My Statement and Complaint to the MN State DFL
Below I am including the text of a statement released on the evening of September 9th, 2025 following the DFL Feminist Caucus annual meeting. Following it is the complaint I filed with the DFL Conduct Committee on September 10th, 2025, regarding the ongoing and pervasive misgendering I experienced at the meeting.
September 9th:
Tonight, I attended my first and last DFL Feminist Caucus meeting. As someone who did not come by my feminism through how I was raised, but rather fought my way through to live as the gender I am and to exist as a non-binary person in this world, I found the experience to be demeaning, demoralizing, and actively anti-feminist. If being a feminist in the DFL means caucusing with this group, count me out.
My pronouns are very simple and yet the caucus chairs and caucus leadership could not get them correct, despite being repeatedly reminded and corrected at every single opportunity. However, they could suddenly use the singular “they” when it came to my fellow caucus member who happened to be a trans woman, despite her repeatedly giving her pronouns as she/her.
This was just the beginning. It was clear from the start that no one leading this meeting understood Robert’s Rules, and very clearly wanted to vote for their friends and be done with it. At the very beginning, an illegal motion was made to just adopt an entire slate of leadership, despite there being challengers to those positions known to the caucus.
For me, however, the most hurtful thing was that despite repeatedly affirming that underrepresented people should run for caucus office, should be prioritized in the process, no trans or non-binary people were represented in any of the caucus leadership, much less respected in the meeting. My pronouns - they/them - were clearly seen as an inconvenience, met with eyerolls and annoyance whenever I corrected people. At one point, one of the newly elected caucus leadership claimed her pronouns are “Black Queen,” a clear mockery of the process of asking for pronouns altogether.
Does this reflect DFL values? To mock a non-binary person whose community is under direct attack from the president himself? To refuse to use a person’s proper pronouns so repeatedly and without care that I had to make a SIGN with them on it for the meeting?
It wasn’t as though my pronouns were a surprise. I sent in my statement of intent to run for Vice Chair the day before the meeting and it was sent out to all members. I identified my pronouns in that statement. And yet, they were ignored.
The DFL Feminist Caucus is anything but. I resign my membership.
September 10th:
Hello All:
My name is Dex Anderson and I am filing a code of conduct complaint against several members of the DFL Feminist Caucus. This complaint is filed on basis of discrimination against me based on my gender identity. As the DFL Chair is already aware, there was rampant misgendering and disrespect toward transgender and non-binary members of the caucus during the annual meeting last night, which is not in line with DFL values or the code of conduct.
You will find attached the details of my complaint, a witness statement, and the names and emails of other witnesses willing to speak to the matter, as well screenshots from my chat transcript, which unfortunately did not capture all instances but did capture many of them.
I am aware that Cyndy Martin, one of the named persons in the complaint, sits on the committee as well as several others who were present in the meeting and part of the misgendering. I would ask that they recuse themselves from this matter - persons involved in a complaint cannot investigate themselves in a case against them. Recusal is best practice. In addition, I am asking that the Chair step in an appoint a special investigator from outside both the Feminist Caucus and the Code of Conduct Committee to investigate this matter.
The actions I am requesting from this complaint are as follows:
- decertification of the feminist caucus as an community caucus within the DFL. Decertification should include the revocation of any ability to make endorsements or use the DFL name until such a time as the leadership has shown they can uphold DFL values with regard to trans members of the party.
- Leadership of the caucus and named persons in the complaint be placed on probation according to party procedures . As a condition of this probation, I request written apologies from each person involved, as well as training required on pronoun usage (with the trainer paid an appropriate amount for their time and expertise) and an additional training on intersectional feminism and the history of the feminist movement in the US.
Thank you for your timely attention to this matter. We exist in a country where the President himself has attempted to declare my gender illegal, and it is imperative that the DFL root out transphobia in all forms lest it fall prey to the idea that we can sacrifice one marginalized group to the wolves and expect that our morals will survive intact.
