As LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people, flee Texas, blue cities like Seattle are seeing an influx of new residents.

For some ex-Texans, Seattle has become a haven. Victoria Scott, a trans woman and freelance writer, lived in Houston working as a programmer at NASA after college in 2018. After coming out as transgender, she said that she found both Houston and Texas hostile. Scott moved around and lived briefly in Reno, Nevada, before settling in Seattle with her wife at the end of 2023. In Seattle, Scott found the foundation she had long needed.

"It's done more for my day-to-day lived experience and mental health as a trans woman than basically any other thing I've ever done," Scott told Chron.