TINA KOTEK
GOVERNOR
STATE OF OREGON
Oregon’s first openly LGBTQ+ governor. A gay volunteer documented identity-based targeting by her state employees. Her appointed director shielded the abusers. She was notified. She chose silence.
DOCUMENTED ACTIONS
November 18, 2025
Formal complaint filed with the Governor’s office. No response.
December 12, 2025
Comprehensive documentation sent to her campaign. No response.
December 2025 – present
Her campaign manager has been carbon copied on nearly every piece of correspondence in this case for half a year. Complete silence.
March 24, 2026
On the one-year anniversary of the dismissal, armed officers arrived at a locked federal gate on restricted federal land where I live and work as a U.S. Forest Service caretaker. One was a federal special agent. Two were unidentified state officers. They said they were concerned about what I was posting online. The governor remained silent.
WHAT THIS ESTABLISHES
Governor Kotek sits at the top of the hierarchy that shielded every actor in this case. Her appointed director received comprehensive evidence of abuse, retaliation, and identity-based targeting — and chose institutional avoidance. The governor was notified directly. She chose silence.
Her silence is not neutral. It is the final layer of institutional protection. When every internal channel has failed — from the park to the director to the governor’s office — and the institution’s response is to send armed officers to a volunteer’s door, the governor’s silence becomes the architecture that makes it possible.
She shattered a barrier that existed for 166 years. She spent her career fighting for queer Oregonians. When it was time to protect one of her own from documented abuse by her state employees, police arrived at his door.