Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson stood outside a Starbucks and said to boycott her city's most famous company.
Six months later, Starbucks is taking 2,000 jobs to Nashville and Wilson is staring at a $488 million deficit.
That didn’t stop her from finding one of the most outrageous ways to waste taxpayer money in the country.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson Launches Taxpayer-Funded Sex Change Surgery Program for Trans Refugees
Socialist Seattle Mayor KatieWilson's office formed the Trans and Queer Interdepartmental Team – the IDT – to financially support so-called "transgender refugees" fleeing Republican-run states.
The program held its official launch meeting on June 9.
Anyone who relocates to Seattle can now bill the city for their surgeries.
Those surgeries include breast implants and facial feminization procedures – operations where surgeons shave and remove facial bones to alter a man's appearance.
Housing and food assistance will also flow to the "refugees."
Wilson has not said how large the fund will be or where the money comes from.
She can't.
Seattle faces an estimated $175 million deficit next year alone, part of a nearly $500 million shortfall over the next three years.
Asked whether she could cut $175 million to balance the budget, Wilson went on the Seattle Channel.
"That is a terrifying prospect," Wilson said.
Taxpayer-funded facial bone surgery is apparently not.
Seattle LGBTQ Commission Pushed Trans Relocation Crisis With No Data to Back It Up
The program was pushed by the Seattle LGBTQ Commission, which demanded Wilson declare a civil emergency over what it called a "trans relocation crisis."
The commission's recommendation letter acknowledged that "specific numbers on trans migration to Seattle haven't been studied."
No one knows how many trans refugees there are but the commission wants the emergency declaration and the money regardless.
Antifa-affiliated Moto Hooligans joined the pressure campaign – the same group that drew attention for running armed training exercises with transgender recruits in Washington state forests.
The May 23 rally that launched the push took place at Cal Anderson Park – the former BLM-Antifa CHAZ/CHOP occupation zone.
According to Seattle Police sources, weapons have been turning up stashed around the park.
Wilson declined to declare a state of emergency. She launched the IDT instead – an accelerated city program with taxpayer funding, no price tag attached, and no data backing the crisis it was built to solve.
One local Republican confronted the Seattle City Council directly. Victoria told the council the IDT's "clear intent" was to redirect public funds to "pay for housing, food and elective and cosmetic medical procedures for trans individuals."
Her bigger concern was children.
Nothing in the program prevents surgeries on minors who haven't reached the age of consent.
Katie Wilson Drove Starbucks Out While Seattle Faces a $488 Million Budget Deficit
Howard Schultz built Starbucks in Seattle over five decades. In May, he published a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
"Seattle's mayor, Katie Wilson, has chosen to cast business as a foil rather than a partner," Schultz wrote. "Her socialist rhetoric vilifies employers, even while she continues to rely on them for revenue."
Starbucks is now investing $100 million in Nashville and moving up to 2,000 jobs to Tennessee.
The company cut 61 more Seattle positions the same day Schultz's op-ed ran.
Downtown Seattle has lost an estimated 30,000 jobs since Wilson's JumpStart payroll tax was implemented – a tax she championed as an activist before taking office.
Schultz left Seattle for Florida after Washington state passed a 9.9% income tax on households earning over $1 million.
Office vacancy in downtown Seattle has climbed above 32 percent.
When asked at a Seattle University event whether she was worried about wealthy residents leaving, Wilson laughed.
"I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown," she said. "And if – the ones that leave – like, bye."
She has since told the New York Times that her Starbucks boycott call "caused more harm than good."
Seattle is losing the people who pay for its government, and the damage from Wilson's first six months won't reverse with a walk-back to a reporter.
Wilson just launched an unfunded program to bring in a new group of people who won't replace them.
She can't name a price tag for the IDT. No data proves a crisis exists. The only budget commitment she's made is calling a $175 million cut "a terrifying prospect."
What she can do is tell Seattle's remaining taxpayers to cover the bill for surgeries that involve shaving bones off a man's face.
Sources:
- Will Potter, "Woke Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson urges transgender 'refugees' to come to her city," Daily Mail, July 2, 2026.
- "Seattle activists demand taxpayer-funded resources for trans 'refugees' allegedly fleeing red states," KVI 570, May 22, 2026.
- Jason Rantz, "Seattle's trans refugee crisis is a political fiction," Seattle Red, May 22, 2026.
- "Seattle's Socialist Mayor Now Panicking Over Businesses Leaving," The Daily Signal, May 27, 2026.
- "Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson waves 'bye' to millionaires who leave over taxes," Fox News, April 30, 2026.
- "Starbucks cuts jobs in Seattle as former CEO Howard Schultz blasts 'socialist' mayor," Fox News, May 12, 2026.
- "Seattle now faces nearly $500 million budget deficit as Mayor Katie Wilson considers new taxes," KVI 570, June 23, 2026.
