Leslie Blackburn, Running for Lodi Township Trustee
2024 Election Pride Source Candidate Survey Response
The 2024 Pride Source Media Voters Guide Candidate Survey sought the responses from Michigan candidates running for office in the Nov. 5 election. We asked candidates to respond to key issues impacting the Michigan LGBTQ+ community and about their visions for the future. Visit vote411.org to learn more about the candidates and issues on your ballot.
Candidate: Leslie Blackburn
Running for Lodi Township Trustee
Incumbent? No.
Campaign Contact Info
(734) 219-9352
[email protected]
Facebook: leslieforlodi
Instagram: leslieforlodi
Candidate background
Education:
The Ohio State University, BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America (BCTA/NA) - Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist
Professional experience:
2024: now retired, publishing my first book, community work and launching campaign for Lodi Township Trustee
2023 - present: founding member of Livable Lodi, a passionate group of neighbors, advocating for better land use decisions in our township.
2021 - ongoing: collective-liberation-centered community building, process work, world work, unlearning old styles and learning more equitable, multi-cultural ways of facilitation and organization
2007 - 2023: 15 years as Self employed, Empowerment and Body sovereignty work, Spiritual Coach, Radio show host, speaker, presenter
1993 - 2008: 15 years at Ford Motor Company, engineering and engineering management, including 10 years as an endurance athlete
What is your affiliation with the LGBTQ+ community?
I am a queer, genderqueer, omnisexual being who supports myself and all beings to be who they are.
Tell us about your top priorities and how you plan to achieve those goals.
The three pillars of my campaign:
1) Protect the Land - Advocate for better land use decisions that balance nature, tree preservation, our rural agricultural heritage and community needs.
2) Share the Process - Push for government transparency and ensure public rights are respected. Improve our communication with residents including: posting meeting packets publicly, recording our public meetings, posting those recordings on the website, sharing public notices in a way that is easily subscribable.
3) Empower the People - Facilitate accessibility and inclusivity in township meetings, create a safe space for all voices to be heard. Create a working list of priorities that is available on the website, and a suggestions/feedback mechanism so people can send input and trust that it's being seen by all involved.
These basics are a simple start with huge benefits. Ways to do them are freely available with today’s technology, requiring little to no additional cost to the township.
Why are you the best candidate for this position?
I’m a passionate advocate for community empowerment, bringing a unique fusion of technical expertise and nature-inspired wisdom to my campaign for public office. I have a robust background and over fifty years of life experience including a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering, 15 years in corporate engineering and management, and another 15 as an entrepreneur in empowerment, healing and body sovereignty work. I’ve honed problem-solving skills, community facilitation, and strategic planning abilities, offering efficient solutions to intricate challenges. I am now answering my calling to serve both the land and the broader human community, which led me into the realm of politics.
As a mom, my vision emphasizes care and connection, aiming to create governance that is fair, transparent, inclusive, and prioritizes the needs of all residents. My approach is characterized by a blend of joy, wisdom, and a commitment to care—for our bodies, each other, and for the planet we call home.
How do you plan to represent and advocate for the needs of LGBTQ+ community members?
I will support pro-LGBTQ+ policies, and fight things like any sort of trans or queer phobic practices. One example I foresee is to revise the language in the Lodi Township Master Plan and Ordinances that makes gendered or misogynistic assumptions. I will support adopting a Michigan order regarding use of pronouns, names or other respectful titles in our interactions with the public. I will also teach by example, having our township board member names and pronouns displayed during board meetings so people know who we are.
State your position on transgender rights and how your office would work to protect this vulnerable population — particularly Black trans women, who are overrepresented in stats related to violence, the judicial system, homelessness, substance abuse and other serious issues.
Trans rights are human rights, I am an advocate for caring for our collective human family.
I acknowledge the inequities in so many facets of our world for BIPOC and queer, trans and non-binary people. And the compounded factors of intersectionality. All these in areas of health and access to health care, access to housing, jobs, good food, clean water and more. Specifically in our area, I see the disparity of needs between the east areas of Washtenaw County and the west - like Lodi Township (where I reside) and others. My work in the world is connected with my prayer: may humans remember wisdom and compassion, right relationship and accountability and care. May we remember we are all interconnected, and our liberation is bound up together. May we acknowledge our differences as valuable. May we acknowledge where we have privilege and use it equitably.
I pledge to do my best to support our black and brown and trans residents of Lodi Township to have fair and equitable access to the resources in the township, as well as collaborate with our neighboring townships and communities to do better as a county.
In particular, I acknowledge the affordable housing crisis in Washtenaw County and will do my best to listen and amplify the underrepresented voices in our county, and support ways to improve access as we make land use decisions.
In our township, we have development pressures on an arc of destroying intact native forests and wetlands to build luxury homes. We don't need more luxury homes, we need to preserve native ecosystems, land and open space as well as create affordable housing in balance with the land and the neighbors.
Since Lodi Township doesn't have municipal water and sewer infrastructure, we have to be particularly conscious about this in our urban planning. We need to learn our rights as a local government in relationship with developers so that they aren't the ones running the show, we are. The board is. Listening to the people. We need to make the choices that are in right balance for the land and each other and our neighbors -- human, and other than human. I believe we need to be really creative and proactive in how we plan to land use in Lodi Township and setting up our regions with that proactive view. We need to work with the local conservation groups and watershed councils to plan out our green infrastructure as we look at our community and housing planning.
Then we can look at those regions where maybe we can tie into municipal and water and sewer systems in neighboring communities, and use land that's already been impacted by clear cutting, so that the land we're using to build from for higher density affordable housing is the right choice that's in that balance.
I see two of the problems that we've had in the township: either getting derailed by development pressures and actually having the developers decide what's right, OR ignoring it all together and not recognizing affordable housing as an issue.
I'm here to make a difference. I am pledging to listen to do my best to make equitable, fair, kind choices around how we use land and protect land and care for each other as neighbors here in Lodi Township and in Washtenaw County.
Homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth and young adults is a persistent issue in Michigan. How would your office make a positive impact for young LGBTQ+ people facing housing insecurity?
I’ve been learning about and gathering resources for those experiencing homelessness in our county, in particular to support a trans family member. I would like to make these resources known and available for others in the area.
Also, I want to take another look at our ordinances regarding small housing options /tiny home/caretaker quarters so that we can have more ways to support LGBTQ+ youth and young adults to have access to housing as they transition to spaces of their own.
State your position on abortion and other issues related to women’s reproductive health.
For me and in my work in the world with empowerment, body sovereignty and reproductive freedom are core values. As an assigned-female-at-birth genderqueer person who is also a mama, not only do I personally insist on access to abortion as a birthright, I have organized publicly to support it.
I support reproductive freedom and body sovereignty for all beings.
Super clear to me: I support “hands off our bodies”, each person has a right to make their own choices about their bodies. Period.
How do you feel about drag queens?
I support all beings' right to be and express who they are without creating hate and harm. I also support the arts and performance. To me it’s a balance of delighting in self-expression, and yet not fetishizing, especially trans black women, and creating more oppression. Drag queens are people, and like all people are an important part of our society and not to be hated on or fetishized. It’s really quite simple: caring for humanity.
On Marriage Equality: After the overturning of Roe v Wade, many question if the U.S. Supreme Court will revisit their 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Would you support any legislation that undermines the rights of same-sex couples to marry? (Yes or No — feel free to elaborate)
No. I support the rights of same-sex couples to marry..
On K-12 School Curriculum: States such as Florida have passed legislation preventing teachers, counselors and coaches from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with their students, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" bills. Other states have passed legislation requiring LGBTQ+ inclusion in K-12 curricula, often determined by the local school district to determine how to effectively integrate learning materials throughout.
Michigan currently has neither a ban nor a requirement. Would you support legislation requiring Michigan schools to teach about LGBTQ+ people and identities in history and social sciences? (Yes or No — feel free to elaborate)
Yes, education and awareness supports empowerment.
How would your office help people struggling financially?
One example: free recycling services are offered to township residents and cards that give the access are mailed to property owners. However, the cards that give this free access are not currently mailed to our mobile home park residents, with the expectation that they will know about it and come to the office to pick one up. This is an unacceptable barrier to access this important service that disproportionately impacts folx with financial struggles. I will change this harmful practice and ensure all of our township residents are aware they have this service available to them and that they receive the cards in the mail.
Our township is a mostly white, economically privileged area that in addition to the needs of our residents, needs to be aware of the needs of our neighboring townships. I will create regional partnerships to listen to our communities across Washtenaw County. I have already demonstrated amplifying the voices of the underrepresented regions in the eastern parts of our county at our county board meeting when funds were being allocated from federal COVID relief. I will continue to listen to the needs of our residents and our fellow townships across the county and advocate for support equitably.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I am honored to have been featured in this past Pride Source article: https://pridesource.com/article/meet-10-lgbtq-candidates-running-for-office-in-michigan
I am proud to have earned the most votes in the primary in the trustee race. I personally knocked hundreds of doors before the primary and continue to as we now head toward the general election. I am also proud to be endorsed by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, LPAC, and Planned Parenthood.
Visit vote411.org and michiganvoting.org to learn about the candidates and issues on your ballot and to make a voting plan.