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AMANDA LEIGH SMITH

The Portland chapter of the Women’s March on Washington has faced organizational challenges since its inception, though it seemed most had been resolved when a new leadership team took over mere weeks before the city’s massive January 21 march.

Now it looks like the group is in trouble again. As the Oregonian reported last Friday, lead organizer Margaret Jacobsen recently released a statement on Facebook saying that the organization could not account for $22,000 that had been donated to the march through PDX Trans Pride, the event’s fiscal sponsor and an apparent nonprofit run by Rebekah “Katt” Brewis. Jacobsen says the funds were never transferred back to the Women’s March organizers, and also raised concerns that Brewis had represented PDX Trans Pride as an advocacy group while appearing to be its only member.

A statement posted to the PDX Trans Pride Facebook page disputed Jacobsen’s claims, and, in an apparent attempt to weaken Jacobsen and fellow organizers’ credibility, called them “jobless” and accused them of “transphobia.”

PDX Trans Pride is listed on the Oregon Secretary of State’s database of active nonprofits, but the only names associated with it are two variants of Brewis’ name—“Rebekah Katherine Brewis” and “Katherine Rebekah Brewis”—and Stephanie Rose Anderson, who is listed as the organization’s secretary. Other local trans activists and organizations have since disavowed Brewis’ organization publicly on social media.

Jacobsen declined to comment further on the matter, citing legal concerns.