A trans law student expresses concern about the future of legal protections for transgender individuals in the face of increasingly hostile legislation and societal attitudes.
Lawyer and transgender rights activist Chase Strangio speaks after arguing in a transgender rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court on December 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. to orally argue a case before the Supreme Court. Strangio, a co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, appeared on behalf of the parents of a 16-year-old daughter challenging a law that banned puberty blockers, hormone therapies and gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth.
While the presence of Strangio in the country’s highest court is so important, many trans law students like myself worry we may not have the same opportunity in the future with the way things are headed. I came into this profession to fight for my community, but by the time I graduate, I fear that legal protections for trans people will have been eroded. Tennessee was one of 19 states that passed such laws in 2023 — my first year of law school. Today, 60% of trans and nonbinary youth report that the relentless political attacks have worsened their mental health. The impact of these laws, though, cannot be reduced only to statistics — they have affected not only me, personally. Take me, for example. Law school’s first year is brutal — it is intensive and arguably a hazing ritual designed to break you down. However, I could barely concentrate on my legal studies with the far right trying to literally erase our existence. Every day it seems to grow more and more impossible to envision any future where trans people will ever be safe. But I’m a staunch believer that the law can be used as a sort of harm reduction and that it can protect us from the worst excesses of bigotry. Yet, I found myself feeling deeply isolated. Many of my fellow law students, as well as my professors, were not only unaware of these attacks but indifferent, believing it wasn’t their community being targeted and that they were “safe” in Colorado.This sense of abandonment was especially painful within a legal environment that prides itself on its commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, public interest and social justice
Transgender Rights Legal Protections Discrimination Mental Health Political Climate
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