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Five Questions with ACLU Lawyer Chase Strangio

The first openly transgender lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court

Joyce Vance

Jun 7

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Chase Strangio is Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project as well as a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Chase’s work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States.

Following the 2016 election, Chase wrote a column on Medium that beautifully captures the concerns and fears that have now materialized: “I can’t help but to walk into my sleeping four year-old’s room and look at her taking calm, unknowing breaths and realize that she is going to wake up to a world that scares her and it is my job to fight to make that world better. Not just for my kid but for the young people I work with, and fight with, and believe in. Not just because I want my loved ones to be safe but because our legal, political, and social structures were created to benefit people like me and to inherit that benefit, comes with a duty to disrupt it.” That’s what Chase has been doing ever since.

On December 4, 2024, Chase argued on behalf of the private plaintiffs in U.S. v. Skrmetti, the landmark Supreme Court challenge brought by three families and a medical provider against a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. While we await a decision in that case, we’re fortunate to have Chase’s insight to help us understand what’s coming.

“Five Questions” is the one Civil Discourse column that is exclusively for paid subscribers, my way of thanking you all for your support. Your paid subscriptions help me devote the time and resources necessary to the newsletter. The rest of the columns that make up Civil Discourse are available to everyone—knowledge is power, and we all need as much of that as possible right now! Thank you for being here and for caring about the future of our democracy.