Professor Ryan Thoreson: "Civil Rights and Anti-Transgender Backlash in the United States"

In recent years, state legislatures have filed hundreds of bills targeting LGBT rights, particularly the rights of transgender children. Many of these have passed into law, barring transgender people from accessing gender-affirming care, participating on sports teams, using bathrooms and other facilities, and presenting themselves consistent with their gender identity. This presentation will reflect on recent legislation and litigation and the impact that it has had on individuals, families, and communities, and offer thoughts on what the struggle for trans rights will involve in the years ahead.

Ryan Thoreson is an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where he teaches and writes on constitutional law, international human rights law, and law and sexuality. Previously, Thoreson was a researcher in the LGBT Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, where he worked on reports on LGBT issues in schools, religious exemptions, healthcare access, and anti-transgender violence. He holds a law degree from Yale Law School, a doctorate in anthropology from Oxford University, and a bachelor's degree in government and studies of women, gender, and sexuality from Harvard University.