How does American law treat transgender, genderfluid, nonbinary, agender, and gender- nonconforming people? What assumptions about gender operate in legal doctrines, and how do these assumptions interact with the lives of transgender people, especially those at the intersection of multiple axes of oppression?
This seminar will discuss contemporary cases involving transgender rights, as well as historical cases where the rights of transgender litigants were directly or indirectly contested. Readings will incorporate case law, sociological perspectives, critical race studies, feminist theory, and direct first-person narratives. By looking at law through the lens of transgender experiences, the class will critique legal assumptions about gender and reflect upon how law as a whole could be made less cis-normative.