On April 2, the Smith College Office of Equity and Inclusion co-sponsored a panel titled “Trans Rights: A Historical and Legal Perspective” to discuss the uncertain landscape for the rights of transgender people in the United States.
The Smith College Community Care Coordination Team, Resource Center for Sexuality and Gender, Office of the Dean of the College and Lewis Global Studies Center joined the Office of Equity and Inclusion to bring this panel to life in the wake of recent political attacks on trans people.
The panel featured Smith College professors Nathan DuFord and Cat Dawson alongside Hampshire College’s professor RL Goldberg, three experts in gender studies and transgender politics. Alexandra Keller, dean of the college, opened the panel with a brief overview of recent legislation and the activism and backlash it has faced before turning the floor over to the panelists.
DuFord, discussing edicts from President Trump that seek to define the terms of gender and sex, reminded the audience that politics cannot control scientific facts.
“You don’t need to ‘establish the reality’ of things that already exist,” he said, criticizing an executive order enacted in January. “The president is ‘establishing’ a biological reality, but this is not how biological or scientific knowledge comes about.”
DuFord described the administration’s approach to issues of gender identity as “anxious”––but the scientific leaps that such policies take do not mean that they cannot cause harm.
“We do have to take this seriously,” Goldberg said, who emphasized that the treatment of trans people is interconnected to the rights and freedoms of other marginalized groups.
While recognizing the gravity of the political landscape is necessary, the panelists also emphasized the exigency of self-care.
“In times of uncertainty, it’s really important to take stock of what you might need and what steps you can take to make those things happen,” Dawson said. “We can’t do anything for the movement or for others if we are not ourselves in a place to act.”
According to the panelists, the increasingly tense political atmosphere surrounding trans issues means that protecting the safety of those most vulnerable to attacks is imperative.
“Going about our lives unquestionably is not possible right now,” DuFord said, but there are always places to find hope, comfort and empowerment.
Dawson urged the community to “do the kinds of the things we encourage at Smith College” by thinking critically about the information in the news and how to interact with it effectively.
“Finding light is what makes all of this work,” Dawson said. “We need to look to the places around us to find the moments that charge us and build out from them.”
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