Making magic in dark times

I am currently a lawyer at the ACLU.

I'm based in New York.

I work on LGBTQ rights issues across the country, primarily through litigation in state and federal court.

I studied history and went to law school and I think always wanted to engage in some form of advocacy, although I think for a lot of my life thought law was not going to be the thing that made the types of change that I was hoping to make.

But I found my way first to legal services and then to impact litigation.

And now I feel like I'm an ACLU lifer, been at the organization for almost 14 years.

How did you decide you wanted to be a lawyer?

It was a combination of not knowing what to do.

And I was this young, queer, trans person.

I had, you know, sort of relied on school as my legitimizing force.

You know, I was like, oh, I can't be the right kind of gender or the right kind of sexual orientation.

At least I can be good at school.

And then at some point you're like, wait, what happens when school ends and what is my identity going to be? And so I think I was looking for, you know, some postgraduate studies that would allow me to feel like I was getting societal validation, even though I was feeling very much outside of all these dominant structures.

And so law is such a thing.

Easy way to do that.

You're like, oh, what do you do? I'm a lawyer.

And that feels legitimate to people in conversation.

And I think I was really struggling being this out queer and trans person in the late 90s, early 2000s.

And law was attractive in that way, though I had a lot of reservations.

I wanted to live somewhere where I felt like I could be safe and inhabiting my body and my queer and trans identities.

And then, you know, it was a tool.

I started law school in 2007.

I'd been a paralegal at what's now called GLBTQ, Advocates and Defenders in Boston, right after the first set of marriage equality cases that were successful in state courts.

So I was seeing, you know, the potentials of legal intervention.

And then also that was a time of substantial backlash that mirrors this current moment.

I am currently a lawyer at the ACLU.

I'm based in New York.

I work on LGBTQ rights issues across the country, primarily through litigation in state and federal court.

I studied history and went to law school and I think always wanted to engage in some form of advocacy, although I think for a lot of my life thought law was not going to be the thing that made the types of change that I was hoping to make.

But I found my way first to legal services and then to impact litigation.

And now I feel like I'm an ACLU lifer, been at the organization for almost 14 years.

How did you decide you wanted to be a lawyer?

It was a combination of not knowing what to do.

And I was this young, queer, trans person.

I had, you know, sort of relied on school as my legitimizing force.

You know, I was like, oh, I can't be the right kind of gender or the right kind of sexual orientation.

At least I can be good at school.

And then at some point you're like, wait, what happens when school ends and what is my identity going to be? And so I think I was looking for, you know, some postgraduate studies that would allow me to feel like I was getting societal validation, even though I was feeling very much outside of all these dominant structures.

And so law is such a thing.

Easy way to do that.

You're like, oh, what do you do? I'm a lawyer.

And that feels legitimate to people in conversation.

And I think I was really struggling being this out queer and trans person in the late 90s, early 2000s.

And law was attractive in that way, though I had a lot of reservations.

I wanted to live somewhere where I felt like I could be safe and inhabiting my body and my queer and trans identities.

And then, you know, it was a tool.

I started law school in 2007.

I'd been a paralegal at what's now called GLBTQ, Advocates and Defenders in Boston, right after the first set of marriage equality cases that were successful in state courts.

So I was seeing, you know, the potentials of legal intervention.

And then also that was a time of substantial backlash that mirrors this current moment.