In partnership with the ACLU of Southern California, we present a timely and important conversation about current transgender issues in our country with renowned award-winning artist, filmmaker, and national bestselling author Tourmaline. Tourmaline will also discuss her latest book, the first definitive biography of the revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson—one of the most important and remarkable figures in LGBTQIA+ history—and how her story and legacy can inspire us today.
“Less a traditional biography than a striking Polaroid of a movement in motion, Tourmaline’s roving literary lens captures Marsha’s multitudes in all their protean, mesmerizing glory.” — Los Angeles Review of Books
This event is part of the Circa: Queer Histories Festival presented by One Institute.
Featured Author and Moderator:
Tourmaline
Tourmaline is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, writer, and activist whose work is dedicated to Black trans joy and freedom. She is a TIME 100 Most Influential Person in the World awardee and a Guggenheim Fellow. She has frequently appeared on ABC News, as well as in the New York Times and Vogue. Her art is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Tate, and the Getty Museum. She created the critically acclaimed film Happy Birthday, Marsha!, and she has directed Pride campaigns for Dove, Marc Jacobs, and Reebok. She previously worked with Queers for Economic Justice and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. She lives in Miami, Florida.
Chase Strangio
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.
Chase was counsel in the ACLU’s challenge to North Carolina’s notorious HB2, Carcaño, et al. v. Cooper, et al, the ACLU’s challenge to Trump’s trans military ban, Stone v. Trump, and the case of Aimee Stephens, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC, which resulted in a landmark 6-3 ruling from the Supreme Court finding the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in employment extended to discrimination against LGBTQ workers.
On December 4, 2024, Strangio presented oral arguments on behalf of the private plaintiffs in U.S. v. Skrmetti, a landmark Supreme Court challenge brought by three families and a medical provider against a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.
