News & Commentary written by 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.

Prior to joining the ACLU, Chase was an Equal Justice Works fellow and the Director of Prisoner Justice Initiatives at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where he represented transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in confinement settings. In 2012, Chase co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund, an organization that provides direct bail/bond assistance to LGBTQ immigrants in criminal and immigration cases. Chase is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and Grinnell College.

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.

Selected Appearances:

Rachel Maddow, Vice, NowThis, PBS NewsHour, Democracy Now, Pod Save America

Selected Commentary:

Trans and Abortion Rights Activists Are Fighting for The Same Thing, TIME What Is a “Male Body”?, Slate; The new war on identity politics is actually a very old way of repressing marginalized Americans, Quartz; To My Fellow White Others, The Progressive

Awards & Honors:

Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Fellow (2018-19); Association of LGBTQ Journalists, Excellence in Opinion/Editorial Writing Award (2018); Honorary Degree recipient, Grinnell College (May 2018); National LGBT Bar Association, Top 40 LGBT Lawyers Under 40 (2018); Northeastern University School of Law Daynard Distinguished Visiting Fellow (Winter 2018); Callen-Lorde Community Health Award Recipient (November 2017); BitchMedia “Bitch 50” Recognition of 50 individuals who have used their “creative or political power to further advance visibility, equality, or access for marginal folks.” (Summer 2017); NBCOut #Pride30 Recipient (Summer 2017); Sylvia Rivera Law Project Attorneys and Advocates Award recipient (2015); New York City Council Outstanding LGBT Champion recognition (June 2014); Trans100 Recipient (2014)