Bio
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)
Featured work

Aug 21, 2018
Deadly Violence Against Transgender People Is on the Rise. The Government Isn’t Helping.

May 25, 2018
The Trump Administration Is Attacking Trans People in Federal Prison

Dec 15, 2017
The Fight for Open Transgender Military Service Is Only Beginning

Nov 9, 2017
Our Fight to Defeat the Transgender Military Ban Enters a New Phase

Oct 26, 2017
Stop Performing Nonconsensual, Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Young Intersex Children

Oct 18, 2017
The University of North Carolina Continues to Defend Its Right to Discriminate Against the Trans Community

Sep 22, 2017
The Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court Case Is One Piece of a Much Larger Attack on LGBTQ Lives

Sep 14, 2017
We Are Asking the Court to Put an Immediate Stop to the President’s Anti-Trans Military Ban