Congratulations to Associate Professor of Law , whose article 鈥溾�� received a Dukeminier Award recognizing outstanding achievement in legal scholarship related to sexual orientation and gender identity.听听
Each year, the Williams Institute and students at the UCLA School of Law publish the to acknowledge and distribute the best law review articles concerning various aspects of sexual orientation and gender identity law. 听
Skinner-Thompson's explains that even in school systems that are trying to support transgender students, students鈥� identities are subject to incredible degrees of scrutiny, oversight, and regulation. In other words, for students to live consistently with their gender identity at school, they often must submit their lives to examination by a bevy of gatekeepers including doctors, therapists, school administrators, and鈥攁t times鈥攖he broader community. 听听
鈥淚n essence, transgender students鈥� identities are governed by committee,鈥� Skinner-Thompson explained. 鈥淭his approach, while preferable to the many exclusionary laws banning transgender students from living as themselves, nevertheless greatly inhibits students鈥� self-determination. It also impacts students from different backgrounds unequally: those with supportive parents able to muster the social capital to navigate these bureaucracies may succeed, while those without such resources will not.鈥澨�
Through some of his , Skinner-Thompson has detailed the ways in which the lives of transgender people, including children, are under attack in many jurisdictions throughout the country. While those attacks are being challenged, Skinner-Thompson suggests that more must be done, especially by those that care about transgender lives.听听
鈥淚t is critical that we begin thinking about what kinds of systems we want in place once the exclusionary laws are struck down or repealed,鈥� Skinner-Thompson said. 鈥淢y research on how purportedly progressive jurisdictions are approaching transgender youth suggests we still have a ways to go in building infrastructure that permits and facilitates transgender lives. Indeed, perhaps the lesson of the research is that we need less infrastructure, less bureaucracy, and more freedom when it comes to sex and gender.鈥澨�
Skinner-Thompson plans to build on this work in the future.听 One of his current projects deals with a prominent argument against transgender rights that claims recognizing the existence of transgender people will lead to the influence of a particular 鈥済ender ideology.鈥� More specifically, it addresses the idea put forth by opponents of transgender rights that asserts people will be 鈥済roomed鈥� or 鈥渞ecruited鈥� to be transgender by transgender 鈥減redators.鈥澨�
鈥淢y research seeks to situate this argument in a broader context, explaining that to the extent law and society have a 鈥榞ender ideology,鈥� it is a cisnormative one designed to actively deter and refuse the existence of transgender people,鈥� Skinner-Thompson described. 鈥淭he article also explains how recognizing the existence of transgender people and creating space for gender freedom for those who find themselves questioning the accuracy of their sex assigned at birth does not endanger anyone.鈥澨�
Colorado Law is grateful to Professor Skinner-Thompson for his scholarship and engagement as a member of our faculty and looks forward to the impact his research will continue to make in the years to come. Congratulations, Professor Skinner-Thompson, on this well-earned recognition!听听听
鈥淚鈥檓 deeply honored that research focusing on how society can better support transgender students is being celebrated,鈥� Skinner-Thompson said. 鈥淏ut the real stars are brave transgender kids throughout the country and the world鈥攖hey risk so much simply by daring to be themselves and, in the process, they beautifully enrich all of our lives. They are an inspiration, and we owe them a debt of gratitude.鈥� 听
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