Several colleagues from the library were among the Harvard Law School staff members who attended a talk this morning given by Ellen (Ellie) Krug, who transitioned from male to female while working as a trial lawyer and heading a law firm in Iowa in 2009. Today, Ellie travels around the country to talk to audiences about coming out as a transgender person, and discusses the roles that vulnerability, authenticity, and compassion play in accepting yourself and others.
She opened, appropriately, by reminding us that “we’re all working to survive the human condition.” She followed by making it especially clear that she was not there to speak about or for all trans/non-binary people.
Then, she began the educational part of the program by describing the three camps in the transgender world:
- Gender Correctors:
People who live their life presenting according to their birth gender, until they decide that they have had enough of that life and need to correct. - Trans Kids and Trans Youth:
Children and young people who identify and declare early that they are not their assigned gender. Because of the expansion of the internet, this group has grown much larger in the last 20-25 years, as they and their families can more readily research what this means and connect with others who are also going through the same experience. - People Not Identifying As Male or Female: These people may be called gender non-binary, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, genderfluid, or something else.
Tip: Visit http://www.transstudent.org/definitions/ for a comprehensive list of definitions of LGBTQ+ terms.
During the next part of her talk, she discussed three concepts that are critical to transgender people and their experience.
- Gender Identity:
This is how you perceive your gender according to your brain. It is private, secret, and can be accompanied by fear. Not only can people facing gender identity issues be afraid of losing everything they have built and would build by staying in their birth gender, but also of being being marginalized and ending up alone. Stating that you do not identify with the gender you were assigned at birth can cause confusion to people who are “cisgender” (someone who identifies as the gender to which they were assigned when they were born). - Gender Expression:
This how how you express your gender in public. It is a means by which people, by wearing certain clothes and accessories and adopting certain physical characteristics, make an effort to “grab authenticity.” - Transitioning Genders:
For some (but not all) people, this is the final stage in the path toward living with gender authenticity. It can involve elements that are social (changing your name, changing your government identity documents, taking hormones) and surgical. Note that not everyone chooses to have surgery. It is expensive ($30-35,000) and takes a long time; also, in some places, there is a lack of access to health care professionals who can perform it.
Following a brief discussion of her own experience, Ellie discussed the concept of choice. She made it very clear that transitioning from male to female was more than just a choice for her: it was an issue of survival because identifying as a woman was such a fundamental part of her core identity. She also mentioned that she is much happier, relaxed, and more comfortable with herself now, and that people who have known her for a long time tell her that she is a much better person as a woman than she was as a man.
Finally, Ellie advised us about how we, as members of the law school community, can be more welcoming to trans and gender non-conforming people. At the top of the list? PRONOUNS. Using someone’s preferred pronoun shows that you see them as a human being. If you make a mistake, apologize and move on. Ellie also listed a number of things that trans people should not be asked to do: educate non-trans people about trans issues, be a spokesperson for the trans community, or discuss their own experience with surgery or hormones. Finally, when it comes to bathrooms, encourage them to use the bathroom of their choice.
Tip: To view a map of gender-inclusive bathrooms on the Harvard Law School campus, visit https://hls.harvard.edu/content/uploads/2018/10/HLS-Map-Gender-Inclusive-Bathrooms.pdf.
At the end of her talk, Ellie reminded us of three important points to remember when working with any law students, but especially trans students:
- “Human authenticity won’t leave you alone until you listen.”
- Many people, especially in a law school environment, feel that they are not good enough or a failure.
- It is important to have compassion, for both your students and yourself.
Tip: Regarding point #2, this is often referred to as “impostor syndrome.” I attended and wrote a blog post about an excellent program on impostor syndrome at the American Association of Law Libraries annual meeting in 2018.
Obviously a blog post cannot do justice to what a powerful speaker and human being Ellie is. My hope in writing this is that people take away the educational points that we learned from her, and feel encouraged to attend one of her talks themselves. To learn more about Ellie and her work, visit https://elliekrug.com/.
You can also explore the Harvard Library collections’ works on this topic by searching the HOLLIS library catalog using these pre-populated searches:
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Gays — Legal Status, Laws, Etc.”
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Gender Identity — Law and Legislation”
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Queer Theory” AND Keywords Anywhere = “Law OR Legal”
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Sexual Minorities” AND Keywords Anywhere = “Law OR Legal”
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Transgender People — Civil Rights”
- HOLLIS search: Subject = “Transphobia — Law and Legislation”