November 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember and reflect on lives lost to anti-trans violence.
This year, Allard Law student groups UBC Outlaws and Trallard are hosting a teach-in and memorial open to all members of the UBC community. We spoke with second-year law student and Outlaws President Max Wilkinson (they/them) about why this day is important and about making change in law school and the legal profession.
What inspired you to join Outlaws and take on a leadership role?
Before coming to law school, I was seeing social movements coming up against legal barriers to change. I was also attending climate conferences internationally in countries where being gay was a crime. I was like, “What does that mean for me?” I came to law school to figure out how I could use my skillset to help.
As a law student, I was looking for spaces to do this work. I became the 1L rep for Outlaws in my second semester, and was then ‘voluntold’ for the role of president. But it was always my plan to focus on how we can make Allard a better place for queer and trans students and build a culture of lawyers who are going to stand up for our rights. I feel lucky to be able to do that.
What are some of the activities that Outlaws and Trallard are involved in? What’s your approach to building community at Allard?
Outlaws and Trallard play a double role. We do community building through events like pub nights and lunchtime socials and advocacy work to raise awareness about queer and trans issues and the role of the legal profession in advancing trans rights.
Last year, we started focusing more on advocacy, after realizing there was not a lot of space for discussions about why queer and trans rights are important. The first event I organized was a panel on trans rights and the role of the legal profession, featuring queer and trans lawyers, including barbara findlay, one of the most well-known queer-rights lawyers in Vancouver.
Why is it so important to focus on advocacy work now?
It’s hard to talk about trans rights in Canada without talking about the States, where we’ve seen so much anti-trans legislation. While anti-trans legislation has been on the rise in the United States for a number of years, today things are quickly going from bad to worse. Trans and gender diverse people are being subject to so much hate, including through immense legislative violence.
And here in Canada, a number of provinces have recently passed legislation restricting the rights of transgender people. For instance, Alberta and Saskatchewan recently passed anti-trans legislation that requires students under 16 to obtain parental consent before changing their names or pronouns at school, which could force teachers to out students to their parents. When this legislation came through, people were extremely concerned because homes are often not the safest spaces for a lot of queer and trans students.
Tell us about the Transgender Day of Remembrance teach-in taking place on November 20. What do you hope the UBC community takes away from this event?
The Trans Day of Remembrance is typically honoured by vigils that spotlight why this day is important and that create a safe space for our community to mourn. There is also a reading of the names of those who have been killed by anti-trans violence. That list is incomplete, but every year it’s around 300 to 400 folks.
Importantly, the day recognizes that those most affected by anti-trans violence are Black and Indigenous transgender women. We cannot talk about transphobia without understanding that it is deeply connected to other forms of oppression, including racism, misogyny, classism, violence against sex workers, and ableism.
Our event opens with a teach-in, followed by a memorial. In planning the event, we asked ourselves, how can we bring the reality of queer and trans rights issues home at Allard Law?
It’s quite a heavy day. Every time you hear a story about anti-trans violence, it’s striking just how pervasive it is and how erased the names are.
Why is it particularly important for law students to understand these types of issues?
In my experience, a surprising number of lawyers haven’t met a gender diverse or trans person before and don’t have a lot of competencies around how to approach these conversations in a respectful way. Another piece is making sure that folks are aware of the immense harms that trans communities continue to face.
I also see lawyers as holding immense epistemic capital. As a lawyer you’re conferred this amount of respect and legitimacy that a lot of folks don’t have access to. Many lawyers go on to become politicians, do pro bono work, and work for big corporate clients who have immense power.
So, lawyers have an amazing potential to create change. It’s important that, as law students, we see our agency. My hope is that people who come through Allard will have the confidence to stand up for these issues as lawyers who not only are really good at law, but are also really good at showing up for one another in a time of increased attacks on our rights.
Remembrance & Resistance: A Teach-In for the Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place on November 20. All members of the UBC community are invited to attend.
