Pembroke Center Publics Lecture | Gillian Branstetter, “The Panic Defense: How Trans Misogyny Fueled The Rise of Trump”

The Pembroke Center Publics Lecture SeriesThe Panic Defense: How Trans Misogyny Fueled The Rise of Trump. Gillian BranstetterMonday, Monday, April 14, 20254:00 p.m.Pembroke Hall 305Over the course of the last decade, few issues have been more galvanizing and unifying for the far-right in the U.S. and abroad than animus and fear toward transgender people. Because trans people threaten a fundamental pillar of nationalist ideologies and reactionary thought–a naturalized gender hierarchy they claim is innate yet in need of a police state to enforce–leaders of the far-right are driven to animate public anxieties against transgender people, enacting policies that police their bodies, their families, and their lives as a means of normalizing their anti-gender panic.This talk by Gillian Branstetter, a writer and media strategist based in Washington, D.C., will detail how this campaign targeting transgender people escalated over the course of Donald Trump’s rise and return to the U.S. presidency. It will address what all women have at stake indiscussions about transgender people’s freedom to determine what’s right for their own bodies and lives. And it will discuss how the principles and lessons of trans feminism can free all of us from the roles we’ve been assigned.Branstetter is Communications Strategist for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. Formerly of the National Women’s Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality, she works with advocates, storytellers, reporters, and artists to fight for a feminist world, one built upon the safety and dignity of queer people. She is an experienced spokesperson and writer featured on CNN, MSNBC,The New York Times, and theWashington Post, as well as a writer and reporter with work inThe Atlantic,Newsweek,Out Magazine,Reuters, and her newsletterThe Autonomy.Free and open to the public.Event accessibility information: To bypass stairs, visitors may enter via the automatic doors at the rear of the building, where there is a wheelchair-accessible elevator.Co-sponsored by the LGBTQIA+ Thinking Initiative.