Talk:Chase Strangio

This is not a notable entry and appears to be an attempt to create a LinkedIn profile for a relatively unknown lawyer.

Chase Strangio appears to be a fairly unremarkable attorney working at the ACLU. Strangio's career is not particularly noteworthy. Strangio is simply just one of hundreds of staff attorneys at the ACLU.

Without making any comment on Strangio's competencies as a lawyer, nothing about this article justifies inclusion on Wikipedia. As described by the article and some brief research online, Strangio's career involves a few appearances on television that do not merit a breakaway Wikipedia article. If Chase Strangio satisfies Wikipedia's notability standards, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notability, then virtually any lawyer who has practiced for over ten years and has been interviewed about their professions is going to satisfy Wikipedia. That is a vast number of individuals; for example, many corporate lawyers routinely make headlines by virtue of their name appearing on the docket of a prominent matter. Most do not have entries on Wikipedia, and that is good policy. First, Wikipedia would be actively hurt by the appearance of every lawyer attempting to create a biography for themselves on Wikipedia. It would needlessly commercialize the platform by allowing individuals to attempt to coopt Wikipedia's reputation for noteworthiness for themselves. Indeed, countless doctors, researchers, businesspersons, government employees and other people working in and in front of the public eye do not have articles, and should not, because Wikipedia is not LinkedIn and should remain that way.

In short, this is not a platform to advance the parochial interests of legal practitioners. Strangio's article dilutes Wikipedia and should be removed in its entirety. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.4.243.219 (talk • contribs) 13:01, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

I've replied to this identical comment in the deletion discussion. Funcrunch (talk) 19:34, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

Birth name

Any public information from reliable sources about his birth name? --2604:2000:1280:4288:2849:CD8E:80F8:DACA (talk) 03:16, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

As Strangio did not become notable before his transition, his birth name is not relevant to include in this article. Funcrunch (talk) 05:03, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

If it is mentioned anywhere in reliable sources it can belong in the article too. --2604:2000:1280:4288:2849:CD8E:80F8:DACA (talk) 13:06, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Just because something is mentioned in a reliable source doesn't mean we need to include it. Adding Strangio's birth name (deadname) would add nothing of importance to this article. Deadnaming is harmful to trans people and should be avoided whenever possible. Funcrunch (talk) 19:29, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

If Strangio is transgender, that is an essential bit of information about him that should be included in the article. It is part of what makes Strangio notable. If the influence of trans people is causing Wikipedia to leave out such information, then that makes Wikipedia more useless than it already is. Trans people may want to erase their "dead" selves, but the "dead" selves of notable persons is part of history that should be included in encyclopedia articles. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.38.185.65 (talk) 05:54, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

I hear your opinion, but we should follow the MOS:GIDINFO, which says: " Aaronbrick (talk) 03:11, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

It says to exclude pre-notability deadnames . That is all. Aaronbrick (talk) 03:12, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

Adding onto this. MOS:GIDINFO says:

• "If a living transgender or non-binary person was not notable under a former name (a deadname), it should not be included in any page (including lists, redirects, disambiguation pages, category names, templates, etc.), even in quotations, even if reliable sourcing exists."
• "In the case of a living transgender or non-binary person, their birth name or former name (professional name, stage name, or pseudonym) should be included in the lead sentence of their main biographical article only if they were notable under that name."
• "If a transgender subject's former or legal name is not well known or widely reported, don't include it, even if it appears in a few reliable sources."

(Emphasis in original text)

Strangio was not notable before he came out as trans, unlike, say, Caitlyn Jenner and Elliot Page. Being transgender is part of what makes him notable, yes, but his deadname has nothing to do with his notability. Kravk (talk) 00:32, 6 December 2024 (UTC)

Remarks on Shrier book

(Tried and failed to do this with a dummy edit and edit summary, figured it's better being on the talk page anyway.)

Regarding these recent edits: FWIW, the protected status of Strangio's Twitter account is very recent, and may be temporary. Funcrunch (talk) 16:58, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Checking the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, it appears Strangio protected his Twitter account sometime between June 23 and June 26 (i.e., this week). Funcrunch (talk) 21:21, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

"Controversy and criticism" section

I removed this section for now. It was added by @Spotcorrector as follows:

Strangio has been widely criticized for using his position at the ACLU to engage in personally-motivated activism, including calling for the suppression of speech he considers "anti-transgender." After her book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters was called to be removed from circulation by Strangio on Twitter, where he wrote "stopping the circulation of this book and these ideas is 100% a hill I will die on," Abigail Shrier responded in the Wall Street Journal that "The notion that civil society required a marketplace of ideas was something liberals once believed—especially those who worked at the ACLU." Strangio later deleted his tweet. The New York Times subsequently reported that Strangio's tweet had "startled traditional backers [of the ACLU], who remembered its many fights against book censorship and banning." Strangio has also been criticized for centering his own experience as a transgender man in his fight against legislation preventing gender-questioning youth from accessing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. He has frequently argued in legal settings and in the media that gender-affirming care "saved my life," speaking of his own transition in his early 20s, as a justification for medicalizing gender-questioning youth. Just before the Skrmetti case was argued, Strangio wrote in the New York Times that his transition as an adult cured his "self-doubt....My only regret was how long it took for me to get that medical care and how many years I suffered without it."

There are multiple issues here:

• The tone is argumentative and non-encyclopedic (NPOV)
• The material added is irrelevant or duplicative (e.g., the New York Times op-ed is already mentioned elsewhere)
• @Spotcorrector deleted other text and references from the article to make this edit look smaller than it really was.

LegalSkeptic (talk) 14:47, 24 December 2024 (UTC) LegalSkeptic (talk) 14:47, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

Spotcorrector's edit reads to me as biased and politically motivated, especially taking into account some of their references (The Daily Caller?? Seriously?) IXequilibrium (talk) 01:54, 27 December 2024 (UTC)

Yes, the quality/bias of the references is definitely an issue. Other references are misinterpreted (Law Dork, which was praising, not criticizing, Strangio and other trans people for centering themselves in the Skrmetti oral arguments at the Supreme Court). Thank you for weighing in. I tend to make technical improvements to legal articles and don't often weigh in on controversial topics, so I second-guess myself when I revert an edit like this. Spotcorrector un-reverted my edit and then I re-reverted the article back to the status quo and left a note on their talk page inviting them to discuss the edits here to avoid an edit war. LegalSkeptic (talk) 17:07, 29 December 2024 (UTC)

References

Early life and education updates

Hello editors! My name's Sara and I work for the ACLU. I have drafted an updated version of this article, with improved sourcing.

Would anybody be willing to take a look at my request? I understand that I have a conflict of interest, so I'll never directly edit the article unless explicitly told to do so.

• Request: I would like to take what is currently in the Early life and education section, and replace it with the following version. The section is currently pretty sparse, and could be significantly expanded based on reliable sourcing. See below:

Early life and education

Strangio grew up in a Jewish family in Newton, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. When Strangio was in tenth grade, his parents, Joan and Mark, divorced. His father was soon remarried. His mother worked as a social worker and stayed in the family house. He attended Newton North High School and played on the soccer team. Strangio realized he was queer in high school, and graduated in 2000.

Strangio gained early admission to Williams College, but left after orientation and spent time working in Ohio near Oberlin College. He then enrolled at Grinnell College in Iowa, where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in history. While in college, he studied radical political aims and was critical of mainstream LGBTQ legal priorities.

After college, Strangio worked as a paralegal at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders in Boston before attending Northeastern University School of Law, where he focused on social justice. He interned at the Urban Justice Center’s Peter Cicchino Youth Project in New York City, working with homeless queer and transgender youth. Strangio came out as a transgender man while in law school, and graduated in 2010.

References

Let me know what you think, and thanks! ACLUSara (talk) 22:30, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

@ACLUSara: Hi ACLUSara and thanks for following our WP:COI guidelines! This mostly looks good to me, but I have one question. Looking at the article in its current form, I see a sentence that don't seem to carry over to your version: "After graduating from Northeastern in 2010, Strangio received a fellowship from the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) to continue developing his legal skills." Do you have an objection to including this sentence? Is it accurate? Thanks. Marquardtika (talk) 15:17, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Hello Marquardtika! It's inaccurate, since Strangio was not in a fellowship, but held a position with the organization after law school. See this Mother Jones article for a correct representation of his work there: "After law school, Strangio landed a position working for Spade’s Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New York City, juggling 50 or more cases at a time for gender-nonconforming clients". ACLUSara (talk) 16:01, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Got it! I'll go ahead and implement these changes. Marquardtika (talk) 17:50, 1 July 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the clarification, Marquardtika! I'll mention you in my next request here in case you're interested.

I also have other ACLU-related articles with similar open edit requests for Deborah Archer and Anthony D. Romero, if you're interested in taking a peek. ACLUSara (talk) 17:18, 6 July 2026 (UTC)

Career section

Hello editors! My name's Sara and I work for the ACLU. I have drafted an updated version of this article, with improved sourcing. Would anybody be willing to take a look at my request? Tagging you here, Marquardtika in case you wanted to take another peek.

• Request: I would like to take what is currently in the beginning of the Career section, and replace it with the following version. The current section is pretty sparse, and could again be significantly expanded based on reliable sourcing. Additionally, Strangio never worked as a public defender for Dean Spade, and the cited article does not support this information being included. See below:

Current live version

After law school, Strangio worked as a public defender for Dean Spade, the first openly trans law professor in the U.S. Spade's work had inspired Strangio while he was in college.

In 2012, Strangio and trans activist Lorena Borjas founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund to provide bail and bond assistance to trans people.

In 2013, Strangio began working for the ACLU. Strangio served as lead counsel for the ACLU team representing transgender U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning. He was also part of the team suing on behalf of trans student Gavin Grimm, who was denied access to the boys' restrooms at his school.

He worked on Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that every state must allow same-sex marriage.

References

Proposed version

After law school, Strangio received a fellowship at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), providing legal services to low-income transgender, intersex, and gender non-conforming people. Strangio and trans activist Lorena Borjas co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund in 2012 to provide bail and bond assistance to trans people.

Strangio began working for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 2013. He then became a lead counsel for US soldier Chelsea Manning in her lawsuit against the Department of Defense for access to gender-affirming medical treatment while in custody after she came out as transgender in 2013. In 2015, he won Manning's case against the U.S. Army and as a result, it was required to pay for Manning's hormone therapy in prison. Strangio co-organized a fundraiser for Manning which raised over $120,000 for her release. He wrote to President Barack Obama in 2016 requesting Manning’s release, with most of her sentence commuted the following year. He was also part of the team in 2015, suing on behalf of a trans high school student Gavin Grimm, who was denied access to the boys' restrooms at his school.

He worked on Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the US Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that every state must allow same-sex marriage. After joining the ACLU, media coverage about Strangio increased with high profile cases such as Manning, as well as from fighting the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service members and during the national debate over bathroom bills, like North Carolina's HB 2. In this case, he objected to messaging that described trans women as "born male" or "born with a male body", arguing instead that a trans woman is born a woman.

References

Let me know what you think, and thanks! ACLUSara (talk) 19:23, 10 July 2026 (UTC)