Dean Spade, legal expert on transgender issues and

founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, discusses what trans politics

can mean in the current political context and how we might understand

strategies for trans legal equality in these times. What role does or

should radical gender politics play in a historical moment marked by

trends of privatization, labor and environmental deregulation, and the

elimination of health and welfare programs, all of which contribute to

an overall upward distribution of wealth and decreasing life chances for

the poor? Neoliberalism's hallmarks are cooptation and incorporation,

meaning that the words and ideas of resistance movements are frequently

recast to become legitimizing tools for oppressive political agendas.

What can trans activists and our allies learn from these trends and how

can we conceptualize trans strategies that prioritize those who are the

objects of the violence produced by neoliberalism? This lecture took

place on February 9, 2009 at Barnard College.