TRANSgressions: Rights, Wrongs, and Liberal Pieties

What happens when trans people in the public eye commit real or perceived wrongs? In January 2025, after having swept the Best Actress category at Cannes and then the European Film Awards for her role in the musical crime drama Emilia Pérez, Karla Sofia Gascón, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for an Oscar, ran into trouble. A series of racist and Islamophobic Tweets dating from 2019 shocked skeptics and admirers alike, catalyzing a social media pile-on and ultimately costing the actress an Academy Award many believed she was a shoo-in for. Public apologies notwithstanding, the uproar over the Tweets—much of it savagely transphobic—wound up eclipsing substantive criticisms of the film itself—namely, its own racist stereotyping of Mexicans and its trivialization of the structural damage that the illicit drug trade has wreaked on Mexican social life for decades. 

Taking this episode into consideration, alongside other such instances, historical and contemporary, of trans people behaving “badly,” we invite you to join us this Pride Month for a panel discussion that asks: By what criteria—or liberal pieties, or social justice aims—are these “wrongs” evaluated? What political or ethical assumptions tend to get made of particular gender identities—whether by transphobic or trans-affirming interests? And what kind of trans experience gets a public airing at all, why, and in service of what?

BISR faculty Hannah Leffingwell, Rebecca Ariel Porte, Ruth Averbach, and Sophie Lewis will sit down on Friday, June 27th, at BISR Central to undertake a critical analysis of “trans wrongs” and the expectations that set those who commit them up for public rebuke. What does “positive” representation afford to transgender people, and what does it foreclose? What counts as “good” politics for queer people? 

The event is free to attend, with a suggested $10 donation. Beer, wine, seltzer, and snacks will be served. Please RSVP below. 

Event Schedule

Friday, 7:00pm ET
June 27, 2025

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