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This edition: Trans Rights: Identity, Policy & Resistance


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Episode Details

Original tape date: August 19, 2025.

This special episode of One to One features a curated selection of two interviews with CUNY professors Paisley Currah and Red Washburn, offering a comprehensive look at the evolution and current state of transgender rights in the United States.

In the first segment taped in 2022, Paisley Currah (he/him), Professor of Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies at Brooklyn College and of Political Science, Women’s & Gender Studies, and English at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, discusses his book Sex Is as Sex Does: Governing Transgender Identity. Currah explores how government institutions inconsistently define gender to serve bureaucratic and political needs—such as determining eligibility for rights, resources, and public services. He critiques the increasing politicization of trans identities and the stark divide between progressive and conservative states in legislating trans rights. He also reflects on the importance of accurate identification for full civic participation and the historical role of state surveillance in regulating gender expression.
In the second segment taped in 2025, Red Washburn (they/he), professor of English and Women's and Gender studies at Kingsborough Community College and the CUNY Graduate Center, addresses the growing wave of anti-trans legislation. They highlight the serious harm caused by bans on gender-affirming care, restrictions on bathroom access, and barriers to sports participation for trans youth. Washburn challenges the notion of “fairness” in sports binary spaces and underscores the health risks and discrimination faced by transgender individuals. He places the current backlash in historical context, linking it to long-standing intersectional movements for civil rights and gender justice.

Together, these interviews offer both scholarly insight and personal perspective, illuminating the complexities of trans identity, policy, and resistance in today’s cultural and political climate.