The Center for Applied Transgender Studies is proud to host the next event in its 2023 Distinguished Lecture Series. Events in the series feature world-leading transgender scholars discussing their own original research with a broad audience of scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and interested laypersons. These events are virtual, free to attend, and open to the public.

This lecture will be given by Joanna Wuest, and will celebrate the launch of her new book Born This Way: Science, Citizenship, and Inequality in the American LGBTQ+ Movement (University of Chicago Press, 2023). The event will also include a moderated discussion with Executive Director TJ Billard.

Across protests and courtrooms, LGBTQ+ advocates argue that sexual and gender identities are innate. Oppositely, conservatives incite panic over “groomers” and a contagious “gender ideology” that corrupts susceptible children. Yet, as this debate rages on, the history of what first compelled the hunt for homosexuality’s biological origin story may hold answers for the queer rights movement’s future. Born This Way tells this story, bridging past fights against pathological accounts of queer desire and searches for a “gay gene” with ongoing scientific and political conversations about what it means to be a man or a woman, gay or straight, cis or trans. The book reveals how scientific and medical professionals came to bolster the fight for civil rights, how conservatives have fought back against equality and science alike, and what pitfalls biological narratives of identity present trans advocates today.

The talk will take place from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Central Standard Time.

To register for the lecture, visit: https://bit.ly/CATSDL-5