Dean Spade (born 1977) is an American lawyer, writer, trans activist, and associate professor of law at

Seattle University School of Law Seattle University School of Law (formerly ''University of Puget Sound School of Law'') is the law school affiliated with Seattle University, located in Seattle, Washington, United States. The School is accredited by the American Bar Associat ...

Early life and education

Spade grew up in rural Virginia, the child of a single mother who was sometimes on welfare. At the age of 9, he joined his mother and sister in cleaning houses and offices to make money. Two years later, he started cleaning by himself and moved on to painting summer rentals for additional income. When he was 14 his mother died of lung cancer. Following her death, he lived with two sets of foster parents. Spade graduated

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

, and then graduated from the

UCLA School of Law The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

in 2001. He has written about seeking a

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

for

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

in Los Angeles during this time period, and how the reliance on a mental-health/disability model to gain access to such surgery did not fit a person with a

non-binary gender Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

expression.

Career

In 2002, he founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a non-profit law collective in New York City that provides free legal services to

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

and

gender non-conforming Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identi ...

people who are low-income and/or people of color. Spade was a staff attorney at SRLP from 2002 to 2006, during which time he presented testimony to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commissionhttp://www.nclrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_pr_prison_release_081905 , accessed 7-2-10 and helped achieve a major victory for transgender youth in foster care in the ''Jean Doe v. Bell'' case. Spade was also involved with the campaign in 2009 to stop Seattle from building a new jail.Holt, Emily (2/6/09)
"Activists oppose new Seattle jail proposal"
. ''The Spectator''.http://srlp.org/seattle , accessed 7-2-10 ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'' named Spade one of their "Forty Under 40" in May 2010."Forty Under 40."
'The Advocate' May 2010. ''

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne''; , ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

'' named Spade and

Tyrone Boucher Tyrone may refer to: * Kingdom of Tyrone or Tír Eoghain, a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland * County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland * Earl of Tyrone, a title in the Peerage of Ireland * Tyrone (name), a male given name Places Canada * Tyrone, O ...

on their list of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" in 2009,"50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World: Tyrone Boucher and Dean Spade: Cocreators, Enough."
'Utne Reader' November–December 2009. for their collaborative project ''Enough: The Personal Politics of Resisting Capitalism''.Enough: The Personal Politics of Resisting Capitalism
accessed 6-17-10 Spade was the 2009-2010 Haywood Burns Chair at

CUNY School of Law The City University of New York School of Law (CUNY School of Law, pronounced Help:IPA/English, /ˈkjuːni/, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KYOO-nee) is a Public university, public law school in New York City. It was founded in 1983 as part ...

, the Williams Institute Law Teaching Fellow at

UCLA Law School The University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, and was selected to give the 2009-2010 James A. Thomas Lecture at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

. He received a

Jesse Dukeminier Jesse Dukeminier (August 12, 1925 – April 20, 2003) was an American legal scholar. He was a professor of law for 40 years at the University of California, Los Angeles, and authored or co-authored a significant number of articles and textbooks ...

Award for the article "Documenting Gender". Spade has written extensively about his personal experience as a trans law professor and student. This includes writings on transphobia in higher education as well as the

class privilege Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of being a professor. He has also written about the limitations of the law's ability to address issues of inequity and injustice. His research interests have included the impact of the War on Terror on

transgender rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

, the bureaucratization of trans identities, models of non-profit governance in social movements, and the limits of enhanced

hate crime Hate crime (also known as bias crime) in criminal law involves a standard offence (such as an assault, murder) with an added element of bias against a victim (individual or group of individuals) because of their physical appearance or perceived ...

penalties."Dean Spade on Prison Abolition and Anti-Transgender Violence"

Out FM ''Out FM'' is an anti-racist, progressive LGBTQ public affairs and culture talk radio show airing on Tuesday evenings from 9 pm to 10 pm on WBAI 99.5 fm, Pacifica Radio in New York City. Founded in 1982 (as ''The Gay Show'') the ''Encyclopedia ...

WBAI WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic musi ...

, 1/30/12 accessed 2-20-12 His first book, ''Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law'', was released in January 2012 from

South End Press South End Press was a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 in Boston's South End. It published books written by political activists, notably Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky, bell hooks, Win ...

and nominated for a 2011

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

in the category of Transgender Nonfiction. Spade, Dean (2011). Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law.

: New York.

"24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced."
'Entertainment Weekly' March 2012 accessed 3-25-12 His second book ''Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next)'' was published in October 2020 through Verso books. Spade has collaborated extensively in the past, including editing two special issues of '' Sexuality Research and Social Policy'' with Paisley Currah and coauthoring a guide to Medical Therapy and Health Maintenance for Transgender Men with Dr. Nick Gorton.Gorton N, Buth J, and Spade D
Medical Therapy and Health Maintenance for Transgender Men: A Guide For Health Care Providers
Lyon-Martin Women's Health Services. San Francisco, California. 2005. Spade has collaborated particularly frequently with sociologist Craig Willse. Their collaborative projects include ''I Still Think Marriage is the Wrong Goal'',
accessed 6-17-10 a manifesto and

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

group. Willse and Spade were also the co-creators of MAKE, "propaganda for activist agitation", a paper zine (1999–2001) and website (2001–2007).MAKE zine archives
accessed 6-17-10 In the past, Spade has written other zines including ''Piss and Vinegar'' (2002), telling the story of his transphobic arrest during the 2002

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

protests in New York City.

Mimi Nguyen Mimi or MIMI may refer to: People and fictional characters * Mimi (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Constantin Mimi (1868–1935), Bessarabian politician and winemaker * Mimi (footballer, born 1996), Bissau Guinean footbal ...

interviewed Spade and Willse about the experience in ''

Maximumrocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

''.Interview in Maximumrocknroll
accessed 6-17-10

Political affiliations

Spade is Jewish, and has worked closely with the Seattle chapter of

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) was a Toronto-based grassroots organization involved in queer and pro-Palestinian activism, including Israeli Apartheid Week and Pride Week (Toronto), Toronto Pride Week. Formed in 2008, the group pa ...

(QuAIA).

Works

* Second expanded edition published by Duke University Press (2015). Translated to Spanish by Bellaterra Edicions. * Translated to Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, and Czech. *

References

External links

*
Dean Spade: Seattle University School of Law

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spade, Dean 1977 births Living people 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American lawyers American civil rights activists Barnard College alumni CUNY School of Law faculty Harvard Law School faculty Jewish American activists LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ people from Virginia American LGBTQ rights activists New York (state) lawyers Prison abolitionists American prison reformers Seattle University faculty Transgender law in the United States American LGBTQ lawyers Transgender male writers Transgender Jews Transgender rights activists UCLA School of Law faculty Transgender academics Transgender studies academics American transgender men American transgender writers American founders