Trans liberation under neoliberal governmentality: An argument against rights-based activism

Abstract

During the 1980s, the increasing institutionalization of the North American gay and lesbian rights movement drastically shifted the goals and methods of 2SLGBTQIA+ activism. Organizations began to focus on achieving access and equality through dominant institutions (such as military service and hate crime legislation) with the goal of achieving “equal citizenship,” rather than challenging the foundational inequalities embedded in such institutions. Despite the issues with this kind of approach, contemporary trans resistance is often expected to replicate this framework and make similar demands for trans-specific human rights and legal protections. This article argues that a rights-based approach to trans liberation cannot succeed under the current iteration of biopolitical governance in the United States. Inspired by Henry Giroux’s concept of the biopolitics of disposability, the author suggests that contemporary neoliberalism devalues trans lives (especially the lives of racialized trans women and femmes) to such an extent that they are viewed as expendable. Therefore, 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy that seeks to gain further transgender rights and legal protections from a state that views trans lives as expendable should be abandoned in favour of activist projects that address the most urgent issues facing the most vulnerable trans people, such as employment assistance programs, access to inclusive healthcare, decarceration, and prison abolition projects.