Who We Fight For: The Journey to Trans Liberation

At Liberty

News

4.8 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This past weekend, an estimated 5 million folks across the country protested Trump's attack on our rights. And if you asked anyone in the crowd why they showed up—and who they showed up for—they’d likely have an answer. Today, W. Kamau Bell is joined by three activists—Ash Lazarus Orr and Stephen and Hobbes Chukumba—who are showing up for LGBTQIA+ rights. Listen in as they discuss how they’re navigating Trump’s escalating abuses of power, what trans rights have to do with reproductive and racial justice, and how they’re finding joy this Pride month. A note from the At Liberty team: just after recording this episode, we received a ruling on U.S. v. Skrmetti. You can learn more about the decision, and the latest on Orr v. Trump, at aclu.org: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/transgender-us-passport-holders-granted-temporary-relief-in-challenge-to-trump-gender-marker-policy https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-lambda-legal-respond-to-supreme-court-ruling-in-u-s-v-skrmetti This episode was executive produced by Jessica Herman Weitz for the ACLU, and W. Kamau Bell, Kelly Rafferty, PhD, and Melissa Hudson Bell, PhD for Who Knows Best Productions. It was recorded at Skyline Studios in Oakland, CA. Our senior executive producer is Sam Riddell. At Liberty is edited and produced by Erica Getto and Myrriah Gossett for Good Get.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey everybody, it's me, W. Camel Bell. We recorded this week's episode on Monday, June 16th, before the Supreme Court ruled on the United States v. Cremetti.
0:09.8	If you're hearing this, it means they've handed down a decision.
0:13.1	As we've discussed on the show with Chase Strangio, who argued the case in front of the Supreme Court, it centers on a Tennessee ban on gender affirming care, and its outcome
0:21.7	has the potential to affect transgender youth and their families across the country.
0:25.3	Today, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Scrimetti that Tennessee's ban on medical
0:31.2	care for transgender adolescents can stand. This devastating decision allows for the government to continue to displace the aligned
0:40.1	judgment of parents, adolescents, and their doctors. First and foremost, we grieve today with the
0:47.5	families who continue to have to just fight for the basic medical care that their children need. But we also resolve to fight for every
0:56.5	single transgender person and for transgender justice. Though devastating, the Supreme Court's
1:01.8	opinion left open many avenues to fight both in and out of the courts for the freedom and
1:08.0	justice that we all deserve. Make sure to check out our episodes with Chase.
1:12.6	And for more information on the ruling, you can head to ACLU.org.
1:16.6	Now let's turn to this week's episode,
1:18.6	we're at the honor of speaking with a group of LGBTQ plus activists
1:22.6	who know the importance of getting and staying in the fight.
1:25.6	Hey everybody, it's me, W. Kamau Bell.
1:29.5	Welcome back to the ACLU's podcast at Liberty.
1:32.3	And once again, happy pride!
1:35.8	On this show, we talk about the big issues affecting our country,
1:39.0	and especially our hardest hit in most vulnerable communities.
1:42.2	In recent weeks, we've seen some major abuses
1:44.5	of power from the Trump administration. In Southern California alone, we witnessed a series
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from At Liberty, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of At Liberty and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.