I first witnessed a transgender character misgendered by her own author in “The Man Who Thought Himself a Woman,” a short story published anonymously in 1857. The text was assigned for a queer short stories course at UCLA, and while I wasn’t surprised that a transgender character was misgendered by a writer in 1857, I was surprised that a professor of queer studies in 2023 would as well.
The Right to be Disruptive
The act of protest is one of risk. The university’s justification for sweeping the encampment on the basis of being disruptive overlooks the fact that the disruption was intentional. On May 2 — the night that police forcibly destroyed the encampment — 210 arrested individuals were given a chance to walk away, but didn’t. They chose to remain because this act of resistance is the greatest power they have as students and civilians to affect this cause.