This month, Anya Marino and Alejandra Caraballo became the first two transgender women of color to teach at Harvard Law School, according to a report in The 19th.
Their appointments are “very significant,” said Dru Levasseur, director of diversity and inclusion at the National LGBT Bar Association. “Especially with lawyers, it matters to be able to see yourself in this profession.”
Reports The 19th:
Marino, 37, is one of the first two transgender women of color to teach at Harvard Law School. Earlier this month, she joined the school’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Her colleague Alejandra Caraballo, 30, began instructing at Harvard’s Cyberlaw Clinic Monday.
Both instructors, who identify as Latina, told The 19th that they are excited to start a new chapter at Harvard after dedicating years to LGBTQ+ legal and advocacy work. They are also both familiar with the unique pressure and emotional weight of their presence in the legal field — where systematic hurdles still block trans people from entry, much less the top of the profession.
Marino and Caraballo join two other trans people on the faculty — Alexander Chen and Kendra Albert. [Chen is a lecturer on Law teaching courses on LGBTQ advocacy, and Albert is a clinical instructor at HLS’s cyberlaw clinic.] …
Marino and Caraballo recognize that they’re under new pressure to represent the trans community — even after being in that position for most of their careers.
“I’m so grateful and I feel so lucky. And I recognize that stuff like this doesn’t happen for girls like me and Alejandra normally,” Marino said. “I am providing some visibility, and whether I like it or not, I am becoming somewhat of a representative.”
“I’m often one of the only trans women of color at any of these tables,” Caraballo said. “I feel this pressure that I need to represent our community and make sure that we have a voice.”
Read the complete article in The 19th here.
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