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

Key Information

Early life and education

[edit]

Spade grew up in rural Virginia, the child of a single mother who was sometimes on welfare.[1] 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, getting a summer job between grades six and seven to clean and paint rental apartments for additional income.[2] His mother died of lung cancer when he was 14. Following her death, he lived with two sets of foster parents.[3]

Spade graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and women's studies,[3] and then graduated from the UCLA School of Law in 2001. He has written about seeking a mastectomy for gender-affirming surgery 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 expression.[4]

Career

[edit]

In 2002, he founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP), a non-profit law collective in New York City that provides free legal services to transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming people who are low-income and/or people of color.[5] Spade was a staff attorney at SRLP from 2002 to 2006, during which time he presented testimony to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission[6] and helped achieve a major victory for transgender youth in foster care in the Jean Doe v. Bell case.[7] Spade was also involved with the campaign in 2009 to stop Seattle from building a new jail.[8][9]

The Advocate named Spade one of their "Forty Under 40" in May 2010.[10] Utne Reader named Spade and Tyrone Boucher on their list of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" in 2009,[11] for their collaborative project Enough: The Personal Politics of Resisting Capitalism.[12]

Spade was the 2009-2010 Haywood Burns Chair at CUNY School of Law, the Williams Institute Law Teaching Fellow at UCLA Law School and Harvard Law School, and was selected to give the 2009-2010 James A. Thomas Lecture at Yale Law School. He received a Jesse Dukeminier Award[13][14] for the article "Documenting Gender".[15] 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 of being a professor.[16][17][18] He has also written about the limitations of the law's ability to address issues of inequity and injustice.[19][20] His research interests have included the impact of the War on Terror on transgender rights, the bureaucratization of trans identities, models of non-profit governance in social movements, and the limits of enhanced hate crime penalties.[21] His first book, Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, was released in January 2012 from South End Press and nominated for a 2011 Lambda Literary Award in the category of Transgender Nonfiction.[22][23] His second book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) was published in October 2020 through Verso books.[24] His third book, Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together was published by Algonquin Books in January 2025.

Spade has collaborated extensively in the past, including editing two special issues of Sexuality Research and Social Policy with Paisley Currah[25] and coauthoring a guide to Medical Therapy and Health Maintenance for Transgender Men with Dr. Nick Gorton.[26] Spade has collaborated particularly frequently with sociologist Craig Willse. Their collaborative projects include I Still Think Marriage is the Wrong Goal,[27] a manifesto and Facebook group. Willse and Spade were also the co-creators of MAKE, "propaganda for activist agitation", a paper zine (1999–2001) and website (2001–2007).[28] 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 protests in New York City. Mimi Nguyen interviewed Spade and Willse about the experience in Maximumrocknroll.[29]

Political affiliations

[edit]

Spade is Jewish,[30] and has worked closely with the Seattle chapter of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA).[31]

Works

[edit]
  • Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law. New York: South End Press. 2011. ISBN 9780896087965. OCLC 601132754. Second expanded edition published by Duke University Press (2015).[32] Translated to Spanish by Bellaterra Edicions.[33]
  • Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the next). New York: Verso Books. 2020. ISBN 9781839762123. Translated to Spanish,[34] Italian,[35] Portuguese,[36] Catalan,[37] and Czech.[38]
  • Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together. New York: Algonquin Books. 2025. ISBN 9781643756462. OCLC 1472088472.

References

[edit]
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Dean Spade

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Dean Spade is an American law professor, attorney, and author focused on transgender legal issues, administrative law, and critiques of neoliberal approaches to social movements. As a professor at Seattle University School of Law, Spade teaches courses including Administrative Law, Poverty Law, Gender and Law, and Policing and Imprisonment, emphasizing intersections of law, economic justice, and racial equity in marginalized communities. He founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project in 2002, a nonprofit collective offering free legal services to low-income transgender, intersex, and gender-nonconforming people of color, prioritizing non-reformist reforms over assimilation into existing legal frameworks. Spade's scholarship critiques the efficacy of anti-discrimination laws and hate crimes legislation for achieving trans liberation, arguing instead for dismantling administrative systems that perpetuate inequality through poverty, policing, and incarceration. His notable publications include the book Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law (2011, revised 2015), which examines how legal recognition fails to address root causes of trans marginalization, and Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next One) (2020), advocating grassroots mutual aid over state-dependent solutions. Spade's work has influenced discussions on trans politics by highlighting tensions between inclusionary strategies, such as marriage equality, and broader anti-oppression goals rooted in economic redistribution and prison abolition.

Early Life and Education

Childhood and Upbringing

Dean Spade was born in 1977 in , . His family moved to the shortly after his birth, and at age three, they relocated to , , for nine months before settling in rural , specifically the small community of Batesville, approximately 30 minutes from Charlottesville. He grew up there in a conservative rural environment marked by limited amenities and economic challenges. Spade was raised primarily by his single mother, a working-class woman born in , , who had no and had migrated to amid the and movements. His father, of Jewish descent whose family fled in 1938 and settled in the Bay Area, was absent from his upbringing due to struggles and . Alongside an older brother (six years his senior) and sister (three years older), Spade lived in a household that periodically depended on welfare while his mother supported them through housecleaning work; he began assisting with these jobs at age nine and took on solo cleaning tasks by age eleven. The family faced housing insecurity and , which Spade later described as traumatizing and shaping his early understandings of . His schooling occurred in racially and class-segregated environments, including attendance at an elementary school informally known as "the black school" despite formal integration, with practices like segregated bus seating persisting. Spade's mother died of cancer when he was thirteen, after which he entered . During his teenage years, he developed an initial awareness of around ages fourteen to fifteen, influenced by cultural artifacts like the song "" by , though he reported no significant personal exploration until college. These experiences fostered early insights into social divisions, including class and race, without a of childhood gender distress.

Academic Training

Spade received a degree in and from of , graduating summa cum laude in December 1997. He subsequently enrolled at the (, where he pursued the and Policy program, earning a in May 2001. These degrees formed the foundation of his legal expertise, emphasizing areas intersecting law, policy, and social issues.

Professional Career

Dean Spade, a civil rights attorney, has centered his legal practice on addressing faced by low-income and gender non-conforming individuals, particularly those from communities of color. His advocacy emphasizes direct legal services, policy reform, and to challenge barriers in areas such as , , and incarceration. In August 2002, Spade founded the Law Project (SRLP) as an Open Society Institute and Berkeley Law Foundation Fellow, naming it after transgender activist to honor her legacy in trans liberation struggles. Initially established as a solo initiative, SRLP quickly evolved into a collective by 2003, structured to prioritize by affected communities, with core membership comprising over 50% people of color and over 50% individuals. Spade served as a staff attorney there from 2002 to 2006, during which he contributed to testimony before the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission on issues affecting incarcerated people. SRLP's mission focuses on ensuring individuals can self-determine their and expression without , , or , irrespective of or race, while linking to broader economic and racial equity concerns like and over-incarceration. The provides free legal services, pursues impact litigation, and supports to enhance access to affirming social, health, and legal resources for its target communities. Key efforts include public education on rights and organizing against systemic barriers, though Spade has critiqued over-reliance on legal reforms alone, arguing in his writings that administrative often perpetuates inequality despite gains. By , SRLP relocated to the Miss Major-Jay Toole Building for in , expanding its operational base for ongoing work.

Academic Roles and Teaching

Dean Spade has served as a at since August 2008, progressing from to full . In this role, he has chaired the Leadership Committee and co-developed the Racial Justice Leadership Institute, while holding the Wismer Professorship in and Diversity from 2021 to 2023. His at emphasizes critical approaches to law, including courses such as Poverty Law (taught in semesters including Spring 2012, Fall 2017, Fall 2018, and Fall 2020), , Law and Social Movements (Spring 2012 and Spring 2021), and Law (Spring 2019), Policing and Imprisonment (Fall 2017), Imprisonment and Justice (January 2017), (Spring 2021), and Race and Law (Spring 2019). Prior to his tenure at Seattle University, Spade held several adjunct and fellowship teaching positions. From 2006 to 2008, as a Law Teaching Fellow, he instructed courses at UCLA Law School, including Race, Class, Ability and Trans Rights and an LGBT Legal Scholarship seminar, and at , where he taught Law and Social Movements. He served as a lecturer at in Spring 2006, co-teaching a Transgender Law seminar, and at Columbia University School of Law from 2004 to 2005, leading Sexuality and Law seminars. In Spring 2010, Spade was the Haywood Burns Chair in Civil Rights at School of Law, teaching Poverty Law. Spade's visiting and fellowship roles include an Academic Fellowship at School of Law's Center for Gender and Sexuality Law from July 2012 to June 2014, during which he co-taught a of Occupation in Spring 2013. In Fall 2019, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago's Pozen Family Center for , offering an interdisciplinary on Mutual Aid for and Trans Survival and Mobilization to undergraduates and graduates. These positions reflect Spade's focus on integrating themes into , often drawing from his expertise in , , and movements for marginalized groups.

Activism and Organizational Involvement

Trans and Queer Liberation Efforts

Dean Spade founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) in August 2002 as a nonprofit , initially supported by fellowships from the Open Society Institute and Berkeley Foundation, to deliver free legal services to low-income , , and non-conforming people, with a priority on those facing intersecting oppressions such as and . The organization, named after activist , targets systemic barriers in areas like , , and public benefits, aiming to enable self-determination of and expression without harassment or denial of services. SRLP's core initiatives include direct client advocacy, such as name and marker changes on documents, representation in arrests and deportations, and welfare access disputes; it also pursues litigation, policy advocacy against discriminatory , and community education on rights. By 2009, SRLP emphasized that trans liberation requires addressing racial, economic, and social injustices, viewing isolated legal wins as insufficient without dismantling oppressive institutions. Spade's broader queer and trans organizing critiques mainstream strategies that seek inclusion in state systems like marriage or military service, arguing they reinforce hierarchies rather than foster collective liberation. In writings and talks, he advocates for abolitionist approaches, prioritizing community-based mutual aid and resistance to policing over hate crime enhancements or corporate-backed equality campaigns, which he sees as co-optable by neoliberal interests. For instance, Spade has highlighted historical queer opposition to police, tracing shifts from 1990s anti-assimilationist groups to current movements linking trans survival to prison abolition and economic redistribution. His efforts extend to collaborative projects, such as 2018 work with queer and trans activists on transformative justice models that reject administrative governance fixes in favor of grassroots networks. These initiatives underscore Spade's position that true and trans freedom demands rejecting reformist traps, like document changes that entangle individuals deeper in bureaucratic , and instead building interdependent communities capable of sustaining themselves amid state violence. SRLP's model, under Spade's founding influence, rejects hierarchical nonprofit structures, operating collectively to model the non-reformist reforms needed for broader social upheaval.

Mutual Aid, Abolitionism, and Broader Social Justice Campaigns

Spade advocates mutual aid as a political practice involving direct community support for survival needs, distinct from charity by fostering shared political analysis and long-term solidarity networks rather than temporary relief. In his 2020 book Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), he describes mutual aid projects as mechanisms for collective care that challenge state dependency, drawing on historical examples like immigrant aid societies and food not bombs initiatives while cautioning against pitfalls such as donor-driven hierarchies or exclusionary perfectionism that exacerbate burnout. He has promoted these ideas through interviews, such as one with The Nation in December 2020 emphasizing mutual aid's role in social movements, and public talks like "Mutual Aid 101" in February 2025, where he framed it as material support amid systemic failures. In prison abolitionism, Spade has contributed to efforts rejecting carceral in favor of community-based accountability, repair, and processes that prioritize over retribution. He co-authored the 2011 "Building an Abolitionist Trans and Movement With Everything We’ve Got," which urges and trans organizers to integrate abolition by rejecting reliance on policing and prisons, instead building alternatives like survivor-led support networks. Spade has addressed common objections to abolition—such as handling "dangerous" individuals—by advocating decentralized, non-exile community responses informed by historical data on and violence under incarceration, as outlined in his 2017 draft "Common Questions about Police and Prison and Responses." His involvement includes collaborations with groups like Critical Resistance, for which he recorded a 2017 video call to sustain the organization's work against the prison-industrial complex, and participation in Barnard Center for Research on Women video series from 2014 onward discussing everyday abolition practices with activists like Reina Gossett and . Spade's broader social justice campaigns extend to opposing specific carceral expansions and promoting intersectional resistance to state violence, including racial and economic dimensions. He contributed to the website documenting opposition to a proposed $210 million youth detention facility in Seattle's King County, sharing resources for activists targeting the prison-industrial complex through tactics like public education and coalition-building. In a 2023 article "Abolition Infrastructures," co-authored with Rachel Herzing and Bench Ansfield, he examines how abolitionist movements develop non-carceral infrastructures, such as solidarity economies and mutual aid networks, to prefigure alternatives to policing and borders, drawing on empirical examples from grassroots organizing spaces. Additionally, through the Black Agenda Report's Abolition Mutual Aid Spotlight series, Spade has interviewed mutual aid initiators to highlight how these efforts intersect with anti-racist and economic justice struggles, emphasizing sustained, decentralized support over reformist charity models.

Political Views and Affiliations

Critiques of Neoliberalism and Administrative Governance

Dean Spade critiques neoliberalism as a governing framework that sustains inequality by redistributing harm rather than eliminating it, particularly through administrative systems that manage populations along lines of race, gender, and class. In his 2011 book Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law (revised edition 2015), Spade argues that neoliberal policies, including welfare reforms and identity documentation requirements, impose "administrative violence" on transgender individuals by creating bureaucratic hurdles that exacerbate poverty and exclusion without addressing underlying power structures. He contends that these mechanisms, such as restrictive criteria for changing gender markers on IDs or accessing public benefits, function as tools of population control under neoliberalism, normalizing violence against marginalized groups while presenting reforms as progress. Spade draws on critical race theory and women of color feminism to assert that pursuing legal inclusion within this system distracts from transformative resistance, as it reinforces the state's biopolitical management of difference. Spade's analysis of administrative emphasizes its role in perpetuating neoliberal inequality through everyday bureaucratic practices that disproportionately burden low-income and people. He describes how agencies like Social Security or services enforce "" standards—heteronormative, , and economically stable—that exclude non-conforming individuals, leading to denied services, , and . In a essay, "Trans Law and on a Neoliberal Landscape," Spade examines how neoliberal and have intensified these issues, linking identity documentation struggles to broader economic and arguing that administrative reforms alone fail to dismantle the systems producing harm. He criticizes efforts to "pinkwash" state violence, such as Obama-era policies framing U.S. military and expansions as compatible with trans rights, as examples of how neoliberal co-opts movements to maintain hierarchies. Rather than seeking antidiscrimination protections within neoliberal administrative frameworks, Spade advocates for abolitionist alternatives like mutual aid networks and community-based solidarity, which bypass state dependency and challenge the root causes of inequality. His work highlights empirical failures of legal strategies, citing cases where trans clients faced repeated denials and punishments due to mismatched administrative records, underscoring the limits of rights-based activism in a neoliberal context. Spade's critiques, informed by two decades of legal advocacy at organizations like the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, position administrative governance as a neoliberal extension of colonial and capitalist control, urging shifts toward grassroots redistribution over bureaucratic inclusion.

Anti-Militarism, Anti-Zionism, and International Stances

Spade has advocated against U.S. , arguing that and trans inclusion in the armed forces legitimizes ongoing wars and obscures harms to soldiers, veterans, and targeted populations abroad. In 2017, he co-initiated the Trans War Ban project to challenge pro- narratives within LGBTQ communities, emphasizing that does not advance trans liberation but instead supports elite interests and . He participated in the 2018 Anti-Militarism Townhall, where speakers linked U.S. invasions to racist, sexist, and transphobic violence, framing trans liberation as incompatible with expansion. In a 2021 co-authored article, Spade critiqued "queer " as undermining anti-colonial and anti- efforts by promoting as progress, thereby normalizing U.S. interventions. He co-wrote "Sex, Gender, and War in the Age of Multicultural " in 2014, examining how gender and sexuality discourses bolster multicultural facades for imperial policies. Following the 2019 Trump administration ban on , Spade opposed liberal defenses of inclusion, reiterating that enlistment perpetuates violence rather than achieving equity. Spade identifies as anti-Zionist and has produced media critiquing Israel's use of LGBTQ rights to deflect international condemnation of its policies toward , a practice termed "pinkwashing." In 2015, he discussed Israel's strategy of highlighting gay rights amid occupation and blockade in Gaza during a radio . He directed the 2010 documentary Pinkwashing Exposed, which documents Seattle-based activism against pinkwashing and in solidarity with . In February 2024, Spade signed a accusing of a "genocidal campaign" in Gaza during its conflict with . Spade has opposed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, signing a 2018 statement rejecting it as a tool to suppress . His "Facing Collapse Together" study group, launched in recent years, incorporates alongside anti-colonialism and diasporic Jewish perspectives to analyze global crises. In 2023, he shared posters linking liberation to anti-U.S. efforts. Spade's international positions emphasize solidarity with movements resisting and , framing U.S. as intertwined with domestic policing and . He has linked anti-militarism to broader critiques of U.S. interventions, including environmental and health impacts on Indigenous communities. In mutual aid contexts, Spade advocates connecting local resistance to global anti-imperial struggles, such as solidarity, without endorsing reformist approaches that sustain state violence.

Publications and Intellectual Contributions

Major Books

Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, Spade's first book, was originally published in 2011 by South End Press, with a revised and expanded second edition issued in 2015 by . In it, Spade contends that liberation requires challenging administrative dimensions of state power, such as identity categorization and regulatory mechanisms, which he describes as sources of ongoing rather than mere civil barriers. He critiques reliance on legal reforms for inclusion in systems like prisons and the , arguing these fail to address root causes of harm and instead normalize state ; instead, he promotes "critical trans politics" emphasizing grassroots resistance and systemic dismantling. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) appeared in 2020 from Verso Books. The work outlines mutual aid's theoretical foundations, historical precedents from movements like the Black Panthers and AIDS crisis responses, and practical implementation strategies for community self-organization amid emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Spade positions mutual aid as a prefigurative practice fostering solidarity and autonomy, distinct from charity or state welfare, with examples of networks providing direct support like food distribution and tenant organizing. Spade's most recent book, Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together, was published on January 14, 2025, by Algonquin Books. It examines interpersonal dynamics—including , , and —against backdrops of global instability like climate collapse and , urging readers to reject individualistic cultural norms in favor of , liberatory relational models that integrate and mutual care. The text serves as a for sustaining personal connections while advancing broader resistance efforts.

Articles, Essays, and Media Appearances

Spade has published extensively in legal and journals, focusing on critical trans politics, neoliberalism's impact on marginalized communities, and . Key articles include "Resisting /Remodeling ," which appeared in the Berkeley Women's Law Journal in 2003 and examines how medical gatekeeping reinforces gendered norms in healthcare. His 2009 piece "Trans Law and Politics on a Neoliberal Landscape" critiques how legal reforms for often align with market-driven individualism rather than systemic change. In 2010, Spade contributed "Be Professional!" to the Harvard Journal of Law & Gender, arguing that professional norms in perpetuate exclusionary hierarchies. More recent essays address abolition and mutual aid. In a 2020 Truthout essay, Spade advocated for removing police from social services like mental health crises, emphasizing community-based alternatives amid heightened scrutiny of law enforcement post-2020 protests. He co-authored "Abolition Infrastructures: A Conversation on Transformative Justice" with Rachel Herzing, published in 2023, which explores grassroots strategies for decarceration and harm reduction outside state systems. Spade also edited and contributed to the 2021 special issue "The State We're In, Part 2" in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, analyzing state power's role in transgender marginalization. Spade frequently appears in media to discuss his writings and activism. In a 2015 episode of the Laura Flanders Show, he addressed transgender policy challenges and anti-austerity organizing. He has been interviewed on podcasts including the LET IT OUT Podcast with Katie Dalebout in 2024, focusing on relationships amid social upheaval; Grounded Futures in an undated episode probing futures beyond capitalism; and LaidOPEN Podcast in June 2025, covering his career in trans liberation. In a February 2025 The Nation interview, Spade elaborated on collective action strategies from his book Love in a Fcked-Up World*. Additional appearances include a 2017 collaboration with Craig Willse on queer anti-poverty politics for Deadly Exchange, and a 2025 YouTube discussion on relationality in crisis.

Reception, Influence, and Criticisms

Achievements and Positive Impact

Dean Spade founded the Law Project (SRLP) in 2002, establishing a nonprofit law collective dedicated to providing free legal services to low-income , , and gender non-conforming individuals, with a focus on people of color experiencing in institutional settings such as prisons, , public schools, and psychiatric hospitals. The prioritizes support for self-determination of and expression, irrespective of income or race, and has operated continuously for over two decades to address barriers to basic services and survival needs for marginalized trans communities. As the first openly transgender tenure-track law professor in the United States, Spade has influenced on , , and related issues, having taught at institutions including and prior to his role at . His scholarly work earned the 2008 Dukeminier Award for the article "Documenting Gender: Incoherence and Rulemaking," recognizing its contribution to transgender legal theory. Spade received the 2016 Kessler Award from the Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS) for producing a substantive body of work with significant influence on LGBTQ studies, as well as a 2015 Activist Fellowship from the Barnard Center for Research on Women for efforts in trans liberation and prison abolition. In 2023, he was selected for the Western Society of Criminology's 2024 Richard J. Lundman Distinguished Critical Scholar Award, highlighting his contributions to intersecting with trans and queer issues. These recognitions underscore Spade's role in advancing intersectional approaches to trans rights that emphasize economic and racial alongside legal .

Critiques and Controversies

Spade's conceptualization of trans politics, which prioritizes resistance to administrative governance over individual legal recognitions like gender marker changes, has faced pushback from trans advocates favoring reformist strategies. Critics contend that his emphasis in works like (2015) on transness as a disruptive of state , rather than a fixed identity meriting protected status, may inadvertently weaken arguments for immediate policy gains such as anti-discrimination laws. This approach draws from critical race and feminist traditions skeptical of rights frameworks, yet some reviewers argue it overlooks how targeted reforms have empirically reduced barriers for trans individuals in areas like and . Within trans communities, Spade's deconstruction of gender binaries and medical pathologization has sparked debates over the of trans identity. He has described gender variance as shaped by social and political forces amenable to collective resistance, rather than primarily an innate biological condition requiring clinical intervention. Some trans individuals interpret this as implying transness is elective or performative, potentially eroding legitimacy in public discourse dominated by essentialist narratives; for instance, online forums feature accusations that such views contradict neuroscientific evidence linking to structure differences and dismiss personal testimonies of involuntary incongruence. Defenders counter that Spade targets coercive medical gatekeeping, not transition itself, aiming to expand access beyond psychiatric diagnoses. Spade's mutual aid prescriptions during political crises have drawn sharp rebukes for perceived impracticality and risk. In a November 2024 Truthout essay addressing defenses against a potential second Trump administration, he urged communities to develop capacities including "making our own medicines" through shared knowledge to circumvent state restrictions. Critics highlighted the dangers of DIY pharmaceuticals, noting that conditions like epilepsy or autoimmune disorders demand precise formulations unattainable without industrial standards; self-production could lead to inefficacy or toxicity, as evidenced by historical cases of unregulated compounding errors causing harm. This proposal, rooted in his broader abolitionist vision from Mutual Aid (2020), was derided in discussions as emblematic of radical activism's detachment from technical constraints, prioritizing ideological autonomy over evidence-based safety. His anti-Zionist positions have provoked accusations of bias and incitement from pro-Israel watchdogs. Spade has endorsed the (BDS) campaign against , opposed the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, and in February 2024 signed a to U.S. senators decrying 's military operations against as a "genocidal campaign." Tweets from October 2022 voicing support for " revolution until victory" and May 2021 critiquing Israeli actions as colonial violence have been flagged as endorsing militancy amid the Second Intifada's documented toll of over 1,000 Israeli civilian deaths. His 2015 documentary Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back! argues leverages LGBTQ advancements to obscure occupation policies, a claim contested by LGBTQ organizations as selective omission of regional persecution elsewhere. While Spade frames these stances as extensions of anti-militarism and solidarity with —aligning with groups like —critics from outlets tracking campus extremism assert they foster one-sided narratives that conflate policy critique with ethnic animus.

References

  1. https://law.seattleu.edu/faculty/directory/profiles/spade-dean.html
  2. https://www.deanspade.net/about/
  3. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1162&context=faculty
  4. http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/law/2010/02/18/dean-spade-joins-cuny-school-of-law-as-the-2009-2010-haywood-burns-chair/
  5. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1561&context=faculty
  6. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1161&context=faculty
  7. https://law.seattleu.edu/faculty/directory/profiles/DSpade-CV-September-2022.pdf
  8. https://www.deanspade.net/books/
  9. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1632&context=faculty
  10. https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/dean-spade/
  11. https://playback.fm/person/dean-spade
  12. https://nyctransoralhistory.org/content/uploads/2021/09/NYC-TOHP-Transcript-001-Dean-Spade.pdf
  13. https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1744&context=spectator-online
  14. https://www.cmc.edu/sites/default/files/2022-03/dean_spade_be_professional_2.pdf
  15. https://enoughenough.org/2009/04/26/the-dirty-details-of-my-new-salary/
  16. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/resisting.pdf
  17. https://srlp.org/about/srlp-history/
  18. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/sylvia-rivera-law-project/
  19. https://srlp.org/about/principles/
  20. https://www.deanspade.net/teaching/
  21. https://bcrw.barnard.edu/fellows/dean-spade/
  22. https://srlp.org/files/newsjune09.pdf
  23. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Building-an-Abolitionist-Trans-Queer-Movement-With-Everything-Weve-Got.pdf
  24. https://bcrw.barnard.edu/videos/dean-spade-history-of-queers-against-police/
  25. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/spade-wrb.pdf
  26. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/dean-spade-mutual-aid
  27. https://www.deanspade.net/mutual-aid-building-solidarity-during-this-crisis-and-the-next/
  28. https://www.deanspade.net/2020/12/18/interview-with-the-nation-about-mutual-aid/
  29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k2KZwKgtzI
  30. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/dean-spade-common-question-about-police-and-prison-abolition-and-responses
  31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no1cDLrJ6EY
  32. https://bcrw.barnard.edu/videos/tourmaline-dean-spade-part-1-prison-abolition-prefiguring-the-world-you-want-to-live-in/
  33. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/
  34. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Abolition-Infrastructures-1.pdf
  35. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/black-agenda-report-abolition-mutual-aid-spotlight/
  36. https://www.dukeupress.edu/normal-life-revised
  37. https://www.deanspade.net/books/normal-life/
  38. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty/161/
  39. https://www.societyandspace.org/articles/on-normal-life
  40. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/16_QE_0_1_Levitt_215-217.pdf
  41. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/templefinal.pdf
  42. https://www.amazon.com/Normal-Life-Administrative-Violence-Critical/dp/0822360403
  43. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2343868
  44. https://uppingtheanti.org/journal/article/14-dean-spade
  45. https://www.deanspade.net/2021/03/01/new-interview-with-them-about-why-i-oppose-trans-military-inclusion-advocacy/
  46. https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article/27/2/281/170143/Queer-Militarism-The-Politics-of-Military
  47. https://x.com/deanspade/status/1889036928470614324
  48. https://www.deanspade.net/2019/05/02/new-vice-article-about-queer-trans-war-ban/
  49. https://bcrw.barnard.edu/videos/queer-anti-militarism-townhall-trans-liberation-not-u-s-invasion/
  50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKbEe9wzK2Y
  51. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/788261/summary
  52. https://www.deanspade.net/2014/04/17/sex-gender-and-war-in-an-age-of-multicultural-imperialism-with-craig-willse/
  53. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SpadeBelkinGLQFinal.pdf
  54. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/pinkwashing-exposed/
  55. https://kboo.fm/talkingwithdeanspadeaboutisraelslgbtfocu
  56. https://canarymission.org/professor/Dean_Spade
  57. https://www.deanspade.net/projects/facing-collapse-together-study-group/
  58. https://www.instagram.com/p/CzCyXS6JOAz/
  59. https://bcrw.barnard.edu/tag/dean-spade/
  60. https://www.shareable.net/response/mutual-aid-for-survival-and-resistance-with-dean-spade/
  61. https://deadlyexchange.org/building-safety-through-solidarity-an-interview-with-dean-spade-craig-willse/
  62. https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/4876-5-book-plan-mutual-aid
  63. https://www.amazon.com/Love-cked-Up-World-Relationships-Together-ebook/dp/B0D3DTK87C
  64. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1592&context=faculty
  65. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228233043_Trans_Law_and_Politics_on_a_Neoliberal_Landscape
  66. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1102&context=faculty
  67. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1154&context=spotlight
  68. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=goodnewsletter
  69. https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SRSP-The-State-Were-In-Part-2.pdf
  70. https://www.deanspade.net/category/media/
  71. https://www.deanspade.net/2025/06/17/interview-with-the-laidopen-podcast/
  72. https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/dean-spade-interview/
  73. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=454VObi1hoQ
  74. https://seattlespectator.com/2022/10/26/activist-and-professor-dean-spade-championing-liberation/
  75. https://www.deanspade.net/tag/sylvia-rivera-law-project/
  76. https://www.womenslawproject.org/2011/03/critical-trans-politics-and-transformative-social-change/
  77. https://www.plu.edu/news/archive/2015/10/13/deanspadelecture/
  78. https://www.gc.cuny.edu/clags-center-lgbtq-studies/fellowships-awards/kessler-award
  79. https://www.facebook.com/seattleulaw/posts/congratulations-to-seattle-u-law-professor-dean-spade-he-has-been-selected-to-re/792093412921846/
  80. https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/99/chapter/101878/IntroductionRights-Movements-and-Critical-Trans
  81. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/lies-collective-book-review-normal-life-dean-spade
  82. https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/faculty/592/
  83. https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/1c5y140/how_do_you_feel_about_dean_spades_take_on/
  84. https://truthout.org/articles/our-best-option-for-defending-ourselves-from-trumps-second-term-is-each-other/
  85. https://www.reddit.com/r/Enough_Sanders_Spam/comments/1h3kkoc/dean_spade_and_the_worst_idea_i_have_ever_heard/
  86. https://ifearthosebigwords.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/some-thoughts-on-dean-spades-mutual-aid/
  87. https://twitter.com/deanspade/status/1575386362521735169
  88. https://twitter.com/deanspade/status/1392167336954630144
  89. http://pinkwashingexposed.net/
  90. https://forward.com/opinion/308303/a-fight-among-lgbt-activists-over-israel/
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