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Jennifer Chavez vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed September 30, 2026 6 min read

Jennifer Chavez is an American lawyer and anti-transgender activist. Chavez is a board member of Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) and has worked with anti-feminist organization Heritage Foundation on anti-trans initiatives.

note: for the transgender auto technician and activist, see Jennifer Chavez.

Background

Jennifer Cristie Chavez was born in 1976. Chavez earned a bachelor’s degree from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado in 2000 and a law degree from the University of Illinois in 2003. Chavez was admitted to the Illinois Bar on November 6, 2003 and practiced for one year at a small firm, representing municipal governments in the Chicago suburbs.

In 2004, Chavez joined environmental nonprofit Earthjustice as a staff attorney and was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 2005. Chavez focused on litigation related to water resources. Chavez worked there until 2019. Chavez then operated Law Offices of Jennifer C Chavez in Silver Spring, Maryland.

According to a Heritage Foundation profile, Chavez is “a feminist, secularist, lawyer, and mother.” Chavez serves on the board of Adams State University Foundation.

Anti-trans activism

Chavez joined the board of the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) in 2017 and was an inaugural member of the DC-MD-VA chapter of WoLF.

In 2017, Chavez and other WoLF members joined Hands Across the Aisle Coalition, Safe Spaces for Women, and the Just Want Privacy Campaign in opposing a proposal in Washington state to amend Chapter 246-490 WAC, Vital Statistics. The proposal would allow on-demand changes to a person’s birth certificate sex designation.

In 2019, Chavez joined WoLF members Julia Beck and Kara Dansky on a Heritage Foundation panel moderated by Ryan T. Anderson, also featuring ex-transgender extremist Hacsi Horváth. Titled “The Inequality of the Equality Act: Concerns from the Left,” it was organized by the unaccepting parent of a transgender child.

In 2019, Chavez, Natasha Chart, “Posie Parker,” Julia Long, Kara Dansky, and Venice Allan went to Capitol Hill to lobby politicians about WoLF’s interests.

In 2020, Chavez commented on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU against the state of Idaho over HB 500, “The Fairness for Women in Sports Act.” That law banned transgender athletes from participating in the women’s category of sex-segregated sports.

On November 19, 2021, Chavez submitted an amicus brief for WoLF supporting Arkansas and urging reversal of a preliminary injunction against Arkansas’s Act 626, the “Save Adolescents From Experimentation” (SAFE) Act, which banned gender transition care for minors.

In 2022, Chavez submitted opposition to Maryland Senate Bill 550, the “Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act,” sponsored by Senator Jill P. Carter (D). It was cross-filed with House Bill 453. WoLF members Kacie Mills and Lauren Adams also submitted testimony. Chavez wrote:

“This bill states that ‘an inmate shall be housed at a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the inmate’s preference.’ This means that the bill allows any incarcerated male the chance to gain access to vulnerable incarcerated women, simply by claiming that he self-identifies as a woman, or as something other than a man such as ‘nonbinary.’

[…] “SB 550 confuses, conflates, and misuses the concepts of ‘sex,’ “intersex,” and “gender.” But fixing the language to be more accurate and transparent will not fix the central problem: Male arrestees and convicted criminals have no place in women’s prisons or jails, ever.“

[…] “This bill recklessly endangers women who are already some of the most vulnerable humans in the nation.”

[…] “Women’s prisons and jails exist for women to rehabilitate while doing their time; they do not exist to validate the feelings of a relatively tiny population of male arrestees and convicts.”

[emphasis in original]

Following a hearing, no further action was taken in that session. Chavez stated: “Incarcerated women deserve dignity and protection from further abuse and exploitation, but instead this bill would have treated them as emotional support resources for a tiny group of criminal men who claim to be women. I am grateful to all our state delegates and senators who saw reason and rejected this dangerous bill.”

On September 11, 2022, Chavez and WoLF executive director Mahri Irvine submitted comments in opposition to the Biden Administration’s Department of Education’s proposed rule to add “gender identity” to the scope of the Title IX prohibition against discrimination “on the basis of sex.”

References

Greenesmith, Heron (February 20, 2019). Racism in Anti-Trans “Feminist” Activism. Political Research Associates https://politicalresearch.org/2019/02/20/racism-anti-trans-feminist-activism

Ring, Trudy (January 30, 2019). Anti-Trans Feminists Appear at Panel of Right-Wing Heritage Foundation. The Advocate https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2019/1/30/anti-trans-feminists-appear-panel-right-wing-heritage-foundation

Fitzsimons, Tim (January 29, 2019). Conservative group hosts anti-transgender panel of feminists ‘from the left.’ NBC News https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/conservative-group-hosts-anti-transgender-panel-feminists-left-n964246

Anti-trans coverage

Staff report (February 1, 2023). WoLF Submits Amicus Brief Against Biden Dept Ed Title IX Rules. Women’s Liberation Front https://womensliberationfront.org/news/wolf-submits-amicus-brief-against-biden-dept-ed-title-ix-rules

Staff report (May 5, 2022). Victory: MD Prison Bill Dies in Committee. Women’s Liberation Front https://womensliberationfront.org/news/victory-md-prison-bill-dies-in-committee

Staff report (February 8, 2022). WoLF Testifies Against Prison Self-ID Bill in Maryland. Women’s Liberation Front https://womensliberationfront.org/news/wolf-testifies-against-prison-self-id-bill-in-maryland

Staff report (February 1, 2019). Posie Parker in the House. Women’s Liberation Front https://womensliberationfront.org/news/posie-parker-in-the-house

Kearns, Madeleine (January 31, 2019). The Sinister Creep of Gender-Identity Ideology. National Review https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/gender-identity-ideology-honest-inquiry-demonized/

Showalter, Brandon (January 29, 2019). To resist gender-transitioning of kids, be willing to lose friends, activists say. Christian Post https://www.christianpost.com/news/to-resist-gender-transitioning-of-kids-be-willing-to-lose-friends-activists-say.html

Staff report (September 29, 2017). WoLF Opposes Washington State’s Move to Allow On-demand Birth Certificate Sex Change. Women’s Liberation Front https://womensliberationfront.org/news/washington-on-demand-birth-certificate-sex-change

Selected writing by Chavez

Women’s Liberation Front, Comments on Proposed Rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, 87 Fed. Reg. 41,390 (July 12, 2022), Docket No. ED-2021-OCR-0166 (Sept. 11, 2022), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f232ea74d8342386a7ebc52/t/631f996891b46473e23b5958/1663015272604/Title+IX+Public+Comments+from+WoLF+FILED+2022+SEPTEMBER+11.pdf

Brief of Amicus Curiae Women’s Liberation Front in Support of Appellant, Vlaming v. W. Point Sch. Bd., No. 211061 (Va. May 23, 2022), https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f232ea74d8342386a7ebc52/t/62a359763a6e06427b1802e6/1654872438514/WoLF+Vlaming+amicus+brief+5_23_2022+final.pdf

Brief of Amicus Curiae Women’s Liberation Front in Support of Appellants and Reversal, Brandt ex rel. Brandt v. Rutledge, 47 F.4th 661 (8th Cir. 2022) (No. 21-2875) https://files.eqcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/14391064-Amicus-Brief-WLF.pdf

Chavez, Jennifer (February 16, 2022). UNFAVORABLE testimony on SB 550, Correctional Facilities – Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex Inmates. https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/cmte_testimony/2022/jpr/8759_02172022_101859-676.pdf

Chavez, Jennifer and signatories (September 28, 2017). Comments on Preproposal Statement of Inquiry to amend Chapter 246-490 WAC, Vital Statistics (Aug. 22, 2017). https://web.archive.org/web/20180326170029/https://womensliberationfront.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Comment-on-wac-246-490-075-birth-certificates_final_9-28-17.pdf [archive]

Media

Women’s Liberation Front with Kacie Mills and Jennifer Chavez (February 18, 2022). WoLF Testifies in Maryland to Keep Men Out of Women’s Prisons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4w_w3dG5YE

Women’s Liberation Front with Kacie Mills and Jennifer Chavez (February 8, 2022). WoLF Testifies Against Maryland House Bill 453. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06DCyb88N9w

Independent Women / At the Bar with Inez Stepman and Jennifer Braceras, Lauren Adams Bone, and Jennifer Chavez (September 9, 2021). At The Bar: Should Women Be Forced to Register for the Draft? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DymjCm7N77s

Women’s Liberation Front with Jennifer Chavez, Natasha Chart, Heather Mason, and April Halley (August 28, 2020). Women Speak! Should Men be Allowed in Women’s Prisons? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI9wbaCJXKE

Women’s Liberation Front with Barbara Ehardt, Inga Thompson, Keely Emerine-Mix, and Jennifer Chavez (May 30, 2020). Women Speak: The Idaho Example — Why is the ACLU against civil rights for women and girls? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xYFBCKqDx4

The Heritage Foundation with Ryan T. Anderson, Julia Beck, Jennifer Chavez, Kara Dansky, and Hacsi Horváth (January 28, 2019). The Inequality of the Equality Act: Concerns from the Left. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMj9MOuRswc

SolSystem45 / DC Environmental Network (August 19, 2012). [DCEN VIDEO] Diversity & Inclusion in DC – Jennifer Chavez, Earthjustice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tec83aIBJyg

Resources

Earthjustice (earthjustice.org)

  • Jennifer Chavez, Staff Attorney
  • earthjustice.org/about/staff/jennifer-chavez [archive]

Martindale-Hubbell (martindale.com)

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