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Nadine Strossen and transgender people

Nadine Strossen is an American lawyer and civil rights activist. Strossen was president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1991 to 2008. 

Strossen has since been involved with a number of anti-trans organizations that frame their activism as a “free speech” or “academic freedom” issue, including FIRE, Heterodox Academy, and University of Austin.

Strossen has written for several anti-trans publications, including Spiked, Reason, Tablet, and The Free Press.

Background

Nadine Strossen was born on August 18, 1950  in Jersey City, New Jersey. Strossen’s family moved to Hopkins, Minnesota when Strossen was 8.

Strossen earned a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College in 1972 and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1975. From 1976 to 1978, Strossen practiced law in Minneapolis, then practiced in New York City at Sullivan & Cromwell from 1978 to 1984. Strossen began teaching at New York Law School  in 1984.

In 1983, Strossen joined the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and served as general counsel from 1986 to 1991. In 1991 Strossen was elected president of the ACLU, serving until 2008.

Strossen has written extensively about opposing censorship of hate speech and pornography.

Strossen married business professor Eli Noam in 1980.

Activism

Strossen has been noticeably silent on transgender rights while also being vocal about defending those in academia and media who claim their anti-trans views are being “censored.” Strossen believes that “the traditional supporters of free speech on the whole were more on the left side of the political spectrum, and that had dramatically changed since about 1980.”

In 2018, Strossen appeared on the Rubin Report with Dave Rubin.

Strossen was a signatory on the 2020 Harper’s Letter, which was also signed by many of the anti-trans activists involved in the so-called “intellectual dark web.”

In 2021, Strossen co-founded the Academic Freedom Alliance, which provides legal support for professors involved in free speech controversies.

In 2021, Strossen was named an advisor to the University of Austin, an unaccredited “anti-woke” school co-founded by Bari Weiss.

February 2022, Strossen was on a panel titled “Misinformation and Hate Speech: Who Gets to Decide?” with anti-trans activists Lisa Littman, Julia Mason, and Thomas Spence of Regnery, publisher of anti-trans book Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier.

In May 2022, Strossen published a series for FIRE with Greg Lukianoff that counter “bad arguments against free speech.” A revised version was published as the 2025 book The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail.

In November 2022. Strossen participated at a “classical liberal” Academic Freedom Conference. It featured many prominent anti-trans activists in academia and media, including Jay Bhattacharya, Tyler Cowen, Jerry Coyne, Niall Ferguson, Solveig Gold, Jonathan Haidt, Lee Jussim, Eric Kaufmann, Anna Krylov, Greg Lukianoff, Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson, Steven Pinker, Gad Saad, Peter Thiel, and Eugene Volokh.

In June 2023, Strossen appeared on a panel moderated by anti-trans activist Sasha White of the Plebity Free Speech Fund.

In 2023, Strossen was a signatory on The Westminster Declaration, a group who identifies as “free speech champions” who oppose the “censorship industrial complex.”

In 2023, Strossen co-authored two pieces with Pamela Paresky on “cancel culture.”

In 2023, Strossen hosted the three-part documentary series Free to Speak. Anti-trans participants included Alice Dreger, Noam Dworman, Bill Maher, Steven Pinker, Jonathan Rauch, Matt Ridley, and Ilya Shapiro.

In April 2024, Strossen moderated Debate: Is Sex Binary? a “free speech” event at MIT comprised entirely of “gender critical” panelists: Alex Byrne, Holly Lawford-Smith, Alice Dreger, and Aaron Kimberly.

References

Quinn, Ryan (June 26, 2025). Scholars Continue Lambasting Higher Ed While Trump Upends It. Inside Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/06/26/scholars-lambaste-higher-ed-while-trump-upends-it

Hess, Jacob (June 25, 2025). Is the Trump administration helping ‘viewpoint diversity’ on campus? The academy has something to say. Deseret News https://www.deseret.com/education/2025/06/25/heterodox-conference-discusses-government-intervention-on-campus/

Jacobs, Joanne (May 7, 2024). Can the New University of Austin Revive the Culture of Inquiry in Higher Education? Its founders seek to build a scholarly home for pluralism ‹without creating a haven for the “anti-woke.” Education Next https://www.educationnext.org/can-new-university-of-austin-revive-the-culture-of-inquiry-in-higher-education/

Lee, Stephanie M. (November 3, 2022). A Conference Says Academic Freedom Is in Danger. Critics Say the Event Is Part of the Problem. Chronicle of Higher Education https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-conference-says-academic-freedom-is-in-danger-critics-say-the-event-is-part-of-the-problem

Menacha, Megan (November 30, 2021). Coming soon: The University of Austin, focused on ‘the intrepid pursuit of truth.’ Austin American-Statesman https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/11/08/university-austin-launches-without-accreditation-physical-campus/6340353001/

McHale, Patrick (November 8, 2021). University of Austin Launched by Higher Education Critics on Bari Weiss Substack. Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-08/university-of-austin-announces-formation-on-twitter-and-substack

Anti-trans coverage

Varadarajan, Tunku (August 5, 2022). Make Freedom of Speech Liberal Again. A former ACLU president urges the left—and all of us—to re-embrace the First Amendment. Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/opinion/make-free-speech-liberal-again-john-stuart-mill-aclu-nadine-strossen-classical-liberalism-universities-censorship-social-media-11659710472

Wright, Colin (April 27, 2024). Debate Review: Is Sex Binary? Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/debate-review-is-sex-binary

White, Sasha (June 20, 2023). Nadine Strossen on the History and Importance of Free Speech. Free Speech and the Left: A Conversation Series by Plebity https://www.plebity.org/event/nadine-strossen-on-the-history-and-importance-of-free-speech/

Young, Cathy (April 20, 2023). A notable foundation for freedom of speech. Newsday https://www.newsday.com/opinion/columnists/cathy-young/free-speech-killer-mike-ilya-shapiro-aclu-nadine-strossen-i0un1yec

Selected writing by Strossen

Strossen, Nadine (February 20, 2025). Disciplining Academic Freedom. Inquisitive https://inquisitivemag.org/articles/book/disciplining-academic-freedom/

Strossen, Nadine; Paresky, Pamela (November 21, 2023). Choose Counterspeech Over Cancel Culture. TiIME https://time.com/6338140/israel-hamas-free-speech-cancel-culture/

Strossen, Nadine; Paresky, Pamela (October 18, 2023). Even Antisemites Deserve Free Speech. The Free Press https://www.thefp.com/p/even-antisemites-deserve-free-speech

Mchangama, Jacob; Strossen, Nadine (April 28, 2023). The First Amendment Is the Greatest Defense for the Powerless and Marginalized. Daily Beast https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-first-amendment-is-for-the-powerless-and-marginalized/

Strossen, Nadine (February 21, 2023). The folly of hate-speech laws. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/02/21/the-folly-of-hate-speech-laws/

Lukianoff, Greg; Strossen, Nadine; Mchangama, Jacob (May 13, 2022). Answers to bad arguments against free speech from Nadine Strossen and Greg Lukianoff [series]. FIRE.

Strossen, Nadine and signatories (July 7, 2020). A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. Harper’s https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

Books

Lukianoff, Greg; Strossen, Nadine (2025). The War On Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail. Heresy Press, ISBN 978-1949846829

Strossen, Nadine [afterword], in Neier, Aryeh (2025). Defending My Enemy: Skokie and the Legacy of Free Speech in America. The New Press, ISBN 979-8893850130

Strossen, Nadine (2024). Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights. [update of 1995 book] NYU Press, ISBN 978-1479830763

Strossen, Nadine (2023). Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0197699645

Strossen, Nadine [foreword], in Stern, Kenneth S. (2020). The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate. New Jewish Press, ISBN 978-1487507367

Stallman, Richard; Strossen, Nadine; Siri, Santiago; Wolfman-Jones, Hannah (2020). System Override: How Bitcoin, Blockchain, Free Speech & Free Tech Can Change Everything. Independently published, ISBN 979-8587699816

Strossen, Nadine (2018). Hate: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship. Part of the Inalienable Rights series. Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0190859121

Strossen, Nadine [foreword], in Bishop, Ronald (2007). Taking on the Pledge of Allegiance: The News Media and Michael Newdow’s Constitutional Challenge. State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791471814

Strossen, Nadine [foreword], in Klein, Marty (2006). America’s War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty. [first edition] Praeger, ISBN 978-0275987855 second edition in 2012: ISBN 978-1440801280

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.; Griffin, Anthony P.; Lively, Donald E.; and Strossen, Nadine (1995). Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex: Hate Speech, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. New York University Press, ISBN 978-0814730706

Strossen, Nadine (1995). Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women’s Rights. Scribner, ISBN 978-0684197494

Media

SAPIR Conversations with Ilya Shapiro and Nadine Strossen.(Jun 4, 2025). “The Campus Free Speech Debate” with Nadine Strossen and Ilya Shapiro. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfBZqxRo8UI

The Contrarian with David L Bernstein and Nadine Strossen (May 16, 2024). Viewpoint Diversity and the Role of Politics in Higher Education w/ Nadine Strossen – S1 Ep8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En0uGr2Qpzo

The Dissenter with Ricardo Lopes and Nadine Strossen (January 19, 2024). #889 Nadine Strossen – Free Speech: What Everyone Needs to Know. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bloanBUhjVo

GBNews / Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle and Nadine Strossen (November 12, 2023). Why Even Antisemites Deserve Free Speech | Nadine Strossen | Free Speech Nation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foD0ukFBccY

Plebity with Sasha White and Nadine Strossen (June 20, 2023). Nadine Strossen on the History and Importance of Free Speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSGa1tgwfeQ

Stanford Classical Liberalism Initiative with Brandice Cane-Wrone, Greg Lukianoff, Nadine Strossen, Rick Shweder, and Hollis Robbins (Nov 18, 2022). Academic Freedom: What Is It and What Is It For? with Lukianoff, Strossen, Shweder, and Robbins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0uEIpHkdho

The Rubin Report with Dave Rubin and Nadine Strossen (June 28, 2018). Hate Speech, Free Speech, & the Threat of Censorship | Nadine Strossen | FREE SPEECH | Rubin Report. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W127aKzgoU

Resources

New York Law School (nyls.edu)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

FIRE (thefire.org)

The Federalist Society (fedsoc.org)

Academic Freedom Alliance (academicfreedom.org)

Heterodox Academy (heterodoxacademy.org)

Heterodox Academy Speakers (hxaspeakers.org)

Reason (reason.com)

Spiked (spiked-online.com)

Tablet (tabletmag.com)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)

Substack (substack.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

The Free Press (thefp.com)