About this Event
Law professor and queer activist R.K. Maril discusses her new book, A Queer Guide to Saving American Democracy, alongside Seattle writer Matt Baume.
Registration is not required, but helps us anticipate audience size.
Since the early 2000s, American courts and legislatures have delivered a series of generation-defining LGBTQ legal victories. Today, this progress and the very institutions that made it possible are under attack. A Queer Guide to Saving American Democracy is an introduction to this democratic crisis, speaking directly to the queer and transgender people navigating the intensifying political and cultural fault lines. It argues that the current denigration of queer and transgender lives in the US is a symptom of the broader degradation of American democracy, representing the newest threat of American fascism. By centering queer and trans identity in the larger history of authoritarianism, the book highlights the strategic villainization of nonconforming groups as a tool to consolidate power and political control. In response, this book empowers readers to adopt pro-democracy frameworks rooted in the defiant authenticity and stubborn joy of queer existence, forging pathways committed to transformative social change.
Robin Knauer Maril is a writer and professor based in Portland, Oregon. She teaches Constitutional Law and Administrative Law at Willamette University. Her work engages questions of democratic integrity and the growing threat of fascism and authoritarian regimes within America. Before teaching, Robin worked in the LGBTQ civil rights movement for nearly a decade. As Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Campaign, she worked directly with Congress and the Executive Branch on federal programs and policies impacting the LGBTQ community. She also focused extensively on issues impacting the federal judiciary and federal judicial nominations including the U.S. Supreme Court. Robin began her legal career as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She and her wife have two sons, two dogs, and an unknown number of snails. She is a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Matt Baume is a writer, podcaster, and video-maker based in Seattle whose work focuses on queer culture, geeks, and all things strange and wonderful. He is the creator of the queer interview show The Sewers of Paris, the YouTube pop culture series Culture Cruise, and the LGBTQ news shows Weekly Debrief and Marriage News Watch. He’s co creator of the comedy podcast and live show Queens of Adventure, featuring drag queens playing Dungeons & Dragons. His book, Defining Marriage, chronicles the personal stories of people who fought for marriage equality over the last forty years. He was nominated for a GLAAD award for journalism, and his work has been recognized by the New York Times as “thoughtful and thorough … informative and funny,” and he was highlighted by Forbes magazine. After he appeared as a pop culture critic in the Showgirls documentary You Don’t Nomi, Forbes called his observations on the film “potentially intriguing.” You can find his reporting via outlets that include Rolling Stone, Vice Magazine, Slate, The Advocate, The Stranger, and NPR.
Event venue & nearby stays
The Elliott Bay Book Company, 1521 10th Avenue, Seattle, United States
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