On Dec. 4, Chase Strangio, a Northeastern School of Law class of 2010 alum, became the first openly transgender lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

Strangio, who grew up in Newton and came out as transgender while a student at Northeastern School of Law, is representing the plaintiffs in L.W. v. Skrmetti, a case that challenges a law banning minors from accessing gender-affirming care. The case was filed in April 2023 against the state of Tennessee by the parents of a transgender teenager, identified in court documents as L.W., who was 15 years old at the time of the case being filed.

L.W. v. Skrmetti stems from a bill Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed in March 2023 prohibiting healthcare providers from administering gender-affirming medical care for patients under the age of 18. The ban went into effect July 1, 2023, and patients actively receiving gender-affirming medical services like hormone blockers stopped having access to treatment at the end of March. The Tennessee ban effectively forces patients seeking gender-affirming care to either leave the state or not receive care.

“It is not lost on me that I will be standing there at the lectern at the Supreme Court in part because I was able to have access to the medical care that is the very subject of the case that we’re litigating,” Strangio said in a Dec. 1 interview with CNN.

Strangio, who practices law for the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is recognized for directing many pro-LGBTQ+ projects, including the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. As co-director, Strangio worked toward enacting legislation that benefits the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV. Strangio did not immediately respond to The News’ request for an interview.

In 2020, Strangio was named among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People for his activism in the LGBTQ+ community.

“I am able to do my job because I have had this health care that transformed and, frankly, saved my life,” Strangio told the Associated Press. “I am a testament to the fact that we live among everyone.”

At Northeastern, Strangio was a Public Interest Law Scholar and completed four co-op experiences, including a one at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project — a legal organization that focuses on the protection and expression of gender identity  — where he continued to work after graduating. As director of their Prisoner Justice Initiatives, he represented gender-nonconforming individuals and transgender people who were incarcerated.

Strangio’s oral argument marks another first for transgender people in government and law in recent years. Delaware Senator Sarah McBride won Delaware’s singular seat in the House of Representatives, making history as the first transgender person to be elected to Congress.

“The same politicians who are trying to control women have now set their sights on transgender people and their families and are trying to control their bodies and lives,” said Jennifer Dalven, director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, in an ACLU press release about the court case. “Allowing politicians to continue down this road could hold severe implications for the freedom of all people to decide what is right for their own body.”

Oral arguments for L.W. v. Skrmetti concluded after two and a half hours between Strangio, Tennessee Solicitor General J. Matthew Rice and U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar. The Supreme Court will issue the decision within the next few months, though the court is dominated by a conservative supermajority of justices who are unlikely to rule in favor of Strangio’s case.