Eli Erlick

Eli Erlick is an activist, author, and public speaker who has spent more than a decade advancing transgender justice. Erlick became involved in activism for transgender youth after recognizing the lack of advocacy for individuals like herself. She co-founded Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER), a national organization led by transgender youth that focuses on transforming educational environments for transgender and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment. TSER is recognized as one of the largest transgender organizations in the United States.

Erlick also co-founded the Trans Youth Leadership Summit, a program under TSER that serves as the only national fellowship for transgender youth in the United States. The summit has supported fellows who have gone on to become media advocates, activists, and organizers.

Throughout her career, Erlick has influenced policy and expanded public discourse on transgender rights. She played a role in the national conversation on transgender students' access to education, notably during advocacy for California's School Success and Opportunity Act. Erlick has collaborated with more than 50 organizations and events, addressing issues such as transgender education and youth involvement in social movements. Her advisory roles include work with GLSEN and The Trevor Project, and she has partnered with organizations including Transgender Law Center, the ACLU, Equality California, GSA Network, and the National Center for Transgender Equality to support education-related legislation in California. Erlick also joined other activists to install a bronze sculpture of Marsha P. Johnson in Christopher Park, the first sculpture of a transgender person in New York City.

Erlick's academic background includes a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz in Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness. Her research focuses on social movements, political philosophy, and trans theory, with scholarly work analyzing movement strategies, trans history, and political philosophy. Her dissertation, Disrespectability Politics, examines the role of so-called "disrespectable acts" in contemporary trans organizing, arguing that these strategies are both effective and necessary for social progress. Erlick's writing has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Washington Post.

Erlick is the author of the book "Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950." The book explores the lives of 30 transgender individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries, challenging the notion that transgender identities are a recent development. Organized into sections on children, activists, workers, and athletes, the book presents new historical records, including accounts of transgender minors receiving hormone replacement therapy in the 1930s and details of LGBT uprisings predating the Stonewall riots. Publishers Weekly described the book as "an essential and eye-opening paradigm shift."

Erlick's work has been recognized by several institutions. Refinery29 named her their youngest 30 Under 30 awardee for activism, Teen Vogue identified her as The New Face of Feminism, and she was the first trans woman named Glamour Magazine's College Woman of the Year. Erlick has also received the Westly Prize and the Davis Projects for Peace Award for her work with Trans Student Educational Resources. Through her writing, organizing, and public speaking, Erlick continues to address LGBTQ+ issues, transgender youth, and social movements.