NYU faculty member says trans activism is part of broader effort to usher in 'communist horizon'

Self-proclaimed Marxist and NYU faculty member Kay Gabriel said during a recent panel discussion that she sees trans liberation as part of broader social and economic upheaval.

In May 2021, a panel of four academics discussed the current state of transgender liberation and its relation to broader social and economic systems.

Among those in attendance was Kay Gabriel, a part-time faculty member at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. According to her bio, she specializes in poetry, trans studies, and Marxist feminism.

The 90-minute discussion touched on a number of issues, but first and foremost tackled the question of trans liberation's place in a communist revolution.

Ira, a self-described Spanish "revolutionary trans feminist" and "queer Marxist" kicked things off. "We have come together for transnational voices of transgender communist politics," she said, "in order to share our own insights on how transliberation can foster communist will-making and what the under-variant communities within the proletariat have to win in engaging the struggle to abolish the present state of things further."

Gabriel took then took the reigns, and walked viewers through the steps necessary to usher in what she claimed was required for true liberation.

"Liberation," she began, "means not just rights and recognition at the level of the state, but also a full access to means of life, equal access to resources, universal housing, universal healthcare, food security, universal access to education  ... this kind of economic transformation that would be a kind of communist horizon."

"Why does this immediately matter to trans people?" Gabriel continued.

"Trans people are like, very poor ... therefore, the struggle for liberation is a struggle for material security."