Olympic runner Nikki Hiltz and ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio on trans equality in the Trump era

Fast Company

17-06-2025

As anti-trans legislation and rhetoric continue to escalate across the U.S.—from sweeping state-level bans on gender-affirming care to renewed efforts to bar trans people from public life —trans nonbinary elite runner Nikki Hiltz and ACLU LGBTQ+ rights lawyer Chase Strangio find themselves at the intersection of justice and representation.
Fresh off a historic Olympic run and record-breaking season in 2024, Hiltz has become one of the most visible trans athletes in the world. In the same year, Strangio, the codirector of the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, argued a landmark case before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Though their platforms differ, both emphasize the power of showing up authentically, especially in a political climate that seeks to erase trans existence.
We asked the two changemakers to interview each other about the personal cost of visibility, the meaning of true allyship in business and beyond, and the LGBTQ+ trailblazers who inspire them to push for progress.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Nikki Hiltz: Within the past four years, [you've] been everywhere fighting the good fight. I came out in 2021, which, at the time, had the most legislation passed [targeting] LGBTQ+ and, specifically, trans people. Every year since, it's been more and more.
Chase Strangio: I do remember you coming out and a number of cases involving trans athletes in sports. In 2021, the first [anti-trans] sports bill passed, which was in Idaho. I was really focused on sports at the time. Trans inclusion and participation in sports was something that people were very tentative about.
Athletes have such an important, critical voice. Hearing and seeing [you] has been a source of inspiration and a lifeline in terms of representation and advocacy. Just seeing you achieve has been really thrilling because so much of trans discourse often is about all of the ways that we're targeted. But I really love watching and celebrating trans success.
One thing I'm struggling with a lot right now is that I actually don't like being [so] visible [in the public eye]. And yet, I don't want to disappear. It's become a part of how I do the work. I'm curious how you feel about being visible and being highly seen in all of these different ways.
Hiltz: We're on a big stage, especially with something like the Olympics. It's the biggest global sporting event ever. It doesn't necessarily come naturally for me. I've made change through visibility.
After the Olympics, I remember a mom messaging me saying that her kid had come out to her as nonbinary, and she knew what that meant because she followed me. Just by being me and running on the biggest stage, I normalized this identity that's been so dehumanized. I don't think it's a coincidence that I've been running my fastest after coming out. Where do you see your visibility play a role in your work?
Strangio: In 2013, there was this real absence of people in my field who were trans lawyers speaking out about trans advocacy. It felt important to push myself because I knew on some level that visibility was going to have an impact in both where I'm engaging with lawyers and then also for the public. Leading up to the marriage equality [Supreme Court ruling], this backlash was looming and increasing toward trans people. Very few people who were trans were speaking in the media about being trans in a way that resonated for me. I remember this moment of saying [to myself], 'You have all of the resources in the world. You have support. You have a responsibility.'
I have experienced similar things to those that you mentioned: Young people reaching out to me and saying, 'Seeing you made me realize I could do this.' It's that reminder that there's so much fullness in trans life and being a model of that feels absolutely essential. Our power comes through our unapologetic insistence on being ourselves in spaces that don't expect us to.
Hiltz: I really relate to that. I feel like we're both just two people who are really good at our jobs.
Strangio: There's all different types of visibility. The first way in which my visibility sparked change was being an out trans lawyer at the ACLU, a 100-year-old institution. I was the only trans lawyer there. By being visible in that space and engaging with lawyers and other staff, it allowed the ACLU to shift over time, which I think is one of the biggest impacts I've had, because it is such a large and powerful institution in legal advocacy. I feel that I am an embodied refutation of [our opponents'] arguments about trans life.
Before I arrived, there were just fewer opportunities for staff in the legal department to work directly with trans people who were also lawyers. With more trans people coming into the space, we are able to help our colleagues understand the nuances of our legal arguments and the realities of our lived experiences in more concrete ways.
Hiltz: In my space, specifically track and field, I've had so much success. It's like, you can't ignore me. The sport has really changed and evolved because they had to make space for me. That has been really cool to witness over the past four years. 'Okay, we have to get Nikki's pronouns right, and that comes down to the whole broadcast team.' Now, it's very normal to tune into one of my races and hear them get my pronouns correct. It's a powerful example for everyone watching.
Strangio: The media climate currently [is] informing [people's] view of the world with very reductive narratives. We need there to be entry points to change their understanding about trans people. Trans people are an easy target to make those broader political moves that have serious consequences for everyone. With endorsements, have you felt a sort of hesitancy post-Trump?
Hiltz: I think I felt the opposite. I felt more supported. In January, when one of the first things out of [Trump's] mouth was like, there are only two genders, the amount of people that reached out was really cool. Allies are showing up in ways they haven't before because they see what's happening. Lululemon is the biggest brand that I work with. They're my apparel sponsor and a Canadian brand. They're like, 'You can come live in Canada if you want.'
Strangio: We've seen a widespread capitulation among powerful law firms. I think that has sent a really damning message. Thankfully, there have been other law firms that have taken on the administration and fought back. It's a situation of just trying to create the conditions for people to be more brave.
Hiltz: When I think of training for the world championships this year, it's never going to be one big workout that I do that's going to make the difference. It's the cumulative work, the day-to-day things. I feel the same way about inclusion. Making sure in your life or work you're getting people's pronouns correct. Never assuming people's sexuality or gender identity. Support the organizations that directly help trans lives.
Strangio: You know, white supremacy has allowed, especially under U.S. capitalism, to suggest that diversity is somehow in tension with excellence, when the opposite is true. Diversity feeds excellence and achievement.
I've been very disappointed and frustrated with corporations slapping on the rainbow logo while still denying healthcare to their trans employees and refusing to stand up against anti-trans bills while donating money to candidates supporting anti-trans bills. You don't get to have it both ways. You can't commodify our fabulous existence and then facilitate the conditions for our eradication. If you want to celebrate us, if you want to enjoy the bounty of queerness, which is plentiful, then you better be working to create the conditions for queer thriving.
In 2016, we did see corporations take a stand when North Carolina passed HB2 [the 'bathroom bill,' mandating individuals use public restrooms based on birth sex, not gender identity], and that was really the end of that. We need more of that. It makes a huge difference in the United States. The single most powerful thing is money. Politicians are driven by financial incentives. I'm very learned at yelling at powerful people. I'm litigious. I sue people in power, and that is satisfying. You get paid less if you work in this capacity as opposed to if you represent corporations, but it means you get to fight back in all of these ways, and I feel grateful for that.
Hiltz: Totally. [We] wouldn't have it the other way. I feel like every single queer person who wasn't afraid to show up and be themselves has really influenced me. All the trans influencers just sharing their stories is so powerful because it just normalizes it. My mom [grew up] pre-Title IX, so when I started getting into sports, I was like, 'Mom, what sports did you play?' She was like, 'Women weren't allowed to play sports,' and it blew my mind.
I want to tell [my kids], 'It was crazy in the early 2020s. Trans people weren't allowed to play sports. It was so weird.' So I always think that's the legacy I'm trying to leave. We're changing the world and it doesn't seem like it right now, because of who's in power, but we're on the trajectory to have that one day be the world.
Strangio: I am amazed by just how things can change in a generation or two, not just in terms of the sort of substantive changes, but people's consciousness of what's possible. [Transgender immigrant activist] Lorena Borjas and Pauli Murray are two people I credit the most. Lorena for being relentless. Pauli, a Black, likely nonbinary or trans, queer lawyer, shaped both the Black civil rights movement and the women's rights movement.
Just knowing Pauli's legacy was instrumental in getting me into the courtroom. I hope that I'm doing right by Pauli, and I hope that in a few generations there are people who are dreaming up these arguments in far more expansive ways.