LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic

Alexander Chen is the Founding Director of the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Alexander’s work focuses on expanding the rights of LGBTQ+ people through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and direct representation at both the national and local levels. Previously, Alexander worked at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations. At NCLR, Alexander engaged in LGBTQ+ impact litigation and policy advocacy in education, employment, health care, housing, prisons, and juvenile justice and child welfare settings. Alexander was a member of the litigation team in the transgender military cases Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, as well as the landmark Ninth Circuit transgender prisoner surgery access case Edmo v. Corizon. He also co-drafted AB 2119, a bill that made California the first state to guarantee access to transition-related health care for trans youth in foster care. He is also a co-founder of the National Trans Bar Association. Alexander received his B.A. from Oxford University, his M.A. from Columbia University, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the first openly transgender editor of the Harvard Law Review and worked on trans issues at the Department of Justice, the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, and the National Center for Transgender Equality. He clerked on the Ninth Circuit for the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown, and in the Southern District of California for the Hon. Gonzalo P. Curiel.

Anya A. Marino (she/her) instructs Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Through litigation, education, and other advocacy methods she advances LGBTQ+ rights and justice for other marginalized communities. Previously, Anya was the Deputy Legal Director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, where she oversaw the ACLU of Florida’s voting rights litigation and litigated LGBTQ+ and First Amendment cases. Anya was an integral member of the ACLU’s litigation team challenging legislative and executive efforts to undermine Florida’s 2018 Voting Restoration Amendment, which endeavored to restore voting rights to approximately 1.4 million people with previous felony convictions. She led the ACLU of Florida’s ongoing participation in Claire v. Florida Department of Management Services and represented three transgender state employees categorically denied medically necessary gender-affirming care by the State of Florida. Additionally, she led the ACLU of Florida’s ongoing litigation in The Dream Defenders v. DeSantis, which seeks to invalidate the governor and legislature’s 2021 racially motivated anti-protest act. Anya remains the first openly transgender woman of color to serve in any senior legal position throughout the ACLU’s federation of national and affiliate offices. Anya graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, and she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from The Johns Hopkins University. Anya is admitted to practice in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Florida.

Maya Satya Reddy (she/her) is the Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic’s Clinical Fellow, where she works on a self-designed project to protect the rights of, and promote the inclusion and well-being of, LGBTQ+ student athletes through litigation, legislative advocacy, and policy advocacy/public education. Maya is a queer South Asian former professional golfer, LGBTQ+ athlete activist, Athlete Ally Ambassador, founder of the Queer Asian Social Club, and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. During her time as a law student, she co-designed and developed the first ever South Asian Law Student’s Association symposium on the 100^thanniversary of United States v. Thind; edited the University of Pennsylvania’s Journal of Constitutional Law; served as co-president of Penn Law Lambda; and authored two pieces defending trans athletes in the University of Pennsylvania Regulatory Review and with Teach for America. Previously Maya worked for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal and the Philadelphia Legal Assistance where she represented clients at administrative hearings before an Unemployment Compensation Board of Review referee.