Daniel Del Gobbo

Opinion: Restorative justice could have offered a better path for everyone involved in the Hockey Canada trial Despite myths that restorative justice is about leniency for the accused, Canada is well placed to invest in a rigorous process that offers a path to accountability and meaningful change

Excellent piece by Jennifer Llewellyn @restorativelab.bsky.social about how restorative justice offers a better way to address harm, engage communities, and bring about culture change in sexual violence cases.

Six takeaways from Skrmetti are circulating widely. All six contain errors:
1. The first takeaway quotes a law professor suggesting that a loss in Skrmetti will make other trans rights cases harder. In fact the opinion is narrow.

To that end, we observe what we are calling two “pedagogies in the meantime” that characterize this experimental work: comparison and prefiguration. We conclude by briefly reflecting on what these pedagogies mean for restorative justice as a field in legal education going forward. 4/4

We find that restorative justice teachers today, by contrast, are more capaciously asking how students' efforts to reconfigure their conflict practices in the classroom through experiential education and clinical opportunities can open plural pathways to legal experimentation and social change. 3/4

In a moment when restorative justice stands poised to mainstream in U.S. and Canadian legal education, our paper recalls the intellectual history of ADR as a comparative tale. ADR teachers' embrace of the state legal system facilitated its uptake as a pedagogical field in the 1980s and 1990s. 2/4

I'm excited to announce that my article "Pedagogies in the Meantime: Reflections on ADR and Restorative Justice in U.S. and Canadian Legal Education," co-authored with the brilliant Amy Cohen @templelaw.bsky.social, is available here on SSRN: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 1/4

Alberta to hold public consultation on which books should be banned from school libraries The province will now require school boards to implement new age-appropriate standards for books by the start of the 2025-26 school year

I will be watching the development of these new guidelines closely to ensure they do not unduly target 2SLGBTQ+ books. The vast majority of which are entirely appropriate for all K-12 schools.

www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber...

Seething with rage. To those who spread hate to win points in your drummed-up-of-a-distraction culture war, this was always the well-foreseen end of your vile rootless obsession.

I am so sorry, Kady. We failed you.

Congrats to shortlisted authors & presses!
Margaret Boittin ‪@cambridgeup.bsky.social‬‬
Elaine Craig @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social
A Iavarone-Turcotte @pulaval.bsky.social
@james-kelly.bsky.social @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social
@jcyliew.bsky.social @fernpub.bsky.social
MJ Mossman @wlupress.bsky.social

Many thanks to @albertaviews.bsky.social for excerpting the open letter of Alberta law profs and staff on the rights of 2S, trans, and gender diverse youth in its latest issue. Those wanting to read the full letter can find it on @ablawg.bsky.social. @annajanel.bsky.social @floralashes.bsky.social

Feminist Legal Studies Feminist Legal Studies is committed to an international perspective and to the promotion of feminist work in all areas of law, legal theory and legal ...

Feminist Legal Studies (FLS) is now on Bluesky. FLS is committed to an international and interdisciplinary perspective and to the promotion of feminist work in all areas of law, legal theory and legal practice. We publish material in a range of formats. Follow us! link.springer.com/journal/10691

CRIMINALIZING DISSENT? The Truth About the BUBBLE ZONE Bylaw The City of Toronto has proposed a BUBBLE ZONE bylaw that would restrict protests near so-called “vulnerable” institutions. Join us for a community teach-in exploring its potential harms, featuring leading local voices in law, labour, housing, feminist activism, and disability justice. May 20th, 5:30pm Location: Toronto Metropolitan University, PD 457 Brad Evoy, Disability Justice Network Ontario Dreddz B.L., Voices for Unhoused Liberation Sid Jackson, Voices for Unhoused Liberation Irina Ceric, Law Union of Ontario Robyn Maynard, Another Toronto and Author of Policing Black Lives Judy Rebick, Feminist, Activist, Journalist, Author and Educator

Criminalizing Dissent?
Toronto: join me, @policingblack.bsky.social, @judreb.bsky.social & others for this community teach-in about the city's proposed bubble zone bylaw.
Tuesday, May 20, 5:30pm at TMU. Info & RSVP: communityteachin.rsvpify.com

I’m thrilled this is out in the world!

It was a joy to collaborate with such incredible co-editors & brilliant contributors. Eternally grateful to @rcalo.bsky.social & @mfroomkin.bsky.social for the opportunity to keep learning from our dear friend Ian’s impact on the field and the community 🤖💜

Meaningless Sex Some thoughts on the Supreme Court, The EHRC and other feminist dystopias

I shared some thoughts on the supreme court, EHRC's interim guidance and the feminist dystopia some call 'gender critical' feminism yesterday. feministkilljoys.substack.com/p/meaningles...

Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear the Kanyinda case in 2 weeks. I'm honoured to act as counsel for @fcjrefugeecentre.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy & @madhucentre.bsky.social in their joint intervention. We argue the Canadian Charter must meaningfully protect substantive equality of migrants.

Patriarchal Hammers Some thoughts on the recent judgement by the Supreme Court

Somehow only just caught this. Brilliant from Sara Ahmed (@saranahmed.bsky.social) as always.

feministkilljoys.substack.com/p/patriarcha...

Perhaps the plaintiffs think so. But surely a public education system has no obligation to accommodate such extreme convictions. After all, those other families send their kids to public schools, too. The Montgomery County Board of Education adopted these books specifically so that their curriculum would reflect the diversity of their student body. Why shouldn’t children of LGBTQ+ parents see themselves reflected in classroom literature? And what kind of message does it send when a teacher must excuse other students from class before reading a book that features nontraditional families—or cuts it altogether for fear of provoking a federal lawsuit? Brannen described this stigma as her “great concern.” If the plaintiffs prevail, she told me, the decision will “enable grievous discrimination against LGBTQ families and children.” If schools let children opt out of class to avoid these books, or dump them altogether, it tells a child with LGBTQ+ parents “that there is something wrong with them.” Montgomery County’s school board tried to avoid inflicting such discrimination on its diverse student body. Now the Supreme Court may impose it on the entire country.

At no point did Alito—or any other Republican justice—consider the message it sends to the kids of LGBTQ parents when their peers have to walk out of the classroom to avoid exposure to families like theirs. These children will be the victims of the Supreme Court's decision.
slate.com/news-and-pol...

"these are life choices that people make" is straight from ye olde homophobic playbook. It's the thought process that that led to lesbians being treated as predators in women's changing rooms for decades. It is exactly the same and it is just as wrong now as it was then.

Extract from Sylvia Tamale’s book, Decolonization and Afro-Feminism.

Black feminist scholars have written for decades about how the gender/sex binary is a colonial imposition. As Afro-feminist legal scholar Sylvia Tamale says, “sex, gender, and sexualities which do not conform to the institutionalized binaries totally disorganize the capitalist-patriarchal matrix…”

Judith Butler · This Is Wrong: Executive Order 14168 When diversity, equity and inclusion become ‘threats’ to the order of society, progressive politics in general is...

“Any effective response to the anti-gender movement will entail a critique of the new forms of authoritarianism and the passions they exploit.”

Judith Butler shows us how anti-gender rhetoric fuels current authoritarianism by producing social fears/anxieties. We must disrupt the emotional politics.

Law professor advocates for gender justice and transgender rights Law professor Daniel Del Gobbo is a leading advocate for human rights and gender equality.

Grateful for this profile of my recent work on gender equality and trans justice.

www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/20...

Author holds copy of book, Queer Judgments, while sitting on a purple chair in front of a wall decorated with the scales of justice.

Thrilled to announce the publication of our new book, Queer Judgments!

This collection brings together scholars from around the world to re-imagine and re-write legal judgments that relate to people who experience sexual, gender, and related marginalisation.

counterpress.org.uk/publications...

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We Robot Conference 2025

We’re 10 days from We Robot in Windsor. Register now to save your spot! Join us for a community-building robot art party on Thursday April 3, for dinner downtown on April 4, and for some truly incredible conversations on April 4 & 5 at @windsorlaw.bsky.social. See www.werobot2025.ca for details!

The political conditions to erase trans people did not just appear. Social anxieties about transition, fears about “trans predators,” and hostilities towards gender fluidity cultivated a climate that degrades trans life. Transphobia dressed up as “legitimate concern” led us to such violent politics.

Is a feminist rewriting of the criminal law possible or advisable in light of this critique? I conclude the paper with a "found poem" constructed from the words of a leading Ontario case, R. v. Aziga, to suggest a new and more promising path forward in HIV non-disclosure cases. 3/3

I explore this methodology in the context of HIV non-disclosure, a deeply problematic area of the criminal law that punishes racialized immigrants and queer people disproportionately, criminalizing what is more effectively treated as a public health and human rights issue. 2/3

Article drop! In my new paper "Finding Equality" published in the Journal of Law & Equality, I explore the possibilities and limits of feminist judgment projects, with a focus on creative rewriting and poetry as a means of radical legal and political organizing. 1/3
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Cover page of journal article titled “Legal hostilities: Navigating queerness, emotion, and space in asylum law.”

People who seek asylum face political, social, and legal hostilities. In my new article, I explore how such hostilities function as an “emotional grammar” of refugee law in the UK, especially when determining someone’s queerness, credibility, and persecution. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

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The pernicious effects of transphobia on campus Transphobia is rising, threatening student safety on campus. Universities must act now to protect queer and trans students from harm.

Canadian universities are required by provincial human rights laws to provide a learning environment free from discrimination, but have failed to do so for trans students & students in gender studies program. It's time to act, argues @danieldelgobbo.bsky.social
policyoptions.irpp.org?p=115918

The fight for trans rights is a women’s rights issue Trump’s executive order and Pierre Poilievre’s stance on trans rights fuel a divide on gender equality. Trans rights and feminism are linked and both must be defended together.

Trump & Poilievre have consistently used women’s rights issues to deny the very existence of trans people. In this 2-part series on the increase of transphobia, @danieldelgobbo.bsky.social explores what the panic around trans rights mean for gender equality in Canada.
policyoptions.irpp.org?p=115912