Mar Galvez Seminario

PhD student, 2024-present 

Areas of interest:

Reproductive Justice, Queer and Trans of Color Critiques, Queer and Crip Theory, Disability Justice Theory, Media Studies, Memory Studies, and Gender Politics in Public Policy.

Biography

Mar's research looks at the reproductive justice movement and its theory in the US, and what queer and trans of color (QTPoC) critiques and QTPoC kinship and resistance to reproductive and sexual oppression can teach us about the current moment. By dehumanizing those outside of them, reproductive and sexual oppression have long defined the boundaries of whiteness to increase white capital, thus, upholding white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism. Those outside the boundaries are not considered legitimate political actors in this closed political system, which is what makes the current dual attacks on trans and reproductive health a rational first step to narrow the boundaries of whiteness. Mar hopes to learn from these histories of resistance and resilience and find how trans and queer liberation are inseparable from reproductive justice, beyond the starting point of "agency" and "bodily autonomy."

Over the last seven years, as a reproductive justice scholar and advocate, they’ve researched and written about reproductive justice and worked in the frontlines of the reproductive justice movement in Colorado. They worked for the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR) for six years as a community organizer, educator, and eventually their Legislative and Research Manager, supporting COLOR’s research, legislative and regulatory work for laws such as regulating anti-abortion centers, a shield law for trans and abortion care, expanding Colorado medicaid for undocumented Coloradans, and more. Also, defeating bills like total abortion bans or bills that granted warrantless access to private messaging to law enforcement.

Publications:

“Exploring Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Abortion Disclosure and Adolescents’ Experiences Navigating Colorado’s Parental Notification Law”

“Reflections on Antiracist Feminist Pedagogy and Organizing: This Bridge Called My Back, Forty Years Later"

“Guerreras y Puentes: the theory and praxis of Latina(x) activism”

Resources:

Navigating U.S. Immigration Status, Protections, and Resources