Florence Ashley is an academic, activist[1] and law professor at the
University of Alberta.[2] They specialize in trans law and
bioethics. They have numerous academic publications, including a book on the law and policy of banning transgender conversion practices.[3] Florence served as the first openly transfeminine clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.[2] They are a winner of the
Canadian Bar Association SOGIC Hero Award.[4]
Biography
Personal life and education
Ashley came out as trans and transitioned in 2015.[5] They use
singular they pronouns.[6]
In 2022, Ashley published the book Banning Transgender Conversion Practices: A Legal and Policy Analysis.[13] The book is about
conversion therapy for transgender people and studies how they can be legally banned, and what impact this ban would have on the countries which would decide to implement these laws. Ashley believes that conversion therapy needs to disappear and that a formal ban improves the situation without fully solving the issue.[14] They cite the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto as an example of practices that were so bad, they served as a precedent to get conversion therapy banned in the province of Ontario.[13]
In 2023, Ashley was one of 21 members appointed to the
World Health Organization's guideline development group concerning the health of trans and gender diverse people,[15] but as of January 15, 2024, they were no longer listed as a proposed member of that group due to a schedule conflict.[16]
Ashley, Florence (13 February 2024). Gender/Fucking: the Pleasures and Politics of Living in a Gendered Body. CLASH Books.
ISBN978-1-955904-93-3.
OCLC1376495878.