Indra Lusero, Founder and Director of Elephant Circle, sits down with us to discuss their path to becoming a birth justice attorney. As a queer and gender queer parent and law student in the 1990’s, Indra became really curious about the legal structures they were interfacing with as they were trying to form a family in a way that was different from what the existing systems would allow. This curiosity and passion for birth equity and the reality that no organizations were doing this kind of work led to the founding of Elephant Circle, the vessel through which Indra now does birth justice policy work.
Together, we talked about:
- The two questions that guided Indra’s curiosity in law school and sparked Indra’s passion for birth justice – who gets to decide who is an official legal parent and then how can families protect themselves when they are outside of those structures of legitimacy;
- What it means and looks like to be a birth justice attorney and practice within this evolving area of law (hint; it’s exciting!);
- The gap that Elephant Circle fills;
- What led to the founding of the Birth Rights Bar Association, a national organization promoting the rights of birthing people and building skills and networks for legal advocates (consider joining!);
- How Indra’s physical strategy for processing and digesting stress is martial arts and juggling;
- Indra’s definition of success and how it has evolved over the years; and
- Indra’s advice for attorneys who are looking to develop practices that support wellbeing – try things!
