Rachel O'Neal
Political Science

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the ²ÊÃñ±¦µä. I have a Master’s degree in political science from ²ÊÃñ±¦µä and a Bachelor’s degree from Creighton University in political science and journalism. I am grateful to have received the 2023 ²ÊÃñ±¦µä Summer Fellowship, two 2022 research grants from the Institute of Behavioral Science and the Political Science Department respectively, and the 2021 Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant during my time at ²ÊÃñ±¦µä. My pronouns are they/them.

My research focuses on transgender rights, hetero-cisnormativity, and quantitative queer comparative politics more broadly. More specifically, I am interested in how de jure policies unrelated to gender, sex, and sexuality enforce our understanding of each concept. Currently, I am working on projects related to conversion therapy bans in the US, global gender marker policies, and hetero-cisnormativity in US court cases. My proposed research agenda also includes research on transgender sex work, initially at the US level with hopes to expand to the global level.Â