Making History!

By Victoria S. Kolakowski

If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States.

Most members of my community have some interaction with the legal system. Transitioning sexes creates a wide range of family and legal issues, such as divorces, custody disputes, birth certificate changes, etc. Unemployment and underemployment are major problems for the transgender community, and many are sex workers.

This is why I am proud to serve as co-chair of the board of directors of the Transgender Law Center, an organization dedicated to addressing these problems.

Many members of my community are the victims of cruel hate crimes. Less than eight years ago, Gwen Aruajo was brutally murdered here in Alameda County. Her mother, Sylvia Guerrero, is a supporter of my campaign.

For these reasons, many judges, attorneys, police officers and prosecutors have little positive interaction with the transgender community.

For example, in the late 1990s I represented a client in a complaint before the Berkeley Police Review Commission, a female-to-male transsexual who had been physically removed by a Berkeley police officer from a public restroom. My client was traumatized and humiliated, and the complaint eventually led Berkeley to develop a model sensitivity traning program for police. Unfortunately, those attitudes continue with many people today.

I believe that interacting with a transgender judge would help the other judges, court staff, police, district attorneys and the private bench to see people like me as respectable professionals and even colleagues.

Therefore I am passionate about blazing this trail for my community. I have been very fortunate to have a successful career as a public servant, and I feel an obligation to serve my community as a role model as well.