Victoria Kolakowski, First Openly Transgender U.S. Trial Judge, Elected In California

OAKLAND, Calif. — A 49-year-old California patent lawyer has been elected as the nation's first openly transgender trial judge.

Alameda County elections officials say Victoria Kolakowski beat prosecutor John Creighton 51 to 48 percent – a margin of nearly 10,000 votes – in the Nov. 2 election to fill the vacancy in California's Superior Court.

Kolakowski had been leading since election night, but outstanding absentee and provisional ballots made the race too close to call until Monday.

The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund has said she is the first openly transgender trial court judge in the country.

Kolakowski spent the past three years as an administrative law judge settling energy contract and environmental compliance disputes for the California Public Utilities Commission. She underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1991.

(This version corrects year of surgery to 1991 instead of 1981.)

Comments

[local21]

07:03 AM on 11/17/2010

I would love to see Victoria pull up to the courthouse on her first day in a 1969 GTO Judge.

The Judge

[mumi009]

06:24 AM on 11/17/2010

Is Ms.Kolakowski a good judge? Is she qualified to do the job? THAT is the only thing that matters.

(Previous) gender, creed, color, national origin are NOT the qualities by which a judge should be, well, judged.

I agree with Jim Pasterczyk (see below). This should be, and one day it will be, a "ho hum" thing.

[CanMav]

04:00 AM on 11/17/2010

Congrats to her

[celere]

03:50 AM on 11/17/2010

This is one of those cases where you just have to let the person live their life as they please, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. If there's one thing each of us owns, it's our name, our life, our identity.

That said, I've always wondered why anyone who has experienced what I see as the privileges and freedoms of being a man would ever want to give them up. The world seems so much more respectful of men than women. Not that either gender has a cakewalk through life.

[Jim Pasterczyk]

03:09 AM on 11/17/2010

I look forward to the day when the response to this kind of event is "ho hum".

[momopopo]

02:54 AM on 11/17/2010

"she" is still a man. DNA says so.

[Jsolar]

03:01 AM on 11/17/2010

She is a woman. She says so.

And that's more than good enough for me.

[momopopo]

03:35 AM on 11/17/2010

So if a person says they are a Magical Pink Manatee from planet Zorlok, is that good enough for you too?

[AnitaMan]

03:31 AM on 11/17/2010

and you are still an $%#@%$$%%

[Labchuk]

02:51 AM on 11/17/2010

whats with this "openly" stuff . . . is there a judge that has been suspected to be transgendered?

[aflutterbug]

09:34 AM on 11/17/2010

I guess it's because in reading her bio, she calls herself a "transgender judge" and belongs to a "transgender community."

I thought these people just wanted to change sexes and assimilate as ordinary men or women afterwards?

Headlines like this, and "identifying" as transgender are exactly why people feel justified in saying this person isn't a woman. Even Victoria stamps herself as being Something Else.

Ashame.

[eve mahar]

11:01 AM on 11/17/2010

Being open and honest about being transgendered brings awareness to ignorant people who sadly, do judge and condemn them. Being open about her journey doesn't make her less of a woman, it makes her more of one.

[Sean Roaney]

01:59 AM on 11/17/2010

What excellent news! Congrats to Judge Kolakowski!
I also have to add that I am pleasantly surprised by the civil and wholly decent comments posted by users tonight. Very refreshing.

[Cori527]

05:34 AM on 11/17/2010

Most of the uncivil ones - and there have been a lot - have been thankfully scrubbed.

[barkrudedog69]

01:33 AM on 11/17/2010

Split decision

[Jsolar]

01:02 AM on 11/17/2010

Hooray! Excellent news!

[Ditmartian]

12:54 AM on 11/17/2010

Yay! Good for her!

[pbziegler]

12:47 AM on 11/17/2010

Now that's something. Back in the 60's when I was a young lawyer in San Francisco I went before a judge asking that he allow a tugboat captain who was in the process of having a sex change operation to become a woman change his name from Bill to Louise. The judge hated doing it but in those days even conservative judges followed the law. Victoria's victory is a victory for America.

[Sean Whelan]

12:35 AM on 11/17/2010

The concept of becoming another sex is a strange one to me - and I'm gay. However, they are no less human and no less deserving of our respect and love. I wish Victoria nothing but the best and am glad she has been selected on the only criteria that matters - her ability to handle the position. God bless America!

[justmyhumbleopinion]

12:32 AM on 11/17/2010

John Creighton ouch that's gotta hurt. You lost to a girl...sort of.

[LaurenRose2K11]

10:28 AM on 11/17/2010

Not "sort of" you ignoramus. He absolutely lost to a woman.

[LI2US]

12:25 AM on 11/17/2010

"Your Honor" is gender-less.

[eve mahar]

12:34 AM on 11/17/2010

No, her gender is female, she is a woman.

[LI2US]

12:39 AM on 11/17/2010

Boy, did I write that badly. I MEANT the term "Your Honor" is blind to gender.

Sorry 'bout that.