Lesbian Visibility Week: Victoria Kolakowski American Judge

What this episode covers

The InterPride podcast series, InterPod, is proud to launch our 14th Special episode, Lesbian Visibility Week: Victoria Kolakowski American Judge. The LGBTQIA+ community has come a long way in the fight for acceptance. Our voices matter and will be heard. Many of our LGBTQIA+ community members have fought for decades for the right to be seen and heard. Victoria Kolakowski (born August 29, 1961, in Queens, New York) is an American lawyer who has served as a judge of the Alameda County Superior Court since January 2011. She is married with two children. Kolakowski is the first openly transgender person to serve as a trial court judge of general jurisdiction in the United States, be elected to a judgeship, and serve as any type of judge in California. She is also the first openly transgender person to be elected to a judgeship in the state of California. Kolakowski worked as an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission for four years before she was elected to the position on November 2, 2010, with 51 percent of the vote to her opponent’s 48 percent. During the years 1996 to 2000, she served as co-chair of the Bay Area Transgender Law Association. The National Association of Women Judges has been a part of her professional life since 2006. Kolakowski served as president of the International Association of LGBT Judges from 2015 to 2017, making her the first transgender person to hold the position in the organization’s history. A Christian, Kolakowski is a retired ordained preacher from the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a Protestant Christian group. Listen in as we hear from trans lesbian Judge Victoria Kolakowski! Follow us on social media: Facebook (InterPride) | Facebook (WorldPride) Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Apple | Google | Eventbrite | Medium | Twitch

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