Transgendered Kolakowski wins race for Alameda County Superior Court judge

[Ian David]

OAKLAND -- Alameda County has become home to the first transgender trial judge in the country as Victoria Kolakowski won the race to fill an empty seat on the county's Superior Court bench.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting results, Kolakowski held 50.2 percent of the vote against Deputy District Attorney John Creighton, who had 48.7 percent.

<snip>

Kolakowski was the candidate hoping to bring diversity to the bench through her experience being transgender and her background as an attorney focusing on civil matters through her job as an administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission.

Kolakowski won a primary in June and campaigned on a platform of being the first transgender judge in the state and bringing change to a bench that, she argued, was too overloaded with white males.

More:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_16505778

See also:

Positive news from the election on gay rights
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x168512

[RKP5637]

1. Recommend!!! n/t

[Celtic Raven]

2. K&R nt

[Evasporque]

3. Yay!

[KamaAina]

4. I knew that name sounded familiar! I ran across her in New Orleans in the early '90s.

We were both actively campaigning to get an openly gay African American man elected to the City Council; he would have been the first such elected official in the country (if only they had listened to me...).