Skip to content

Law and transgender people

Many transgender and gender diverse people are licensed attorneys, judges, lawmakers, and elected office-holders. This list is currently focused on the United States.

This site also has a section on legal aspects of making a gender transition.

US attorneys

Below are a few notable transgender and gender diverse lawyers who have been admitted to at least one bar in the United States.

CB Baga (Minnesota)

Kylar Broadus (Missouri)

Julie Chovanes (Pennsylvania)

Denise E. Brogan-Kator (Florida)

Ellen Krug (Iowa)

Shannon Price Minter (California)

Sheryl Ring (Illinois)

Martine Rothblatt

Dean Spade (California)

Chase Strangio (Massachusetts)

Ezra Young (New York)

US judges

Phyllis Randolph Frye (Texas)

  • Associate Judge for the Municipal Courts, Houston
  • transgenderlegal.com [archive]
  • liberatinglaw.com [archive]

Victoria Kolakowski (California)

  • Judge for the Alameda County Superior Court
  • America’s first elected transgender judge
  • vkolakowski.com

US lawmakers and elected office-holders

  • Lisa Bunker
  • Gerri Cannon
  • Joanne Marie Conte
  • Phillipe Cunningham
  • Althea Garrison 
  • Kim Coco Iwamoto
  • Andrea Jenkins
  • Stephe Koontz
  • Rachel Levine
  • Sarah McBride
  • Lisa Middleton
  • Stu Rasmussen
  • Danica Roem
  • Lauren Scott
  • Amanda Simpson
  • Taylor Small
  • Brianna Titone
  • Mauree Turner
  • Aime Wichtendahl

Historic trans and gender diverse attorneys

  • Thomas Baty (1869 – 1954)  – British
  • Sonia Burgess (1947 2010) – British
  • Andrew S. Cray (1986 – 2014) – American
  • Pauli Murray (1910 – 1985) – American
  • Shain Mahaffey Neumeier (born 1987) – American
  • Mia F. Yamamoto (California – retired)

Outside the United States

  • Kael McKenzie – Canada judge (born 1971)
  • Micheline Montreuil – Canada
  • Nisha Rao – Pakistan