Vicky Kolakowski overcame discrimination to become nation's first transgender trial judge
By Angela Woodall
Bay Area News Group
Updated: 12/30/2010 06:37:11 AM PST
http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_16966747Few county judges command standing ovations before they say a word, nor do they compel hate mail from strangers halfway around the world.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski has received both. She is the first transgender person elected as a trial judge and one of the very few elected to any office. She will be sworn in Tuesday at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Then she will begin her assignment hearing criminal cases at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse.
"No, I am not going to be able to get you out of things," she said jokingly to an audience of transgender advocates on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, two weeks after her upset victory over deputy district attorney John Creighton in November.
