Transgender woman leads race for judge

Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Victoria Kolakowski, who’s running for Alameda Count Superior Court judge in a November runoff election, declares on her campaign Web site that she hopes to make history.

“If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States,” it states.

The question is how much it should matter.

Kolakowski, 48, transitioned from male to female in 1989 during her last year in law school and had sex reassignment surgery in 1991. She has 21 years of legal experience, including stints as a private attorney, corporate attorney and, currently, an administrative law judge.

Mostly symbolic

Kolakowski says her gender is important in symbolism and inspiration for others, but she wants voters to mainly consider her professional experience.

“It’s not like I’m going to be elected and be ‘the transgender judge,’ ” she said. “If I’m not going to be able to represent the entire community or have the skills for the job, I don’t want people to vote for me.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/16/BASR1DTCNE.DTL#ixzz0r1hwkZRz