IndyBay.org – by Chris Daley
San Francisco, CA – January 19, 2007 – Transgender Law Center Board Member and long-time civil rights advocate, Victoria Kolakowski, will be sworn in as the state’s first openly transgender Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) today when she will be among eight new ALJs sworn-in by Angela K. Minkin, Chief Administrative Law Judge of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Despite many gains in transgender civil rights over the last five years, Victoria’s selection as an ALJ for the CPUC will make her the only openly transgender judicial or quasi-judicial officer in the state.
“I am very honored to serve the people of California in this new role,” said Kolakowski. “I hope that my appointment it is a small step toward the day when the selection or election of a transgender person to any position in state government is considered ordinary.”