Stephen Lachs, believed to be the first openly gay judge in the United States, visited Chicago to lecture at the Chicago Bar Association and to attend an honorary gathering June 13.
California Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Lachs, now retired from the bench, to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1979. The following year, Lachs ran unopposed to retain his seat.
While overall the reception of an openly gay judge was positive, Lachs did experience some pushback.
"I know from talk that there were other judges who were not very happy about having a gay judge, at the time," said Lachs. He also received hate mail, and the L.A. Times referred to him as an "avowed homosexual."
"But on the whole, 90 percent of people were wonderful," said Lachs.
Lachs also addressed criticism that lesbian and gay judges should not hear cases involving LGBT people because they cannot remain unbiased.
"We would then have to disqualify women judges from hearing any cases involving women, Caucasians from hearing any cases involving Caucasians, African-Americans from hearing any cases involving African-Americans and so on," said Lachs. "If you're fair, you're going to be fair. If you're honest, you're going to be honest."
The Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago and the Chicago Bar Association partnered to bring Lachs to Chicago for a continuing legal education seminar.
Dr. Scott Clay and lawyer Christopher Johnsen hosted the honorary reception with the law office of Charles S. Beach at Rosebud Prime in the Loop.
"People who break ground, people who have stepped in those places first, those are special people. You don't meet people like that everyday. That should be celebrated," said Beach.
"I think that people who are of the younger generation, we forget the struggles of those who came before us, what they had to go through," said Johnsen. "It's easy to be complacent. People come into this profession and think, 'All these doors have been opened.' It's easy to forget the trailblazers who paved the way."