Three leading gender equity advocates will be honored by the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with its 12th annual Stonewall Award at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Phoenix.
Named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement, the award recognizes lawyers who have considerably advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBT legal causes.
The 2025 award recipients are:
• Kristen Galles, founder of public interest law firm Equity Legal, has represented students in Title IX equal protection or gender equity and sexual harassment cases against school and state athletic associations since 1996. She has litigated and supported groundbreaking cases and efforts for equity throughout her career. From influencing Title IX case precedent to arguing or writing briefs on Title IX, Galles is now a mentor for other lawyers on their Title IX cases.
• Victoria Kolakowski became the first openly transgender administrative law judge in 2006, and in 2010, became the first openly transgender trial court judge. Prior to becoming a judge, Kolakowski was an attorney for 21 years in Louisiana and California, where expanding access to justice has been the centerpiece of her career. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
• Judge D. Zeke Ziedler was the first openly gay man elected to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in 2004. He is a former president of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges. He was appointed as a juvenile court referee in 1998, where he was full time in the Edelman Children’s Court and earlier was senior staff attorney for Dependency Court Legal services, where he represented more than 2,000 children and other parties in Juvenile Dependency Court. He continues to focus on juvenile issues.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/ 2024/11/lgbtq-champions-honored-midyear/)
Named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement, the award recognizes lawyers who have considerably advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBT legal causes.
The 2025 award recipients are:
• Kristen Galles, founder of public interest law firm Equity Legal, has represented students in Title IX equal protection or gender equity and sexual harassment cases against school and state athletic associations since 1996. She has litigated and supported groundbreaking cases and efforts for equity throughout her career. From influencing Title IX case precedent to arguing or writing briefs on Title IX, Galles is now a mentor for other lawyers on their Title IX cases.
• Victoria Kolakowski became the first openly transgender administrative law judge in 2006, and in 2010, became the first openly transgender trial court judge. Prior to becoming a judge, Kolakowski was an attorney for 21 years in Louisiana and California, where expanding access to justice has been the centerpiece of her career. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
• Judge D. Zeke Ziedler was the first openly gay man elected to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in 2004. He is a former president of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges. He was appointed as a juvenile court referee in 1998, where he was full time in the Edelman Children’s Court and earlier was senior staff attorney for Dependency Court Legal services, where he represented more than 2,000 children and other parties in Juvenile Dependency Court. He continues to focus on juvenile issues.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/ 2024/11/lgbtq-champions-honored-midyear/)
