A lawyer told Cook County Judge Nancy Katz that his client beat uphis wife because the client was upset that the wife was having alesbian affair.
"As a judge, it's not good to say the first thing that comes tomind, which is: 'Good for her,' " said Judge Katz, a lesbian herself."I said, 'Why do you feel compelled to tell me that? That is not adefense to domestic violence.' I think he was trying to dirty her upin my mind."
Katz and five other openly gay judges on the Cook County benchheld an unprecedented panel discussion last week at the Chicago BarAssociation, talking about the challenges of being a gay judge andabout how their increasing numbers on the bench are helping open theminds of the Cook County judiciary.
"I'd been in Traffic Court about five months when a judge came upto me and said, 'You know, a few months ago, I would have said Iwasn't prejudiced against lesbians and gays but that would have beena lie. I didn't even know any. But you made me see things in adifferent way,' " Katz said. "For him, now I'm the person next door.There are six of us now and our little tentacles are all over thecourt system, just doing what we do, meeting people, forgingrelationships with people."
It was just nine years ago that Tom Chiola was elected the firstopenly gay jurist in Illinois. He was joined two years later bySebastian Patti, a rising star on the court who has already attainedthe status of presiding judge. Four others have joined in the lastfew years. They are still trying to get their fellow gay judges whohave spent their careers in the closet to "come out."
"I know three or four--when they see me, they run from me," Pattisaid. "Not coming out, not being honest, exacts such an enormous tollon us. We're in a stressful environment. [Coming out] sets you freeto affirm one's total self. The downside [of staying closeted] is . .. internalized homophobia is a wicked, wicked thing and it makes usdo crazy things."
Judge Colleen Sheehan said she had just recently come outprofessionally, and she could understand the reluctance of other gayand lesbian judges to do so.
"I was scared," Sheehan admitted. "After four months on the bench,the other gay judges on the bench asked me to go to breakfast and Isaid, 'No.' I was at a time where I was just integrating that wholerole into my life."
Sheehan's friends, family and business acquaintances knew she wasa lesbian, but she had not run for office declaring that. She went tothe breakfast.
"It was very traumatic, because, at the breakfast, Tom had askedme if I would be part of the gay and lesbian judges who were signinga letter to members of the Illinois Supreme Court asking them toamend their rules, which would have identified me in a professionalway as a lesbian and I . . . [Sheehan began contorting her face, tolaughter in the audience] ... it isn't that often in your life whereyou have to say 'yes' or 'no'--am I going to be this type of a personor am I going to be this type of a person? After having been on thebench only four months . . . I did it. I think I got fever blistersworrying. I didn't know how people would react."
Six years after Chiola and Patti began asking the Supreme Court tochange its rules to prohibit discrimination against people based onsexual orientation in Illinois courts, the justices, including thenew members who took office in 2001 led by newly inaugurated ChiefJustice Moses Harrison, agreed to change their rules after readingthe petition signed by Sheehan and the other openly gay judges.
Chiola admitted it was a bit strange speaking on the panel at theChicago Bar Association just nine years after he had a roughinterview with them when he first sought the bench.
"The Chicago Bar Association was not a friendly place at that timefor someone who had the audacity to say they were openly gay andrunning for judge," Chiola said. "One of the jokes I heard at thetime was, 'Well, where are they going to put him? Juvenile Court?' "
A lot has changed in just nine years. Now, all lawyers running forjudge in Cook County are expected to appear before the Lesbian andGay Bar Association, which evaluates candidates for judge based inpart on their sensitivity to handling cases that involve lesbian andgay litigants. The International Association of Lesbian and GayJudges now has more than 100 members, Chiola said.
Judge Lori Wolfson said she tried keeping her sexual preferenceprivate in her last job as an assistant Cook County state's attorney,until she realized after eight years that "everybody knew--I hadn'thad a date in eight years." Now she is out and comfortable with it.
So why do gay and lesbian judges have to publicly announce theirsexuality, divorce lawyer Richard A. Wilson, the evening's emcee,asked rhetorically, noting some straight people say, "I don't goaround announcing my sexuality. Why do you?"
Katz responded, "Most people declare their sexual orientation allthe time. They have pictures of their spouses in their chambers. Theytalk about their wives. They use analogies and talk about theirfamilies. We're doing nothing but what everybody does--live our livesin a public and open way. If I want to talk about my partner, I'lltalk about my partner."
Chiola handles many of his hearings in-chambers, where lawyers cansee pictures of him and his partner training for the triathlon.
"They can ask about the triathlon stuff or the marathon stuff orme and my partner or my biological family or all that is my life."
Katz likewise keeps awards on her bench from the Chicago-KentCollege of Law alumnae association and from the Lesbian/Gay hall offame.
Judge Noreen Valeria Love said none of the judges wake up and puton their robes in the morning thinking they want to be a gay judge,just a good judge. Chiola said the reputation he seeks among lawyersis not as the gay judge but as a fair and tough judge, as in, "He's ason-of-a-bitch, you better be prepared."
No comments:
Post a Comment