Mary C. Morgan

For other people named Mary Morgan, see Mary Morgan (disambiguation).

Mary Carolyn Morgan
Judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 2003
Appointed by	Gray Davis
Preceded by	Kevin V. Ryan
Judge of the San Francisco Municipal Court
In office 1981–1993
Appointed by	Jerry Brown
Personal details
Alma mater	Smith College (B.A.) New York University School of Law (J.D.)

Mary Carolyn Morgan is a judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court and former judge of the San Francisco Municipal Court. She was the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the United States.^[1]

Early life and education

Morgan received a B.A. from Smith College in 1967 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1972.^[2]

Career

From 1981 to 1993, Morgan served on the San Francisco Municipal Court.^[2] On April 3, 2003, Governor Gray Davis appointed Morgan to the San Francisco County Superior Court.^[2]

Personal

At the time of her appointment to the San Francisco County Superior Court, Morgan's partner was Roberta Achtenberg, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton Administration.^[2] Senator Jesse Helms, who had referred to Achtenberg as "that damn lesbian", had held up Achtenberg's nomination and was particularly outraged at discovering that Achtenberg and Morgan had kissed during a gay pride parade.^[3]

See also

• List of first women lawyers and judges in California
• List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States
• List of LGBT jurists in the United States

References

1. Jim Schroeder, Twenty-five years of courtroom trauma The Advocate (August 23, 1994).
2. State’s First Lesbian Judge to Return to Bench Following Davis Appointment, Metropolitan News-Enterprise (April 4, 2003).
3. Bernstein, Robert A.; DeGeneres, Betty; MacNeil, Robert (25 June 2003). Straight Parents, Gay Children: Keeping Families Together. Da Capo Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-56025-452-2.