In the state of California, the first openly transgender person has recently been appointed to the bench.
Andi Murdyk will serve as a judge on the Sacramento County Superior Court after being chosen by Gavin Newsom to fill a vacancy left by a retiring judge, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Murdyk, who is a biological man, has been a resident of Sacramento since 2009.
She promised to use her personal experiences to guarantee that everyone who appears in front of her is welcomed into the legal system.
Murdyk’s experiences as a transgender woman (a man who identifies as a woman), a person with a substantial disability, a parent of an adult black man, and a descendant of Jewish Holocaust survivors inspired her to pursue a legal profession campaigning for civil rights for all people.
The transgender judge was born with osteogenesis, or brittle bone condition, which has resulted in over 100 fractures over the course of his life.
Murdyk, who came out as transgender in the last four years, said she is proud of her gender identification and that she has been accepted and promoted by the Newsom administration.
Murdyk has extensive expertise in private practice, having served as the managing attorney, director of litigation, and deputy director of Disability Rights California for almost a decade.
Murdyk joined the California Department of Rehabilitation in 2018 as its chief attorney, a position he held until 2020.
Murdyk graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1989 with a law degree.
The selection of the transgender attorney to the bench drew applause from the legal and left-wing activist communities.
Murdyk became the second openly transgender judge in California, according to Equity California, the country’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization.
