List of LGBT state supreme court justices in the United States

Below is a list of the names of the LGBT persons who have served on the highest court of a state or territory in the United States.

The first state with an LGBT justice was Oregon, where Rives Kistler was named to the bench in 2003.[1] The first U.S. territory with an LGBT justice was Guam, where Benjamin Cruz was appointed in 1997.[2] As of January 9, 2023, there are 12 LGBT state supreme court justices, serving in 10 states.

In U.S. states

Current

Order	State	Court	Justice	Ref	Service as justice	As chief justice
1	Colorado	Colorado Supreme Court	Monica Márquez	[3]	2010–present	–
2	Hawaii	Supreme Court of Hawaii	Sabrina McKenna	[4]	2011–present	–
3	Connecticut	Connecticut Supreme Court	Andrew J. McDonald	[5]	2013–present	–
4	Washington	Washington Supreme Court	Mary Yu	[6]	2014–present	–
5	Minnesota	Minnesota Supreme Court	Margaret Chutich	[7]	2016–present	–
6	Nevada	Supreme Court of Nevada	Lidia S. Stiglich	[8]	2016–present	–
7	Massachusetts	Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court	Elspeth B. Cypher	[9]	2017–present	–
8	New Mexico	New Mexico Supreme Court	C. Shannon Bacon	[10]	2019–present	2022–present
9	Washington	Washington Supreme Court	Helen Whitener	[11]	2020–present	–
10	California	Supreme Court of California	Martin Jenkins	[12]	2020–present	–
11	New York	New York State Court of Appeals	Anthony Cannataro	[13]	2021–present	–
12	California	Supreme Court of California	Kelli Evans	[14]	2023–present	–

Former

Order	State	Court	Justice	Ref	Service as justice
1	Oregon	Oregon Supreme Court	Rives Kistler	[1]	2003–2018
2	Oregon	Oregon Supreme Court	Virginia Linder	[15]	2007–2016
3	Massachusetts	Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court	Barbara Lenk	[16]	2011–2020
4	New York	New York State Court of Appeals	Paul Feinman	[17]	2017–2021
5	Vermont	Vermont Supreme Court	Beth Robinson	[18]	2011–2021
6	Oregon	Oregon Supreme Court	Lynn Nakamoto	[19]	2016–2021

In U.S. territories

Order	Territory	Court	Justice	Ref	Service as justice	As chief justice
1	Guam	Supreme Court of Guam	Benjamin Cruz	[2]	1997–2001	1999–2001
2	Puerto Rico	Supreme Court of Puerto Rico	Maite Oronoz Rodríguez	[20]	2014–2016	2016–present

References

"Amid debate over rights, number of gay judges rising". USA Today. October 17, 2006.
Silva, David (November 25, 1997). "Cruz Control: Newly Appointed Guam Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cruz May Be the Nation's Highest-Ranking Gay Judge". The Advocate. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
"Ritter appoints Marquez to Colo. Supreme Court". KDVR. September 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
Kobayashi, Ken (January 26, 2011). "McKenna is named to state's high court". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
"County Fair: The Queering of Connecticut". Fairfield County Weekly. February 28, 2008. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
Provenza, Nick (May 2, 2014). "Assistant Metro Editor". Seattle Times. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
Bakst, Brian (January 22, 2016). "Dayton MN Supreme Court pick is court's first openly gay justice". MPR News. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
Chereb, Sandra (March 9, 2017). "New Nevada Supreme Court justice has 'pursuit of justice' in her heart". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
"Newly Confirmed SJC Justice Cypher '80 to Speak at Emerson". Emerson News & Events. Emerson College. March 15, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
Bolcer, Julie. "Lesbian Judge Wins Statewide Race". Advocate. Pride Media. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
La Corte, Rachel (April 13, 2020). "Judge G. Helen Whitener appointed to state Supreme Court". Seattle Times. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
Dolan, Maura (November 10, 2020). "First openly gay justice confirmed to serve on the California Supreme Court". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
Clark, Dan (May 26, 2021). "Cuomo Announces Picks To Fill Two Seats on New York's Highest State Court". WSKG-TV. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
Bajko, Matthew (January 2, 2023). "California Supreme Court welcomes 1st queer woman". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
"Political Notebook: Bisexual, lesbian politicians stump in SF". Bay Area Reporter. November 22, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2009.
Goodnough, Abby (April 4, 2011). "Lesbian Judge Chosen for Top Massachusetts Court". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
McKinley, James (June 21, 2017). "First Openly Gay Judge Confirmed for New York's Highest Court". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
"Vt. gov.'s high court nominee pushed civil unions, marriage law". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. October 21, 2011.
Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN). "Openly LGBT elected in Oregon".
"Puerto Rico appoints first openly gay chief justice". Sun-Times National. February 23, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

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[usatoday-1] "Amid debate over rights, number of gay judges rising". USA Today. October 17, 2006.

[guam-2] Silva, David (November 25, 1997). "Cruz Control: Newly Appointed Guam Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cruz May Be the Nation's Highest-Ranking Gay Judge". The Advocate. Retrieved March 1, 2017.

[3] "Ritter appoints Marquez to Colo. Supreme Court". KDVR. September 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.

[4] Kobayashi, Ken (January 26, 2011). "McKenna is named to state's high court". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Retrieved March 9, 2011.

[5] "County Fair: The Queering of Connecticut". Fairfield County Weekly. February 28, 2008. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.

[6] Provenza, Nick (May 2, 2014). "Assistant Metro Editor". Seattle Times. Retrieved May 2, 2014.

[7] Bakst, Brian (January 22, 2016). "Dayton MN Supreme Court pick is court's first openly gay justice". MPR News. Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved January 22, 2016.

[8] Chereb, Sandra (March 9, 2017). "New Nevada Supreme Court justice has 'pursuit of justice' in her heart". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 10, 2017.

[9] "Newly Confirmed SJC Justice Cypher '80 to Speak at Emerson". Emerson News & Events. Emerson College. March 15, 2017. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

[10] Bolcer, Julie. "Lesbian Judge Wins Statewide Race". Advocate. Pride Media. Retrieved February 14, 2023.

[11] La Corte, Rachel (April 13, 2020). "Judge G. Helen Whitener appointed to state Supreme Court". Seattle Times. Retrieved April 14, 2020.

[12] Dolan, Maura (November 10, 2020). "First openly gay justice confirmed to serve on the California Supreme Court". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

[13] Clark, Dan (May 26, 2021). "Cuomo Announces Picks To Fill Two Seats on New York's Highest State Court". WSKG-TV. Retrieved June 10, 2021.

[14] Bajko, Matthew (January 2, 2023). "California Supreme Court welcomes 1st queer woman". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved January 9, 2023.

[15] "Political Notebook: Bisexual, lesbian politicians stump in SF". Bay Area Reporter. November 22, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2009.

[16] Goodnough, Abby (April 4, 2011). "Lesbian Judge Chosen for Top Massachusetts Court". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 11, 2011. Retrieved April 4, 2011.

[17] McKinley, James (June 21, 2017). "First Openly Gay Judge Confirmed for New York's Highest Court". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

[18] "Vt. gov.'s high court nominee pushed civil unions, marriage law". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. October 21, 2011.

[19] Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (GLAPN). "Openly LGBT elected in Oregon".

[20] "Puerto Rico appoints first openly gay chief justice". Sun-Times National. February 23, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2017.