Governor Deval Patrick has nominated Barbara Lenk, who is legally 'married' to another women with whom she parents their two children, to the high court where she will interpret laws through the lens of state-sanctioned sexual deviancy.
-- From "Massachusetts taps lesbian for top court" by Ros Krasny and Lauren Keiper, Reuters 4/4/11
"I will bring with me the sympathy and understanding of one who has experienced a full life from both inside and outside the mainstream," Lenk said of her nomination.
"My story is the American story -- where anything is possible," Lenk said.
All judicial nominations in Massachusetts must be approved by the bipartisan Governor's Council of eight state lawmakers.
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From "Patrick nominates first openly gay justice to Mass. high court" by Noah Bierman, Frank Phillips, and Michael Levenson, Boston Globe Staff 4/4/11
If confirmed by the Governor’s Council, Lenk would be the first openly gay judge on the state’s highest court. She would also be the only justice who was married as a result of the court’s landmark 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004.
The nomination of Lenk comes after the governor named Roderick Ireland to be the first African-American chief justice of the SJC, and Fernande R.V. Duffly to be the first Asian-American judge on the state’s high court. Patrick has spoken of his desire to make the judiciary and other branches of government more reflective of the state's diversity.
A specialist in civil litigation and First Amendment issues, Lenk holds a doctorate in political philosophy from Yale University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
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