m.bajko@ebar.com

Victoria Kolakowski, a transgender woman seeking a seat on the Alameda County Superior Court, received the backing this week of Sylvia Guerrero, who rose to national prominence after the death of her transgender daughter in 2002.

Several friends of Guerrero's 17-year-old daughter, Gwen Araujo, killed her in October of that year after they assaulted the East Bay teen during a house party in Newark in order to discover whether she was anatomically male.

Guerrero sat through two trials for three of the four men who killed her daughter, the fourth having accepted a plea bargain. The remaining defendants argued that the murder was the result of a violent but allegedly normal reaction to the discovery that Gwen was transgender.

The trials resulted in two second-degree murder convictions and two plea bargains for voluntary manslaughter. None were convicted of the charged hate crime enhancements.

Guerrero, who now lives in Tracy, became an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, and in particular, for passing laws restricting murder defendants from being able to claim "gay panic" or "trans panic" defenses.

"Vicky will be an outstanding judge and a role model for LGBT youth. Alameda County needs her on the bench" said Guerrero, who presented Kolakowski with the purple jeweled butterfly broach that she wore to the trials in memory of Araujo, and asked her to wear the pin under her robes if elected to the bench.

Kolakowski, an administrative law judge with the California Public Utilities Commission, is believed to be the first openly transperson to seek a judicial seat.

The domestic partner of Bay Area Reporter news editor Cynthia Laird, Kolakowski said she is "deeply honored" to have Guerrero's support in the race.

"I hope that nobody ever has to face what she did, to have her daughter brutally taken from her, and to sit in a courtroom and listen while the murderers blamed her daughter for their own violent actions," said Kolakowski, who lives in Oakland. "One of my reasons for seeking a position as a superior court judge is so that I can help to provide justice to victims of hate violence."

Should she be elected, Kolakowski said she intends to serve as a positive role model and ambassador for transgender people and for the LGBT community as a whole. By doing so, she said she hopes "both the legal system and the community of Alameda County as a whole may become more understanding of who we are as people and as positive contributing members of the community."

Kolakowsi is one of four candidates vying for an open seat on the Alameda County bench in the June 3 primary. Should no one win a majority of the votes, the top two vote getters will square off against each other in the November election.

For more information on Kolakowski's campaign, visit her Web site at http://kolakowskiforjudge.com.