A gay attorney who was part of the legal team that defended San Francisco's groundbreaking Equal Benefits Ordinance has been appointed to the San Francisco Superior Court.
Joseph Quinn, the husband of the presiding justice of the First District Court of Appeal's Division One, James M. Humes, was one of three people Governor Jerry Brown named to the lower court Friday, March 27.
Also named last week to vacancies on the local bench were Deputy Attorney General Ross C. Moody, 50, who works in the California Department of Justice's Civil Division, Government Law Section, and San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Sharon M. Reardon, 44. Moody will serve in the seat vacated by retired Judge Julie Tang, while Reardon will fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Judge Marla J. Miller to the Court of Appeal.
Quinn, 46, who lives with Humes in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood, fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John E. Munter. All three will earn $184,610 as a judge.
"I've wanted to be a judge for a long, long time," said Quinn, who submitted his application last September to be considered for a judicial vacancy by the governor.
In a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter , Quinn joked that "things will be a little more even now" at home with Humes, who made history in 2012 when Brown, his longtime former boss, named him as the first openly LGBT judge to serve on a state appellate court.
Quinn expects his swearing in ceremony will take place in mid-April. He will then face the voters on the June 2016 primary ballot in order to maintain his seat.
"I am very grateful to Governor Brown and I am looking forward to earning the trust and confidence of the people of San Francisco," said Quinn, who has been a partner at Hanson Bridgett LLP and an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law since 2010.
According to LGBT legal advocates, he will bring the number of gay and lesbian jurists on the San Francisco bench to nine.
"My intent is to serve all the people of San Francisco. But I do think it is significant, and should not be lost, that I am an openly gay man and have been open and outspoken my whole career," said Quinn. "I think it is incredibly important that justice is inclusive. I am hoping my serving on the bench will send a message that justice is indeed inclusive and for all."
Attorney Jamie Dupree, a lesbian and co-chair of Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, told the B.A.R. that the local legal group for LGBT attorneys is "pleased to see" Quinn be named a judge.
"BALIF is thrilled by the appointment of Joseph Quinn, a longtime BALIF member and supporter, to the San Francisco Superior Court bench," stated Dupree. "BALIF's Judiciary Committee vetted Joe and highly recommended his appointment to the governor. He is extraordinarily well-qualified for the position."
Quinn earned a Juris Doctor degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law and a bachelor's degree from UCLA. In 1994 he began his legal career as a trial attorney at the Federal Defenders of San Diego.
A year later he served as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, and in 1996 he joined the law firm Jackson, Tufts, Cole and Black LLP as an associate. Within 12 months he was back clerking at the federal district court for now retired U.S. federal Judge Eugene F. Lynch.
In 1997 Quinn was hired as a principal trial attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney's office, where he worked until 2001. During that time he was part of the legal team that defended a city ordinance requiring city contractors to provide the same benefits to their employees with domestic partners as those received by their employees with spouses.
United Airlines, as well as the Air Transport Association, sued over the policy. Quinn worked behind the scenes to encourage LGBT employees at United to come out publicly and testify in the case about the difficulties they faced due to not having equal benefits.
"It put a human face on that otherwise theoretical challenge to a local ordinance," he said. "That was probably the most impactful period of my career, to see the case develop that way. It was a very powerful thing for me."
While the aviation industry won a partial victory in the case �" they did not have to provide domestic partner health insurance and pension coverage �" the law laid the groundwork for the city's marriage equality fight years later.
"No way in 1999 doing that case did I think in 2015 I would have a marriage license in the state of California," said Quinn, who married Humes in 2008. "I think it is in part from what we did in that case that marriage equality now exists in California."