Oregonians Living Behind Enemy Lines, Tale #48: Judge's Gender Identity More Important Than Knowledge & Experience

Ted left the “legal” seminar in Oregon City, Oregon almost in shock. In order to keep his law license, he had been forced to listen to three individuals, attorneys all, explain how and why, if one did not want to be labeled “transphobic,” a term Democrats made up two seconds after Obama created this new category of victims, one must refer to a transgender man and a transgender woman as “they” and “them” instead of he, she, him, her. “They” did not bother to explain what one does if one cannot discern that the stranger across the room is transgender. Indeed, don’t most transgendered people want to be viewed as the opposite gender? The audience asked not one question.

The next day, when Ted ran into his neighbor, also an attorney,^ as she was walking her dogs, he struggled to explain what he had learned from the three speakers. He stuttered as he tried, unsuccessfully, to explain the reasoning behind the bastardization of the English language by this nasty, violent Leftist lobby who claims to be representing a tiny, tiny, tiny minority: transgendered Americans. Ted described how the 20 or so attorneys attending this seminar sat through it, blank-faced, fearing to ask a single question. Likely, each audience member had many questions but were afraid to ask. Ted did not ask any questions. They worried about being labeled transphobic by the Oregon State Bar who holds his/her license to practice law.

IN 2025 OREGON, MERIT DOESN’T COUNT WHEN APPOINTING JUDGES

One of the speakers at the “Trans 101” seminar on April 25, 2019 was Cierra D. Brown. The powers that be were fast-tracking her up, up, up, to become the first trans judge in Oregon. Bypassing 14 other applicants, most more qualified than her, Governor Tina Kotek, the second Lesbian Marxist in a row (Kate Brown left office in January 2023) in the Oregon governor’s mansion, appointed Brown to an open judgeship in Clackamas County, where this writer lived and practiced law for over 30 years.

Brown, 40, has been an attorney for only nine years, saying that she has focused on “behavioral health” and indigent defense cases. [“Behavioral health” is a term I never heard before. These cases involve criminal defendants who are mentally ill.] She has served as chair of the LGBT Bar Association of Oregon. Nine months ago, she was appointed a municipal court judge in Lake Oswego, a suburb of Portland, where she ruled on misdemeanor traffic violations and misdemeanor sex offenses.

What happened to “they?” During a recent interview Brown referred to herself as a “she?” So, six years after she was “training” other attorneys in a new language, “she” has apparently reverted back to real English. It is unclear if she was born male or female. Based upon her small bone structure, she is likely a woman dressing like a man with a man’s haircut. I briefly ran into her at the courthouse in 2019. Her gender confusion was obvious.

Brown will be the first person to occupy the newly authorized 11th seat on the Clackamas County bench, a county in the Portland Metro Area. In November, 2026, she will need to run for election in order to keep her judgeship; however, newfound incumbents tend to go unchallenged in down ballot races in Oregon. The salary for circuit judges is $185,500 a year plus lavish benefits.

LET’S EXAMINE THE MERIT THAT WAS BYPASSED

These five applicants for this judgeship are much more qualified, in both years of experience and the type of legal work they have done, than Cierra D. Brown. Passing up Wu and Gilmartin tells it all: Governor Kotek didn’t care about experience and only cared about “making history” by appointing the first judge in Oregon suffering from gender confusion.

Michael Wu, 45, has been Marion County pro-tem judge for five years (Marion County is adjacent to Clackamas County). He was chair of the Oregon Board of Parole for three years and also served as Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney. He has practiced law for 20 years.

Colleen Gilmartin, 48, has served as Clackamas County Juvenile Judge for seven years. She has practiced law for 23 years.

Christopher Shull, 43, has been Multnomah County (Portland) Deputy District Attorney for 18 years.

Stephanie Engelsman, 45, is a public defender with 20 years of experience.

M. Scott Leibenguth, 55, a well-respected civil litigator, has practiced law in Clackamas County for 31 years.

The names of the other nine applicants are listed in the footnotes.* I could not find any information about their experience. Having practiced in that courthouse for over 30 years, I feel sorry for the attorneys and the litigants who “draw the short straw” and must try their case in front of this DEI hire. From custody cases to murder cases, she is hopelessly ill-prepared. We can all take comfort, however, in knowing that Judge Brown has not been hired as a commercial airline pilot, nor as an air traffic controller.

^His neighbor and fellow attorney is me, this writer. I did not need to attend that asinine seminar because I would be retiring and giving up my law license at the end of that year, 2019.

*The other attorneys who applied for this judgeship were: Marie Atwood, a legal coordinator at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training; Sussman Shank attorney Steven Cade; civil attorney Amber Labrecque; family lawyer Angela Laidlaw; estate planner Anastasia Meisner; attorney Suzanne Miles; civil litigator Jon Monson; Canby attorney Roxanne Scott; and attorney Max Wall.