(excerpted from FRONTIERS magazine [8/26/94 issue])

	LESBIAN FEDERAL JUDGE MAKES HISTORY
		by PETER FREIBERG

Without fanfare, publicity or controversy, another lavendar ceiling has been
shattered: A lesbian law professor from New York became the nation's first 
openly gay African-American federal judge this summer.

Deborah Batts, 47, was sworn in June 23 as a federal district judge in 
Manhattan after winning Senate Judiciary Committee approval May 5 and 
confirmation the following day by the full Senate.

Batts was nominated to the bench by President Clinton last January, a year
after her name was proposed by Senator Daniel Moynihan (D-NY). According to
Brian Connolly, a spokesman for Moynihan, Batts was confirmed by voice vote
and there is no record of any senator expressing opposition.

Batts, a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, worked as an
attorney with the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore and as an
assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan. In 1984 she became the first 
African-American member of the faculty of Fordham Universty School of Law,
where she served as an associate professor for 10 years until her recent
swearing in. 

(...)

Batts' easy confirmation was in sharp contrast to the furious opposition
expresed by the radical right to Clinton's nomination of another lesbian 
lawyer, Roberta Achtenberg, to be an Assistant Under-Secretary in the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Gay attorneys attributed the difference to the fact that Achtenberg had long
been an activist for gay rights, and was "very closely identified with the
movement", noted Tom Stoddard, former executive director of Lambda Legal
Defense and Education Fund (LLDEF).

In contrast, Batts has not been a movement activist and has come out 
gfradually in recent years. Although she disclosed her sexual orientation to
the Justice Department agencies that routinely do investigations on propsed
federal judges -- the results of which are available to the president and to
senators -- it is unknown how many senators were actually aware Batts was a
lesbian nominee.

Batts said she had been prepared to answer "any question that was raised by 
the voluminous forms that candidates have to fill out" and her sexual 
orientation "was an issue that would have been flagged by some of the
information I supplied."

Although Batts was briefed beforehand by Clinton officials, no questions about
her sexual orientation were asked at the Judiciary Committee hearing, which was
attended only by Senator Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), a liberal Democrat with a
strong pro-gay voting record. The hearing lasted just 20 minutes.

Moynihan first proposed Batts for the bench in March 1991, when Republican
George Bush was president. Batts was interviewed then by federal investigative
agencies but was nominated by Bush (surprise!---ed).

Moynihan renewed his nomination of Batts 5 days after Clinton was inaugurated
and this time met with success.

Gay attorneys praised Clinton for nominating Batts. "I do know that the Clinton
people were faced with dealing with the potential for opposition on this basis
[of Batts sexual orientation]," said Beatrice Dorhn, legal director of LLDEF,
"and they stood by her nomination. They deserve credit for that."

Batts told the NEW YORK LAW JOURNALv she did not want to be known as "the gay
judge." In a telephone interview with the WASHINGTON BLADE from her courthouse
office in lower Manhattan, Batts said "being a lesbian is definitely part of
my life."

At the same time, she said "It is also one of many parts of my life. I am also 
a very devoted mother, I'm an attorney, a former prosecutor and I'm an 
African-American."

Batts, who is divorced, is the mother of two children. Although she said she 
would not like to discuss her coming-out process, Batts has not shied away from
gay issues. In off-the-cuff remarks to this year's Fordham Law School graduates,
she appealed to them to work for the civil rights of minorities, and ended 
with a plea for laws to protect lesbians and gay men from discrimination.

"There was quite loud and long applause," said Batts, who quipped, "I myself,
would call it thunderous, but I may be biased."