aprii 13*2002
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atharine English always has worked
for the underdog and against
oppression, so she sees her latest
joh as chief judge for the Confeder
ated Tribes of the Grand Ronde as
a natural extension of her work philosophy. And
she has quite the resume: teacher, lawyer, juve
nile court referee, Dyketone.
“Anyone interested in hearing about me is
probably interested because 1 was involved with
lesbian custody cases when I was still in law
school hack in 1975. So 1 am one of those ‘are
they dead yet’ kind of old lesbians,” she laughs.
During her third year of law schrxil, she
worked for a firm that represented a lesbian moth
er. English disapproved of the way the attorney
handled the child custody case, which he lost. It
was a pivotal moment in her early law career.
“It was a dreadful event,” she remembers.
“After that I made a commitment to do lesbian
custody cases when 1 finally got my license.”
English eventually joined the Community
Law Project, a collective of women who handled
a variety of issues such as divorces, adoptions and
wills. They also represented lesbian mothers.
“We lost a lot of cases because the prejudice
was simply so deep and so ingrained,” English
recalls. “But eventually we began to win them .”
A lot of behind-the-scenes work was
required to lay the foundation for those victo
ries. English and her fellow lawyers met with
judges outside the courtroom to educate them
that mothers shouldn’t he denied custody of
their children just because they are lesbians.
“Behind-the-scenes work really softened up
the judges in a way that they could understand
the issues, because when you have to rule from
the bench, it is not easy to do something that is
possibly going to he unpopular,” she explains.
A nd J ustice for A ll
Katharine English recalls early victories in lesbian custody cases
by Pat Young
“You have to he pretty confi
dent in the substance of your
niling. So we knew we need
ed to educate the judges,
lawyers and psychologists.”
It didn’t take long before
English was known for her
work with lesbian custody
cases. In 1980, she and her
partner, Janet Metcalf, start
ed the first openly gay law
firm.
English remembers the
early litigation as being scary
in an emotional and psycho
logical way because her les
bian clients were taking
courageous steps by going
public with their sexuality
and fighting in court against
Katharine English
terrible odds.
Grand
Ronde
“My heart always raced no
matter how often I did it, especially when the
other side would call their expert witnesses," she
says. “We would have to listen to those experts
say what a horrible influence lesbians were on
children. A t the same time, 1 was the mother of
two kids, and it was very hard to depersonalize
what the experts were saying.”
Despite the struggles, the job was extremely
rewarding.
“The men and women who made the deci
now works as chief judge for the Confederated
“I grew up in the ’50s wearing makeup, ratted
hair, spiked heels, the poodle skirt, the patent
leather purse and the flirtatious femininity,"
English says. “To re-create it as a dyke was so
mind-boggling.”
In 1984, English became a juvenile court ref
eree. Supervisors hired her
S knowing she was a lesbian.
H er six m onths of expe
rience as a pro tern circuit
court judge helped her get
the job. She heard cases
involving
abuse
and
neglect as well as juvenile
delinquency.
English held the position
for 14 years with the excep
tion of one year she took off
to fight against 1992’s Mea
sure 9. She ended up leaving
the bench because it was
emotional, draining work.
But shortly after her
retirement, the Confederated
Tribes of the Grand Ronde
lost their judge, so they asked
her if she could help out for a
Tribes of the
few months. Four years later
she’s still there, but that’s fine
with her because she enjoys the work.
Looking back on her career, English says she
is proud of being a visible and vocal lesbian. She
was able to make friends with a lot of straight
judges and convince them to think differently
about sexual minorities. A nd she is proud to
have shaped gay and lesbian history. J H
sion at that period of time to fight for their kids
were the most astonishing people. It was a priv
ilege to represent them,” English says. “And
when we won, it was almost indescribable.”
As a member of the Dyketones, English
could get a break from lawyers and courts for
some much-needed fun. T he lesbian music
group dressed in vintage attire and transformed
P a t Y o u n g is a Portland free-lance writer and
oldies into their own; for example, they sang
’ gay and lesbian historian.
“My Dyke” instead of “My Guy."
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