I unfortunately hadn’t heard of Lavender Law while I was in law school and didn’t know much about the Bar. I didn’t know very many out people in general, and certainly no out attorneys, until I got to law school. I attended Lavender Law for the first time as a junior attorney and was blown away by how much it felt like a family reunion. I sat on four or five panels that first year and never looked back. Now, I’m very privileged and humbled to serve on the board of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Foundation.

Lavender Law presents an excellent opportunity to learn about life experiences and perspectives that are different from your own. I always encourage attendees to educate themselves on issues in which they may not have a vested interest. Figure out where your blindspots are and take up someone else’s banner. Be a citizen of our community, not someone who shows up and takes support but doesn’t give anything back.

I’m very fortunate to not have been personally impacted by the recent attacks on the trans and nonbinary community. I began my career in Houston, where I practiced for nearly five years. Even in a pretty progressive city like Houston, you could sense things in Texas were beginning to sour pretty quickly. Call it divine timing, but I happened to have accepted an in-house role in New York about a year ago that pulled me away from the immediate danger in Texas.

I’ve gotten the opportunity to speak to families of trans children – children who just want to be who they are and parents who love them but don’t know how to protect them from legislation that harms them – and answer questions about what it’s like to grow older as a trans person. I think a lot of us focus so much on these ages or milestones that are right in front of us – turn 18, come out to friends and family, turn 20, maybe find a partner, turn 21 – that we forget to plan beyond our immediate goals. I certainly didn’t imagine life past 23 or so – not in a morbid way, but I spent so much time trying to survive that I didn’t consider what age 30 would look like. It’s a small way of helping – telling younger people that, after you get through the most frightening parts of transitioning and shedding your old life, you get to spend the rest of your life finding the best ways to make yourself happy. But I think it matters.

[I think what the LGBTQ+ people need most right now is] unwavering solidarity among the different facets of our diverse community. There’s no scenario in which we can be divided and get through these attacks in one piece.