Helping Folks Around the World
Kate Mozynski is a very well traveled advocate for both the LGBTQ+ community and for all people in need. Mozynski has known what they wanted to do since they were in high school, when they joined their speech and debate team. There they found a love for speaking, debate, and for research, which naturally led them down the path to become a lawyer. Mozynski received their undergraduate degree in International Relations from the College of Wooster in Ohio, knowing the whole time they wanted to ultimately go to law school and pursue work in public interest to help people. They then went to Case Western Reserve University School of Law to gain the skills to do just that.
During and after law school, Mozynski worked in positions helping people and seeking justice all around the world. They worked for the greater good wherever they went, whether that be on a war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands and Yugoslavia and for a non-profit in Uganda helping displaced queer folks and people who suffered gender-based violence. They came to understand that their calling is to give back to the queer community after fighting the anti-homosexual legislation in Kapala, Uganda. That realization set them on the track back home. Upon their return stateside, they sat for the New York and Ohio bar exams, and eventually found their spot in Ohio helping victims of, and those at risk from, human trafficking. They also practiced immigration law specifically for trans folks; the connections made through that work led them to their current role as a senior attorney at Equality Ohio. Today, Mozynski lives in Cleveland with their partner and their cat Oscar, working hard to help people, teaching debate, and growing organic food for their community.
Being More than a Lawyer
Mozynski is a deeply compassionate person whose career is built on helping people – and their work at Equality Ohio continues that compassionate care. When deciding their areas of law practice, they looked at what areas of law most affected those stricken by poverty and those in the LGBTQ+ community; the overlap between the two is where they focus their practice. Over the past four years, Mozynski has been able to help many people targeted for their identity, including in both discrimination cases and family law.
While they are very proud of their legal work and impact, Mozynski firmly believes that we as lawyers need to also be able to separate ourselves from our work and act as advocates and community members for the greater good. Mozynski does this in a number of ways, the most prominent being their work for the local high school speech and debate team. By creating a safe environment for folks to learn the passion that ignited their own career, they are hoping to inspire the next generation of queer and allied lawyers. Mozynski believes that the things we do outside of the office make a real difference. They say, “For me, coaching high school debate is a radical act of advocacy; living in an urban area and making vegetable plants available to my community is a radical act of activism.” They hope to show that queer attorneys as advocates are so much more than lawyers, we are part of a community that we help, and that community helps us as well.
The National LGBTQ+ Bar thanks Kate Mozynski for their work and compassion for and in the LGBTQ+ community, and look forward to all the good work they will continue to do.