Phillis Frye is a highly respected judge, and also the first transgendered judge in Texas.
She’s been the first person to do a lot of things – like spearhead the repeal of Houston’s anti-crossdressing law in 1980 and insist on using the women’s bathroom at her university (now a hauntingly familiar conversation).
After publicly assuming her chosen gender in 1976 at the age of 28, she dealt with the ensuing discrimination with a resolute spirit and a dash of dry humor.
To her outraged family she wrote, “I love you all. Don’t trade my balls for my heart.”
After living a double life – venturing out at night as a women – it was actually her second wife, Trish, who convinced her to finally live full-time as a woman. From that moment on, she became a devoted trans-rights activist.She put the T in LGBTQ, insisting they were all companions in the struggle for acceptance. Her chutzpah really became the unifying mortar for the growth of the movement.
When asked about Caitlyn Jenner’s big reveal, she said, “I keep wondering what took her so long … she could have done a lot of good.”
Frye keeps up with that good-doing, vying for trans-rights in her private law practice.
