Shannon Price Minter (born February 14, 1961) is an American

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

attorney and the legal director of the

National Center for Lesbian Rights The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a non-profit, public interest law firm in the United States that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, provides free legal ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

.Mangaliman, Jessie (2005-10-06). San Jose Mercury News
Transgender Advocate Honored
Retrieved on 2009-03-05.Jesse McKinley and John Schwartz.

Early life and education

Minter is a 1993 graduate of

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, it offers four law degree programs, JD, LLM, MSLS and JSD, along with several dual-deg ...

and he has been lead counsel in dozens of groundbreaking legal victories for the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and soci ...

. Raised in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region con ...

, Minter began transitioning at age 35. Minter did not change his birth name after he started living as a

trans man A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that in ...

Career

Minter first gained national attention in the United States in 2001 representing the lesbian partner of

Diane Whipple Diane Alexis Whipple (January 31, 1967 – January 26, 2001) was an American lacrosse player and college coach. She was killed in a dog attack in San Francisco on January 26, 2001. The dogs involved were two Presa Canarios: a male named Bane an ...

, in a wrongful death case due to a dog mauling, which resulted in a landmark decision in California that extended tort claims to same-sex

domestic partner A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee ...

s; previously it was a right limited only to married couples. Marjorie Knoller was sentenced to serve 15 years to life for the death of Diane Whipple. Whipple's partner, Sharon Smith, succeeded in suing for $1,500,000 in civil damages, which she donated to

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a private Catholic college in Moraga, California. Established in 1863, it is affiliated with the Catholic Church and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate pr ...

to fund the women's lacrosse team. In 2003, Minter gained national attention again when CourtTV aired the entire case of ''Kantaras v. Kantaras'', where Minter represented Michael Kantaras, a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

man who was trying to keep custody of his children. Though he won that case in 2002, it was reversed on appeal in 2004 by the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and on ...

, upholding the claim that the marriage was null and void because her ex-husband was still a woman and

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

s are illegal in Florida.''Michael J Kantaras v Linda Kantaras'' 003Case No. 98-5375CA. 511998DR005375xxxWS, 6th Circuit The couple settled the case with joint custody in 2005.Emanuella Grinberg (June 16, 2005)
Settlement reached in transsexual custody case.
CNN In 2009 Minter was the lead attorney arguing before the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

to overturn California Proposition 8.

Ken Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who authored the Starr Report, which led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, know ...

represented the opposing side on this case. Ruling that California's citizens held the inalienable right to amend their constitution, the 5 for 4 majority upheld Prop 8's ban on same-sex marriages though they agreed to recognize marriages that had already taken place under a "

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

". Ultimately the entire statute was rendered moot after the Supreme Court ruled that all states must recognize gay marriage in 2015. Minter has taught law at

UCLA School of Law The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...

, Stanford University, Golden Gate University and

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic M ...

Awards

Minter won a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the dea ...

"Leadership for a Changing World" award in October 2005.

Personal life

Minter got married in 2001 and has a daughter. He said at the time that he was pained "by the injustice" that

people could legally marry in California while gay and lesbian couples could not.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minter, Shannon Living people LGBT people from Texas Transgender men 1961 births Law in the San Francisco Bay Area Lawyers from San Francisco Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area Cornell Law School alumni Golden Gate University faculty LGBT lawyers Transgender academics Transgender studies academics