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

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

attorney and the legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (formerly known as the National Center for Lesbian Rights) in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

.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 university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

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

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

. 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 consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

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

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

Career

Minter first gained national attention in the United States in 2001 representing the lesbian partner of Diane Whipple, 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 an intimate relationship between people, usually couples, who cohabitation, live together and share a common domestic life but who are not marriage, married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partner ...

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 college, private Catholic college in Moraga, California, United States. Established in 1863, it is administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs w ...

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 shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

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 state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

, 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 legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

s are illegal in Florida.''Michael J Kantaras v Linda Kantaras''

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: * 003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) * 1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway * ''O03 (O2)'' and other related blood type alleles in the AB ...

Case 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 Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

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 Sac ...

to overturn

California Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage. It passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned by the ...

Ken Starr Kenneth Winston Starr (July 21, 1946 – September 13, 2022) was an American lawyer and judge who as independent counsel authored the Starr Report, which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of mem ...

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". 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 University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (commonly known as UCLA School of Law or UCLA Law) is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. History Founded in 1949, the UCLA School of Law is the third oldest of t ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Golden Gate University Golden Gate University (GGU or Golden Gate) is a private university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1901, GGU specializes in educating professionals through its schools of law, business, taxation, technology, accounting, ...

and

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

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 $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

"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 LGBTQ people from Texas American 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 American LGBTQ lawyers Transgender academics Transgender studies academics 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American LGBTQ people