For decades, Phyllis Frye has served as an advocate for transgender rights. Having lived over 60 percent of her life as the woman she always felt herself to be, she remains at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ community. As part of the Funk Family Upstander Speaker Series, Frye will share her story.
After transitioning in 1976, Frye faced the possibility of arrest due to a Houston city ordinance that prohibited cross-dressing. She then spearheaded the ordinance’s repeal; after four years of lobbying, the Houston City Council voted to repeal it in 1980.
When the gay community was still ignoring and marginalizing transgender people in the early 1990s, she began the national transgender legal and political movement with transgender law conferences and the grassroots training of future activists, lawyers, and bloggers. In 2010, Frye was appointed to the position of Associate Judge for the City of Houston Municipal Courts, making her the first openly transgender judge in the United States.
Frye is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s highest honor, the Dan Bradley Award, and the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Julie Johnson Founder's Award. Her biography, Phyllis Frye and the Fight for Transgender Rights, was published in 2022. She retired from her law practice in August 2021 and retired as an associate judge in 2023.
For decades, Phyllis Frye has served as an advocate for transgender rights. Having lived over 60 percent of her life as the woman she always felt herself to be, she remains at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ community. As part of the Funk Family Upstander Speaker Series, Frye will share her story.
After transitioning in 1976, Frye faced the possibility of arrest due to a Houston city ordinance that prohibited cross-dressing. She then spearheaded the ordinance’s repeal; after four years of lobbying, the Houston City Council voted to repeal it in 1980.
When the gay community was still ignoring and marginalizing transgender people in the early 1990s, she began the national transgender legal and political movement with transgender law conferences and the grassroots training of future activists, lawyers, and bloggers. In 2010, Frye was appointed to the position of Associate Judge for the City of Houston Municipal Courts, making her the first openly transgender judge in the United States.
Frye is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association’s highest honor, the Dan Bradley Award, and the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Julie Johnson Founder's Award. Her biography, Phyllis Frye and the Fight for Transgender Rights, was published in 2022. She retired from her law practice in August 2021 and retired as an associate judge in 2023.
WHEN
WHERE
TICKET INFO
$10; free for museum members.
