Roberta Achtenberg (born July 20, 1950) is an American attorney who served as a commissioner on the

United States Commission on Civil Rights The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) is a bipartisan, independent commission of the United States federal government, created by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 during the Eisenhower administration, that is charged with the responsibility for ...

. She was previously assistant secretary of the

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...

, becoming the first openly

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

public official in the United States whose appointment to a federal position was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Early life and education

Achtenberg's father was Jewish and immigrated to the United States from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, while her mother was from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Both parents had minimal formal education. They owned a grocery store in Los Angeles and raised Roberta and her three siblings. After graduating from

Morningside High School Morningside High School is a public high school in Inglewood, California. It is the second largest high school after Inglewood High School in the city. History In 1951, the first two classes of students came to the Morningside Park area of Ingl ...

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

, Achtenberg attended

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

before graduating from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. At Berkeley, she met her ex-husband, David Chavkin. She began law school at

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a Public university, public Law school in the United States, law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the ...

, before eventually receiving her Juris Doctor from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Career

Before becoming a public official, Achtenberg worked for more than 15 years as a civil rights attorney, nonprofit director, and legal educator. Achtenberg supported the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community early in her political career. Her activity included co-founding 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 ...

. Between 1975 and 1976, she served as a teaching fellow at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. In 1976, Achtenberg became the Dean of the

New College of California School of Law New College of California School of Law was a private, non-profit law school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1973 as a part of the now defunct New College of California, and deemed itself the oldest public interest law school in ...

. Additionally, in 1978 Achtenberg represented LGBTQ rights while in the Anti-Sexism Committee for the National Lawyers Guild. While working for the organization, she edited ''Sexual Orientation and the Law'' (1985). Achtenberg unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the 1988

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

special election to replace

Art Agnos Arthur Christ Agnos (born Arthouros Agnos; [] September 1, 1938) is an American politician. He served as the 39th Mayor of San Francisco, mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department ...

, losing to John Burton. She was elected as a member of the

San Francisco Board of Supervisors The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco. Government and politics The City and County of San Francisco is a consolidated city-county, being simultaneously a c ...

in 1990, in the first time that two lesbians (alongside

Carole Migden Carole Migden (born August 14, 1948 in New York City) is an American politician from San Francisco who represented the California's 3rd State Senate district, third district of the California State Senate from 2004 to 2008 and the California's 1 ...

) won seats to the board. While still serving on the Board of Supervisors in 1992, Achtenberg was appointed to the committee drafting the National Democratic Party's platform. In 1993, she was appointed Assistant Secretary for the

Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) is an agency within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. FHEO is responsible for administering and enforcing federal fair housing laws and establishing policies th ...

by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, becoming the first 'out,' LGBTQ person to be appointed and confirmed to a position within a cabinet office. Later, she was appointed as the senior advisor to the Secretary of

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Urb ...

. Achtenberg left the post in 1995 to run for

mayor of San Francisco The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by t ...

, and placed third behind

Frank Jordan Francis Michael Jordan (born February 20, 1935) is an American politician and former police chief, who served as mayor of San Francisco from 1992 to 1996. He is a Democrat. Early life and education Jordan was born in San Francisco in 1935 and ...

and Willie Brown (who would win in the runoff). From 1998 to 2004, Achtenberg helped develop the policies for both the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Center for Economic Development. In 2000, she became the Director of the Bank of San Francisco and Andrew J. Wong, Inc. She served as Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the

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 ...

Chamber of Commerce until January 2005. In 2000, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Gray Davis Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 to 2003. In 2003, only a few months into his second term, Davis was recalled and remov ...

, becoming chair of the board in May 2006, serving on the CSU Board of Trustees until 2015. Achtenberg was in charge of the Housing and Urban Development Department's Agency Review Team that assisted the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

during its transition to office. On January 26, 2011,

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

named Achtenberg to the

Personal life

Achtenberg met her former partner, Mary Morgan, judge on the San Francisco Municipal Court, in 1981. In 1985, Achtenberg and Morgan had a child, Benjamin.

Awards

*2003, awarded the first ever Public Administration Program Award for Public Service by

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

in recognition of Achtenberg's outstanding career in public service *1997, one of the "50 Most Influential Businesswomen in the Bay Area" *1994,

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

Media Awards, Visibility Award *Founders Award from the National Center for Lesbian Rights *In 2012, she was named by

Equality Forum Malcolm L. Lazin (born December 5, 1943) is an American social activist, prosecutor, entrepreneur and educator. His endeavors include Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) civil rights, federal and state law enforcement, developing Phila ...

as one of their 31 Icons of the

LGBT History Month LGBT History Month is an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the List of LGBT rights by region, gay rights and related civil rights movements. It was founded in 1994 by Missouri high- ...

. *Award of Excellence by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition *Awarded "Woman of the Year" by the California State Senate for the Third District *Management Volunteer of the Year by the United Way, Bay Area *Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Achievement Award *Southern California Women for Understanding Achievement Award *National Organization for Women, Women of Achievement Award

Publications

* "Behavior Modification: Legal Limitations on Methods and Goals", 50 ''Notre Dame Lawyer'' 230 (1975) * ''Sexual Orientation and the Law'', by Roberta Achtenberg (editor) (1985) * "Partner Benefits Litigation: Expanding Definitions of the Family", Matthew bender ''Family Law Monthly'' (May 1987) * ''The Adoptive and Foster Gay and Lesbian Parent,'' in Gay and Lesbian Parents, Bozett, Ed., Praeger Press (1987) * ''Nicaragua's New Constitution: Report of August 1986 National Lawyers Guild Delegation to Nicaragua'' (May 1987) * ''Aids and Child Custody: A Guide to Advocacy'', National Center for Lesbian Rights (1989) * ''The Lesbian and Gay Book of Love and Marriage: Creating the Stories of Our Lives'', by Paula Martinac, Roberta Achtenberg (contributor) (1998) * ''Preserving and Protecting the Families of Lesbians and Gay Men'', National Center for Lesbian Rights (1986, 1990) * ''Lesbian Mother Litigation Manual'', Second Edition, national Center for Lesbian Rights, with Donna Hitchens (1990) * ''Protecting the Lesbian Family'' in Our Right to Love, Vida, Ed, (1990) * ''Helping Gay and Lesbian Youth: New Policies, New Programs, New Practice'', by Teresa Decrescenzo (editor), Roberta Achtenberg (contributor) (1994)

References

External links

Senate Confirmation Roll Call Vote
on

glbtq.com glbtq.com (also known as the glbtq Encyclopedia Project) was an online encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer ( GLBTQ) culture. Launched in 2003, it was edited by Claude J. Summers, emeritus professor at the University of ...

*http://nanobusiness.org/info/about/advisoryBoard/index_html/robertaAchtenberg * {{DEFAULTSORT:Achtenberg, Roberta American civil rights lawyers 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians Women city councillors in California San Francisco Board of Supervisors members LGBT city councillors from the United States LGBT history in San Francisco LGBT appointed officials in the United States United States Commission on Civil Rights members California Democrats Lesbian politicians Jewish American people in California politics Jewish women politicians LGBT people from the San Francisco Bay Area LGBT Jews University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Utah alumni American people of German descent American people of Soviet descent American people of Canadian descent 1950 births Living people Morningside High School alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 1993 in LGBT history