Justice Mary Yu Honored As Special Guest Of Seattle Pride Parade

Mary Yu was sworn in as the first out LGBTQ, first Latina, and first Asian-American justice of the Washington State Supreme Court earlier this month. She will be honored as a special guest of this year’s Seattle Pride Parade on Sunday, June 29, 2014.

Seattle Pride had a big announcement today: newly appointed State Supreme Court Justice MARY YU will be a Special Guest of this year’s Seattle Pride Parade to be held Sunday, June 29, 2014. Justice Yu has broken a lot of glass ceilings in her time on Washington State benches. She is the first out LGBTQ justice, the first Latina justice and the first Asian-American justice to serve on the state’s Supreme Court. Justice Yu was appointed to replace one of the most conservative justices on the Court, James Johnson who resigned mid-term for health reasons. As an appointed justice, Yu will have to run on the November ballot to retain the seat.

MUCH more from the Seattle Pride press release:

Seattle Pride, the lead organizer for Seattle’s annual Pride Parade, has invited newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu to ride at the front of the upcoming 2014 Seattle Pride Parade as a special guest. Governor Inslee appointed Justice Yu to the state Supreme Court on May 1st. She is the first openly LGBT Justice to serve on the Washington State Supreme Court.

Justice Yu joins the Supreme Court after serving for fourteen years as a Superior Court Judge in King County, where she earned a reputation for treating everyone with respect and fairness. Justice Yu was the first judge in Washington state to officiate for same sex weddings, starting at 12 am on December 9th, 2012, the first day of marriage equality in our state. She and her staff worked through the night that Sunday morning so that couples would not have to wait until courts officially opened on Monday. Throughout her career on the Superior Court bench, Justice Yu also presided over hundreds of same sex parent adoptions.

For the last 3 years Justice Yu has also served as a Pride Parade judge.  This year she will ride behind the grand marshals, with a number of campaign supporters and volunteers walking along side.

Justice Yu is the recipient of numerous honors and awards.  In 2014, she was selected by the Washington State Bar Association for Justice as Judge of the Year.  In 2013, the Municipal League Foundation named her “Public Official of the Year”. She received the highest rating possible from all of the minority bar associations, including QLaw, the GLBT Bar Association.  (A full list can be found on her website: JusticeMaryYu.com.)

Justice Yu has a long record of service both on and off the bench, including serving as co-chair of the statewide Minority & Justice Commission and a long-time board member for FareStart. She was raised in Bridgeport (a south side neighborhood in Chicago) by immigrant parents; her mother came from Mexico and her father from China. She is the first in her family to graduate from college.

Seattle Pride is a non-profit organization based in Seattle, WA, focused on informing and educating the community on LGBT issues through community outreach and produced events, including the annual Seattle Pride Parade, Pride Idol, and Seattle Pride Picnic.

Congratulations to Justice Mary Yu for this honor!

Stay tuned for more news on Seattle Pride and its 40th anniversary including more news on special guests, events AND the names of the final 2 Marshals for this year’s parade.