Herb Donaldson

Herbert Donaldson (February 12, 1927 – December 5, 2008) was an openly gay San Francisco lawyer and judge who gained national attention for his efforts to legally block San Francisco police from harassing attendees of a fund-raising ball for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, an early homophile organization, on January 1, 1965.

Police harassment at California Hall

On the eve of January 1, 1965, several homophile organizations in San Francisco, California - including the Council on Religion and the Homosexual, the Society for Individual Rights, the Daughters of Bilitis, and the Mattachine Society - held a fund-raising ball for their mutual benefit at the California Hall.

Later career

Governor Jerry Brown appointed Donaldson as the first openly gay male municipal court judge in the state of California in 1983. He retired in 1999. Four years later, he began serving a three-year term as judge of San Francisco's new Behavioral Health Court.