Diana K. Flynn, chief of the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, was instrumental in her office’s legal counsel project that laid the groundwork for the division’s application of current sex discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination based on gender nonconformity and gender identity. Under her direction, the Appellate Section has filed more than 2,000 briefs in federal courts and has maintained a success rate of more than 80 percent. She also managed the division’s efforts in connection with the marriage equality cases, including Obergefell v. Hines, decided by the Supreme Court in 2015. A graduate of the University of Rochester in New York and Yale Law School, Flynn is the first person of trans history to serve openly in a number of senior capacities in the federal government and the legal profession.
February 10, 2017
Stonewall Award honoree: Diana K. Flynn
Presented by the ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, the Stonewall Award recognizes contributions by the recipients thereof to the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in the legal profession, and/or to LGBT legal issues.
Established by the ABA in 2007, SOGI Commission the works to secure for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons full and equal participation in the ABA, the legal profession and the justice system.