By American Bar Association
An associate justice on the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, a family law advocate and a veteran appellate lawyer will receive the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’s Stonewall Award on April 24 during the ABA Joint Spring Conference in San Diego.
The Stonewall Award is named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement. It recognizes lawyers who have considerably advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBTQ+ legal causes.
The 2026 recipients are:
• Judge Maite D. Oronoz-Rodríguez joined the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in 2014 as an associate justice and was sworn in as chief justice in 2016. During her tenure, Justice Oronoz-Rodríguez has navigated Puerto Rico’s judiciary through the island’s fiscal crisis and a series of natural disasters, while significantly enhancing access to justice, transparency and efficiency through technology. Under her leadership, six primary goals have guided the judicial branch’s quinquennial Strategic Plan: Efficient Judicial Management; Education and Community Relations; Administration and Support for Judicial Service; Technology for Justice; Judicial Independence and Access to Justice.
A staunch advocate for gender equality, Justice Oronoz-Rodríguez has led efforts to combat gender-based violence and eradicate gender inequality. She presides over the Committee on Gender and Equality and currently chairs the Permanent Commission on Gender and Access to Justice at the Ibero-American Judicial Summit — a permanent multilateral forum that promotes cooperation between the judicial branches and councils of 23 countries of Ibero America.
• m boulette (they/them), a lawyer with the firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, advocates for clients in the areas of divorce, child custody, family law appeals and issues involving LGBTQ+ families. m serves on the board of directors of the Minnesota Lavender Bar and has given regular policy briefings alongside OutFront Minnesota on the legal landscape around transgender rights. They are one of only two members of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Family Law Institute in Minnesota and have represented dozens of LGBTQ+ individuals on a pro bono or reduced-cost basis in connection with parentage orders, name changes, gender-marker corrections and private court records.
Outside work, m is committed to improving the practice of family law, especially for LGBTQ+ families and children. They regularly serve as an adjunct professor, teaching popular courses on family law, international and comparative family law, and conflicts of law. m also pioneered a course on mindfulness and law — the first of its kind in Minnesota. m is an accomplished and recognized leader within the broader Minneapolis community. They also have repeatedly stepped forward as an attorney for bar associations on matters before the Minnesota Supreme Court.
• Paul M. Smith is a veteran appellate lawyer and now a visiting professor from practice at Georgetown Law. He practiced before the U.S. Supreme Court for several decades and made 21 oral arguments there. Among those was the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which invalidated all sodomy laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity and laid the groundwork for marriage equality victories that followed. Smith went on to be co-counsel on Gill v. OPM, the first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, and then played an active role in a number of marriage equality cases.
During his career as a litigator at Jenner & Block LLP, Smith also won a number of significant victories fighting for freedom of speech, voting rights and racial equality. He spent eight years at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center working to protect and promote American democracy. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award from the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. He is currently chair-elect of that section. Smith attended Amherst College and Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell Jr.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2026/02/aba-names-recipients-2026-stonewall-award/)
An associate justice on the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, a family law advocate and a veteran appellate lawyer will receive the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity’s Stonewall Award on April 24 during the ABA Joint Spring Conference in San Diego.
The Stonewall Award is named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement. It recognizes lawyers who have considerably advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBTQ+ legal causes.
The 2026 recipients are:
• Judge Maite D. Oronoz-Rodríguez joined the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in 2014 as an associate justice and was sworn in as chief justice in 2016. During her tenure, Justice Oronoz-Rodríguez has navigated Puerto Rico’s judiciary through the island’s fiscal crisis and a series of natural disasters, while significantly enhancing access to justice, transparency and efficiency through technology. Under her leadership, six primary goals have guided the judicial branch’s quinquennial Strategic Plan: Efficient Judicial Management; Education and Community Relations; Administration and Support for Judicial Service; Technology for Justice; Judicial Independence and Access to Justice.
A staunch advocate for gender equality, Justice Oronoz-Rodríguez has led efforts to combat gender-based violence and eradicate gender inequality. She presides over the Committee on Gender and Equality and currently chairs the Permanent Commission on Gender and Access to Justice at the Ibero-American Judicial Summit — a permanent multilateral forum that promotes cooperation between the judicial branches and councils of 23 countries of Ibero America.
• m boulette (they/them), a lawyer with the firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, advocates for clients in the areas of divorce, child custody, family law appeals and issues involving LGBTQ+ families. m serves on the board of directors of the Minnesota Lavender Bar and has given regular policy briefings alongside OutFront Minnesota on the legal landscape around transgender rights. They are one of only two members of the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association Family Law Institute in Minnesota and have represented dozens of LGBTQ+ individuals on a pro bono or reduced-cost basis in connection with parentage orders, name changes, gender-marker corrections and private court records.
Outside work, m is committed to improving the practice of family law, especially for LGBTQ+ families and children. They regularly serve as an adjunct professor, teaching popular courses on family law, international and comparative family law, and conflicts of law. m also pioneered a course on mindfulness and law — the first of its kind in Minnesota. m is an accomplished and recognized leader within the broader Minneapolis community. They also have repeatedly stepped forward as an attorney for bar associations on matters before the Minnesota Supreme Court.
• Paul M. Smith is a veteran appellate lawyer and now a visiting professor from practice at Georgetown Law. He practiced before the U.S. Supreme Court for several decades and made 21 oral arguments there. Among those was the landmark case Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which invalidated all sodomy laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity and laid the groundwork for marriage equality victories that followed. Smith went on to be co-counsel on Gill v. OPM, the first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, and then played an active role in a number of marriage equality cases.
During his career as a litigator at Jenner & Block LLP, Smith also won a number of significant victories fighting for freedom of speech, voting rights and racial equality. He spent eight years at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center working to protect and promote American democracy. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award from the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. He is currently chair-elect of that section. Smith attended Amherst College and Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell Jr.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2026/02/aba-names-recipients-2026-stonewall-award/)
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
