LGBTQ+ Lawyers Are Out and Open in the Legal Profession
6.23.2025
For LGBTQ+ attorneys, feeling welcome and included in the legal profession means finding community and being visible. The New York State Bar Association recently hosted a discussion between LGBTQ+ attorneys about being their full selves at work in honor of Pride Month.
The speakers were:
- Sam Buchbauer, LGBTQ+ Law Section chair and associate attorney at Porzio, Bromberg & Newman.
- Eric Wursthorn, LGBTQ+ Law Section vice chair and court attorney – referee in Surrogate’s Court, New York County.
- Katerina Kurteva, senior assistant district attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.
- Amel Solène, assistant law clerk in the Civil Term of the New York State Supreme Court, Bronx County.
Solène, who is transgender, said that while she is out and open at work, it was a learning process.
“It’s been an interesting ride so far,” she said. “For many people I’m probably the only trans person in their life. So I become the classic educator. I have to tell them what pronouns mean, what function they have, how important they are. Or I have to explain to certain people why I might be wearing a dress at work when they wouldn’t be expecting me to necessarily. In the beginning it was a lot of those kinds of conversations, and it was a little awkward sometimes, but I never felt disrespected. I think as people have come to know me, to know my good work, and to get to know what queerness and transness means to me, they have embraced me more fully.”
Kurteva said that it is important for marginalized people to see someone like them when interacting with law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
“Having LGBTQ+ people on the law enforcement side could be such a deal breaker for certain victims or certain groups,” she said. “They may feel more comfortable speaking to me about who they are or who they were meeting with. I think just having my flag in my office makes such a difference. Or sometimes I wear my pride pin, and that can make such a difference when meeting with a civilian that doesn’t feel comfortable with law enforcement, or has had a history of not trusting law enforcement.”
Another topic the speakers addressed was being open and out with their identities while job searching and networking.
“In the beginning of my career it was really a challenge to figure out what kind of line I wanted to toe and how much I wanted to be myself,” said Wursthorn. “You never know where your next job is going to come from. You never know where the next opportunity is going to lie. And if I am filtering everything that I want to say to make sure that the person that’s receiving that information doesn’t judge me in a way that I wouldn’t necessarily appreciate, I’m not going to make those connections. So over the course of my career, I’ve made the conscious decision to just be myself, for better or worse. Maybe we’re in the New York City bubble, but I found that it’s been OK and not too difficult of a challenge to overcome.”
All of the speakers talked about how it is important to find other LGBTQ+ people and allies in the workplace.
“I’ve been fortunate, “said Buchbauer. “My first boss out of law school also is LGBTQ+. So that was really helpful because I didn’t have to explain [why] I’m heading to Fire Island this weekend, or something like that. So it was all good. And my current firm is a wonderfully supportive environment. They’re having me give a little pride presentation at the firm. I’m really excited for that, and it just shows how much this particular firm prioritizes not just the LGBTQ+ community – but also diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in whole. And in this environment, that’s so valuable. I really do not take it for granted.”
The program was sponsored by the New York State Bar Association’s LGBTQ+ Law Section and Young Lawyers Section.
