Biden nominates first LGBT woman to federal circuit court

By AAMER MADHANI
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating a Vermont judge who played a critical role in paving the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage to become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court. The White House announced Thursday that Biden has tapped Beth Robinson, an associate justice on the Vermont Supreme Court, to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In 1999, before she was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court, Robinson helped argue the case that led to Vermont’s civil unions law, the first legal recognition in the country of same-sex relationships — a forerunner of gay marriage.