going through substantial physical changes. After graduation, Frye could not find a firm that would hire her, so she sold Amway cleaning products and worked sporadically as an engineering consultant. She took an interest in criminal defense and became a recognizable fixture in the Harris County Courthouse. Frye politically aligns as a Democrat and was active with the state Democrats, the League of Women Voters, and the local gay and lesbian caucus - where she developed a working relationship with Annise Parker. Parker and Frye had been friends for three decades, having met on a lesbian softball league. and Frye became the first transgender woman in Houston's lesbian softball league. Frye became the country's first openly transgender judge - after being discriminated against heavily in both a private and public sphere ranging from people vandalizing her house to refusing her jobs. Career Frye presented at her first Creating Change conference (trans and bisexual caucuses combined meeting) in 1995. A dispute arose over the version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) proposed in the 104th Congress (1995–1996), which did not include protection for transgender people. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBT advocacy group, drew particular criticism for its endorsement of the Act, which was seen as a betrayal by many in the transgender community. In February 1997 Frye organized a gathering of transgender people in Washington, D.C. where 20 people came to the offices of 46 senators of the 49 who voted for ENDA in 1996 to discuss the vote and advocate for expanding the protections to include the transgender community. Their efforts seemed moot. By the 2000s Frye was representing more and more transgender clients in name-change and discrimination cases. On November 17, 2010, Houston mayor Annise Parker appointed Frye as an Associate Judge for the City of Houston Municipal Courts. Her appointment was publicly opposed by the Houston Area Pastors Council and other local pastors, but Mayor Parker expressed admiration for Frye, citing the new judge's long experience as a trial attorney. The Houston City Council unanimously approved of her appointment. On April 28, 2013, Frye was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Transgender Foundation of America. See also List of first women lawyers and judges in the United States List of LGBT jurists in the United States References External links Phyllis Frye Collection (Digital Transgender Archive) Living people Texas A&M University alumni LGBT appointed officials