{"id":274993,"date":"2026-06-23T08:01:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274993\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T08:01:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:01:19","slug":"brooklyn-surrogates-court-honors-lgbtq-for-pride-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/274993\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Surrogate\u2019s Court honors LGBTQ+ for Pride Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 The Kings County Surrogate\u2019s Court and the New York State LGBTQ+ Judges Association presented \u201cAll Rise with Pride,\u201d a program in honor of Pride Month, the afternoon of June 17, at 2 Johnson St.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s highlight, the inaugural presentation of The Milsap Award, the brainchild of Hon. Dale Fong-Frederick, honored Hon. Michael R. Milsap, the first openly gay African American man appointed to the judiciary in New York City.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>From left: Hon. Rosemarie Montalbano, Hon. David Fried, Hon. Dale Fong-Frederick, Hon. Michael R. Milsap and Hon. Bernard Graham. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Milsap is a prominent figure in New York\u2019s Family Court system and has served as a judge of the Bronx County Family Court since 2015. He was appointed to the bench by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2015.<\/p>\n

Hon. Richard Tsai, who is openly gay, was also recognized. Tsai is a New York City Civil Court judge in New York County who has served on the bench for more than nine years with his current term beginning in 2018 and set to end in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"Hon.<\/a>Hon. Michael R. Milsap addresses the audience. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Opening remarks were provided by Hon. Rosemarie Montalbano and Hon. Bernard Graham and followed by a historical perspective of LGBTQ+ Caribbean history by Fong-Frederick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fireside chat, moderated by Hon. Carolina Holderness, featured Tsai and Milsap. The judges spoke about their experiences coming of age as gay men, ascending to the bench, challenges faced and obstacles overcome in the courthouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Milsap called it an \u201cabsolute honor\u201d to be recognized. \u201cI think that I\u2019ve always approached my life and my profession in terms of living my truth \u2014 being the best that I can be but never denying who I was,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>From left: Hon. Rosemarie Montalbano, Hon. Richard Tsai, Hon. David Fried, Hon. Dale Fong-Frederick, Hon. Caroline Piela Cohen and Hon. Bernard Graham. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Milsap stated that one of the main reasons he became a judge was to serve in a system where people who came into the courthouse looked like him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a gay man, I never believed or had to wear the gay flag on my shoulder or around me,\u201d Milsap said. \u201cI had to just represent. Every day that I appeared on the bench, where people came before me, I tried to be true, fair and judicious in terms of making determinations. To me, this award reflects and represents the fact that I\u2019ve been so true to my character, my belief and the people that I\u2019ve served.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hon.<\/a>Hon. Richard Tsai speaks. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Tsai said that he felt humbled to share his award with Milsap, whose achievements he called \u201cremarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI often have had to choose between being an Asian person or being a gay person around this time of year,\u201d Tsai said. \u201cIn May, there is Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and in June, of course, is Pride Month. Today, I am not making a choice; instead, I am living as a complete and authentic person.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attorney Ronald Cosme Jr., co-chair of the Brooklyn Bar Association\u2019s LGBTQ+ Committee, closed out the program, thanking Milsap and Tsai for opening up proverbial doors and inspiring so many. \u201cEvents like this remind us of all of the trailblazers whose shoulders that we stand on,\u201d Cosme said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pride Month is an annual observance held each June to celebrate the contributions, history and culture of the LGBTQ+ community.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A fireside chat was also part of the program, from left: Hon. Richard Tsai, Hon. Carolina Holderness and Hon. Michael R. Milsap. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle\"Hon.<\/a>Hon. Richard Montelione, left, and Hon. Michael R. Milsap. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

The New York State LGBTQ+ Judges Association serves as a vital organization for LGBTQ+ judges, providing a platform for advocacy, education and community building. The association aims to foster a supportive environment for its members and promote awareness of LGBTQ+ issues within the legal system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kings County Surrogate\u2019s Court is the specialized court for Brooklyn, handling probate, estate, guardianship and adoption matters. It is served by Montalbano and Graham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 The Kings County Surrogate\u2019s Court and the New York State LGBTQ+ Judges Association presented \u201cAll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,3308,105764,56517,94196,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-274993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-daily-bulletin","tag-kings-county-surrogates-court","tag-lgbtq-pride","tag-lgbtq-pride-month","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}