{"id":281485,"date":"2026-06-29T19:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281485\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T19:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T19:40:27","slug":"openly-gay-kings-county-supreme-court-justice-reflects-on-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/281485\/","title":{"rendered":"Openly gay Kings County Supreme Court justice reflects on Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 Hon. Richard Montelione, a Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, justice and one of the first openly-gay men elected to the bench in Brooklyn, sat down with the Brooklyn Eagle for a conversation in recognition of Pride Month.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn-born Montelione, who will be 71 in July, discussed the challenges of growing up gay in an Italian-American household prior to much of the progress of the LGBTQ+ community. \u201cWhen I was coming of age, my environment was really homophobic,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just didn\u2019t come out, not as an Italian in that age and time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Justice<\/a>Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Kings County, Richard Montelione. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was always attracted to other boys,\u201d Montelione said. \u201cI also knew very early that I wasn\u2019t supposed to be and that was not something that you would ever say out loud. In fact, you wouldn\u2019t even think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Montelione, who came out at the age of 25 while in law school, he would often have to overcompensate to show that he \u201cwasn\u2019t gay.\u201d The justice also discussed how he first entered the legal profession and rose to the bench while navigating his career as a gay man.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was a lawyer,\u201d Montelione said. \u201cHe had an office on Court Street, and I remember as a kid going to court with him. Everybody smelled of tobacco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montelione recalled being in a crowded courtroom with his father. His father began speaking, \u201cand everybody shut up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was so cool,\u201d he said. \u201cI have no idea whether a bailiff may have said, \u2018everybody be quiet,\u2019 but all I did was associate my dad speaking, and everyone went silent. My father was my hero. He was a World War II veteran, an honest man of principle and really socially conscious \u2014 something I believe I inherited from him.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the age of 12, Montelione had his sights set on becoming a lawyer. His earliest exposure to law came some years later, when he began working for the Legal Aid Society and the Legal Services Corporation. \u201cI did that for about five years, and I clerked for a judge for two years,\u201d Montelione said. \u201cI always just followed what I loved doing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before becoming a judge, Montelione practiced law privately, concentrating on fraud, civil rights, business and real estate matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecoming a judge was not foremost on my mind, but an eventual opportunity arose,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was back in 2012. I received a phone call that a judge was resigning in the First Municipal District, and I decided to run as an openly gay candidate. I remember saying to myself, \u2018I\u2019ll be damned if I run for this office without introducing my husband, Jack [Esterson].\u2019 There\u2019s something liberating about being out where you don\u2019t have to hide who you are. There\u2019s no double life. Ultimately, I was elected as a Civil Court judge.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>From left: Principal Law Clerk Mark Legere, Hon. Richard Montelione and Court Officer Kenneth Sessoms. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Being a judge is satisfying on every single level, Montelione said, noting the difference members of the judiciary can make in people\u2019s lives. \u201cEven if a decision is not favorable to somebody, I\u2019m a great believer that if you explain in a few sentences the rationale as to why you\u2019re doing what you\u2019re doing, then you\u2019ve given someone the opportunity to know that they\u2019ve been heard,\u201d Montelione said. \u201cThat goes a long way in terms of making the system work.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montelione is also involved in a high-profile dispute over the future of a judge\u2019s parking lot adjacent to Brooklyn Borough Hall and Columbus Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As chair of the Kings County Supreme Court justices, he has argued that the lot is essential for judicial security, while Brooklyn elected officials and community advocates seek to convert the space into public parkland as part of a broader redevelopment of Columbus Park. The disagreement has become one of Downtown Brooklyn\u2019s most visible civic debates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of 2026, no final resolution has been reached. \u201cThis area has never been used as a park,\u201d Montelione said. \u201cIt has always been a parking lot designated for judges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion is to use the parking lot at the Marriott, or the commercial lots that are a couple blocks away, but there have been several threats made against judges as of late,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact of the matter is that you\u2019re not going to get a court officer to accompany you from the courthouse to the Marriott. It\u2019s just not practical.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montelione, who was born in East New York, has long had a deep affection for Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hon.<\/a>Hon. Richard Montelione in his chambers. Photo: Wayne Daren Schneiderman\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1969, my family moved out to Long Island for a while, but we ended up coming back to Kings County in 1985 when I met my husband,\u201d he said. \u201cI can honestly say that I truly missed Brooklyn. I\u2019ll never move out. I think we\u2019re going to die here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montelione currently resides in Clinton Hill with his husband. When asked about retirement, Montelione said he plans on working as long as he can.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they tell me I have to leave the bench, I will leave the bench,\u201d he said. \u201cI have enjoyed every minute of my career, and I\u2019ve been very, very lucky.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montelione, who is currently assigned to the Civil Term, was elected to the Supreme Court bench in 2021 after serving for nearly a decade as a judge sitting in both New York City Criminal and New York City Civil Court in Kings County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montelione earned his bachelor\u2019s degree from City University of New York, Queens College, and his law degree from the Antioch School of Law, now part of the University of the District of Columbia. He was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1984.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montelione has been active in numerous legal and civic organizations, including the Brooklyn Bar Association, the LGBTQ+ legal community and various nonprofit boards. He has also served as chair of the board of Supreme Court Justices of Kings County. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN \u2014 Hon. Richard Montelione, a Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, justice…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,3308,15312,56517,94196,52008,9,24,63,107979],"class_list":["post-281485","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-supreme-court-brooklyn-supreme-court","tag-lgbtq-pride","tag-lgbtq-pride-month","tag-lgbtqia-lgbt-lgbtq-lgbtqia","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-richard-montelione"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281485","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=281485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}