Deborah Batts

Deborah Anne Batts (April 13, 1947 – February 3, 2020) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. During Gay Pride Week in June 1994, Batts was sworn in as a United States district judge for Manhattan, becoming the nation's first openly LGBT, African-American federal judge. She took senior status on her 65th birthday, April 13, 2012. Biography Batts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Dr. James Alexander Batts, director of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Harlem Hospital Center, and Ruth V. Batts, nurse, homemaker, and board member of the Philadelphia Home and School Council in the 1960s. Marriage and family Batts's siblings included sisters Mercedes Ellington and Denise Batts, and her twin, Dr. Diane Batts Morrow.