Shannon Price Minter is the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR),
one of the nation's leading advocacy organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
people.

Shannon was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the marriage case recently decided by the
California Supreme Court, which held that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to
marry and that laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation are inherently
discriminatory and subject to the highest level of constitutional scrutiny. Shannon was also
NCLR's lead attorney on Sharon Smith's groundbreaking wrongful death suit and has litigated
many other impact cases in California and across the country.

In 2005, Shannon was one of 18 people to receive the Ford Foundation's "Leadership for a
Changing World" award. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the City
University of New York School of Law for his advocacy on behalf of same-sex couples and
their families.

Shannon has also received the Anderson Prize Foundation's Creating Change Award by the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Distinguished National Service Award from
GAYLAW, the bar association for LGBT lawyers, law students, and legal professionals in
Washington, D.C., Cornell Law School’s Exemplary Public Service Award, the Unity Award
from Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the Advocacy Award from the San Francisco
Bar Association, and the Justice Award from Equality California.

Shannon has authored numerous articles and books on LGBT legal issues, including
Transgender Rights (University of Minnesota Press 2006) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Family Law (West Publishing 2008). He has taught as an adjunct or associate
professor at Boalt, Stanford, Golden Gate, Santa Clara, and the University of San Francisco
Schools of Law.

Shannon serves on the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and
Gender Identity. He also serves on the boards of Equality California and the Transgender Law
& Policy Institute.

Shannon received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993. He is originally from Texas.