Texas attorney Michael Ritter. Courtesy photoMichael Ritter is looking to become Texas’ first openly LGBTQ+ candidate elected to statewide state Bar office.
He said his campaign’s focus is to raise the profile of LGBTQ+ lawyers in the state, and to address attorney mental health.
The 35-year-old San Antonio resident was one of two attorneys nominated to run for president of the Texas Young Lawyers Association, which is a division of the state bar. The president of the association will serve on the board of directors and the executive committee of the State Bar.
Ritter, a staff attorney for the Court of Appeals in San Antonio, will face off against attorney Reginald Wilson Jr. in the all-virtual election, which will be held throughout April.
More than 26,500 attorneys throughout Texas are eligible to vote in the election, which can be done online or via mail. The association’s attorneys must be in their first five years of practice and 36 or younger as of June 1.
Ritter said Thursday the mental health of attorneys in his state is a big part of his campaign.
“In my first few years as an attorney, I struggled with mental health issues. I would wake up in the morning and dreaded going to work, in part, because I didn’t take pride in my work at the time,” Ritter said.
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t made anxiety any easier for those with mental health issues, he said.
“I want to help lawyers struggling with mental health issues to have the tools to empower themselves. Many Texas lawyers have mental health issues. The pandemic has only made it worse. Stress has always been a factor in causing negative mental health outcomes,” he said.
In addition, Ritter said, if elected, he will continue to push for the rights of LGBTQ+ attorneys and residents.
“When it comes to social change related to issues of the LGBTQ+ community, Texas is slowing coming around, but they need a push,” he said.
He said attitudes toward the gay population in his state can improve.
Ritter pointed to a 2018 resource guide for equality in Bexar County, which encompasses San Antonio.
The guide, which Ritter worked on promoting, listed all of the judges in the county that were willing to perform marriages of both straight and gay couples. He said about 20 of the county’s 35 judges said they would.
“When we made the announcement regarding the guide on social media, there were a number of comments like, ‘Two men should not be allowed to marry one another.’ And one even said, ‘Get this shit off my feed.’”
Ritter said he believes most of his peers in his profession in the state are accepting of LGBTQ+ attorneys.
“Where we see the intolerance and ignorance is when lawyers are trying to interact with the public,” he said.
Ritter said attitudes among LGBTQ+ individuals have “improved quite a bit” since he first came out to his family and friends at age 14, about two decades ago.
“From my own personal experience, attitudes have really improved. Things were very different for LGBTQ+ people 21 years ago,” he said.
Ritter noted his parents did something he doesn’t think would have happened today.
“My parents sent me to conversion therapy at our local church. It was hard for my parents. I was raised Catholic and they didn’t know what to do, They loved me, but they thought I was on the wrong path,” he said.
In addition, Ritter said, he was denied several jobs as a teenager because he was gay.
Today, Ritter noted there are many openly gay lawyers, like himself, in the state. That wasn’t the case when he was a teenager, he noted.
“For example, in Houston we have our first openly gay Court of Appeals justice. And, right here in San Antonio, we have the first openly lesbian county court judge,” Ritter said.
Asked if he was optimistic of winning in the election, Ritter said: “Just being nominated is a win.”
