On October 11, 2011, former JABA President Mia Yamamoto received the 2011 John Anson Ford Human Relations Award from the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. The awards go to individuals, organizations and companies that have had a positive impact on local communities.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said that Yamamoto is “recognized in the API and LGBTQ communities as a leader who connects issues and communities to fight for human rights, justice and dignity.” Noting that Yamamoto “completed her transition from male to female in 2003 and continues to advocate for transgender rights while sharing her personal story as an out transgender woman of Japanese American ancestry,” Ridley-Thomas thanked Yamamoto for her “outstanding service to the people of Los Angeles County.”
“I accept the John Anson Ford Award on behalf of a community which has been oppressed and marginalized for far too many years,” Yamamoto told the Rafu Shimpo after the ceremony. “I am nobody special; however, whenever a transgender person of color is included, then maybe somewhere another transgender child of color is given the hope that there is a place for him or her in the world.
“And I give thanks to the many heroes and martyrs of the civil rights movement for providing the wave on which the rights of so many previously excluded people, including LGBT people of color, have been realized and recognized. For that, I am thankful.”
Also on hand for the presentations were Human Relations Commission President Sergio Paz and Executive Director Robin Toma.
Born Michael Yamamoto in the Poston internment camp in Arizona in 1943, she graduated from Cal State Los Angeles and served in the Army from 1966 to 1968, receiving the Army Commendation Medal and Vietnam Campaign Medal. Yamamoto graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1971 where she co-founded the Asian Pacific Islander Law Student Association. She served as a poverty lawyer for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (1971-74) and deputy Los Angeles County public defender (1974-84), and has been in private practice since 1984.
A former recipient of the American Bar Association Spirit of Excellence Award (2008), Yamamoto has also been honored as a Southern California Super Lawyer (2005-2008) and Criminal Defense Attorney of the Year by the Century City Bar Association (2006).
JABA congratulates Yamamoto, an outstanding leader and role model, on her well-deserved recognition.
