Phyllis Randolph Frye, the nation's first openly transgender judge, at her office in Houston, July 22, 2015. In Texas in 1976, coming out as transgender was an ordeal for Frye, who was disowned, divorced and dismissed from several jobs. In the years since, Frye and others built a civil rights movement that fought for, and increasingly won, equal protection under the law. (Brandon Thibodeaux/The New York Times) Photo: BRANDON THIBODEAUX, STR / NYTNS