Judge Accused of Homophobia, Racism Wants Her Job Back

An investigation by the Inspector General for New York state courts has allegedly substantiated charges of racism and anti-LGBTQ+ bias by a judge in Brooklyn.

According to the NY Daily News, which claims to have seen the IG report, Brooklyn Surrogate's Court Judge Harriet Thompson used highly offensive language and disparaged others based upon their ethnicity and sexual identity. Thomas, who was kicked off the bench in December of 2021 pending an investigation, has denied all allegations and filed suit demanding she is reinstated.

"I hate these gay white men" and "being gay is an abomination to mankind," Thompson allegedly said.

In another incident, Thompson was alleged to have said one gay judge was "fat now, from all of the evil of what he's doing."

Thompson also reportedly displayed animosity towards members of the Hispanic community.

"I do not like Hispanic people. They have a deceitful trait that goes way back to biblical times," she is alleged to have said. "The men are always stealing, and the women are no better. They lie, steal, and use their vaginas for anything they want."

Thomas is also alleged to have called one Black judge a "house n****r" who was a "puppet for white men."

And she reportedly suggested a woman was "a prostitute" and opined "I think her boyfriend is pimping her."

In her suit seeking reinstatement, Thomas claimed she was the victim of a vendetta from corrupt officials from the Office of Court Administration.

"I was subjected to a retaliatory suspension as a result of protected activity I engaged in after I reported questionable and likely unlawful conduct by the public administrator responsible for administrating the estates of such decedents," Thompson claimed in the discrimination suit filed in April, according to the Law Journal.

"This case isn't about racial bias, corruption, being a whistleblower, or anything else alleged in her filing," court system spokesman Lucian Chalfen said in a statement to the Law Journal in April. "It is about serious misconduct on her part raising troubling questions regarding her fitness to sit on the bench."

Thompson allegedly engaged in a years-long dispute with former Public Administrator Richard Buckheit, accusing him of discriminatory policies against Black employees. She eventually suspended Buckheit from involvement in cases assigned to her. Buckheit and attorneys representing individuals with cases before Thompson said she was remiss in issuing important orders, resulting in a backlog of over 250 cases.

Thompson has been collecting her annual salary of $210,900 while not hearing cases.