Pride Grand Marshal

Mitchell Katine
The lawyer Houston’s GLBT community goes to when they don’t know where else to turn
by John W. Stiles
Photo by Tricia Moreau Sweeney

Mitchell Katine, this year’s male Pride marshal and lead local attorney in the landmark homosexual conduct case coming before the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals this summer, would rather feed the hungry than give them legal assistance. He tells me this with a big smile. Katine is almost always smiling.

I met Katine at his law office in southwest Houston. He retrieved me from the huge lobby and I followed him into the firm’s conference room, pulling one of the 12 chairs away from the huge oak table. Katine selected the chair next to mine. None of that across-the-table, arms-folded-in-smug-repose lawyer stuff for him, Katine is all about up close and personal. Indeed, he was even asked to leave his old law firm because he did too much volunteer work. Currently with Williams, Birnberg, and Anderson for more than 10 years, he’s served as president of Houston’s Bar Association for Human Rights, chaired the Houston Bar Association’s AIDS Committee, was appointed to the Texas Real Estate Commission by Ann Richards, received the Frank J. Scurlock Award from the Texas State Bar for providing free legal services to indigent clients, has conducted countless free legal workshops around the city, teaches at his alma mater South Texas College of Law, and will soon begin teaching a second class for the University of Houston.

Busy guy. What drives him, I wondered. I asked about his earliest memories as a child.

"Mrs. Evangelista’s class in third grade where she punished me for talking too much. I would sit outside the classroom in tears singing ‘Where Is Love?’ from Oliver. I always had more energy than I was supposed to have, and that gave my mother ulcers and caused problems at home where they wanted me to grow up and stop being so silly. I continue to have a lot of energy and like to do a lot of things at one time.

"I was a very insecure child. When my parents went on vacation, I didn’t know if they were coming back or not. When they sent me away to camp for a month, I hated it. I cried. I was so homesick. I didn’t know what they were doing while I was at camp. Now I look back and think, my God, I could have been having so much fun had I just had the security to know that I was going to be all right. So at a very early age I started saving my own money, just in case. I felt like I had to get A’s and succeed and do really well."

As being voted Pride marshal by the community testifies, Mitchell Katine has certainly succeeded. He was the attorney John Geddes Lawrence and Tyron Garner called for help when they were arrested for having sex in their home. Although Katine says the arresting officers probably did not have to drag them to the squad car in handcuffs and underwear, his quarrel is with the law and not law enforcement. The real harm in the law is not in the danger of arrest, but in the stigmatization associated with criminalizing behavior. Texas’ homosexual conduct law has been used to support denying permanent residence to a homosexual immigrant, depriving gay parents of custody of their children, even closing the public library to gays and lesbians. Lawrence and Garner’s conviction was first overturned and then upheld as their case moved up the appellate ladder. Katine and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund are prepared to go to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. They hope it won’t be and that a full hearing before the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals will result in the repeal of the law. State Representative Debra Danburg introduced a bill into the state legislature to repeal the law.

If success as an attorney is measured by the number of calls and visits from clients, opposing counsel, and the police, Katine is a smashing success. Once again, I could hear the receptionist paging Katine. "Sorry," he said as he headed for the conference room telephone. The conversation began amiably enough but, as if a switch had been thrown, the lawyer moved front and center. "Well, I was hoping we could sit down and talk about agreed-to property lines but, if we can’t do that, then, of course, we’ll have a lawsuit." He was off the phone quickly, and just as quickly the lawyer switch was flicked off as he picked up where he left off. The lawyer switch sees a lot of work, for Michell Katine enjoys the reputation in the GLBT community as the "go to" guy for anyone in need of legal help. He believes quality legal and medical help should be available to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

I asked Katine if he always wanted to be a lawyer.

"Really, I went to law school not to be a lawyer but because I liked school. I’d like to stay in school the rest of my life if I could."

And as a child?

"A policeman. Adam-12 was big when I was growing up. When alarms started coming out in cars and I learned I could turn mine on while I was driving, I would drive with my alarm going just so I could pretend I was a police officer."

What was high school like?

"High school was good. Had some girlfriends. Had some serious girlfriends, you know. Learned about heterosexual sex in high school. I didn’t have any gay experiences except fantasies and thoughts. It was really when I went away to college ... that I discovered homosexuality."

His first boyfriend’s parents discovered some of Katine’s letters.

"They gave him a choice of returning to college and me or to stay [home] and seek psychological assistance. He chose to return to college and be with me, and his family cut him off. That put stress on our relationship and we eventually broke up [but] remained close for many years. He never returned to school,... worked in the bars as a waiter, got HIV, and subsequently died.

"[The] many friends I’ve lost... that awareness still plays a daily role in my life. Probably the most significant thing that shaped my life is HIV and AIDS. There are so many people not here that I feel a big responsibility to do things in their absence. All the activists, all the people in ACT-UP, they’re gone."

Appearing on a television panel a few years ago, Katine was asked why he devoted so much time to AIDS-related causes.

"I believe the AIDS crisis will be over someday. I believe I will have children someday, and I believe those children will ask me what I did during that time. And there is no way that I could ever say ‘work.’ That’s what I did? That’s nothing."

The ever-present smile was gone. Katine’s eyes were full as he continued.

"I want to be able to [say] what I did when it was time to do something. Although the homosexual conduct case is important for civil rights, I don’t want that to be my claim to contribution. I feel very fortunate that I’ve been given the opportunity as a lawyer to help enough people and accomplish enough successes where I could stop. Probably, if I was not in the relationship that I’m in, I would seriously think about leaving ... and [go] work in some developing country and contribute. That’s something that I’ve always wanted to do and never done. It’s just hard getting out of a successful practice, not that I want to. I still have lots to do every day, but if something else were to come along, well, I’m not in this [law practice] forever. There’s still more to do."

When Stiles isn’t writing for OutSmart magazine, he keeps himself busy writing film reviews and essays for his website, www.johnw stiles.com.