Herbert Donaldson was a San Francisco-based attorney and the first openly gay judge appointed in California. Born in 1927 in Baxter, West Virginia, Donaldson enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and later earned his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1956. He worked for San Francisco law firm Southern Pacific until 1960, when he began his own private practice in criminal defence law. Donaldson also became active in the city’s gay rights movement and, after founding a coffee company with his husband, was later appointed to the San Francisco Municipal Court in 1983. In this interview, Donaldson discusses his naval career, the San Francsco gay scene in the sixties, his arrest at the California Hall CRH Ball in 1965, SFPD enforcement of anti-gay and crossdressing laws, and work with the Mattachine Society. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting politics, law, and human rights.