June 24, 2025
Have you ever heard of Kathy Kozachenko? On April 2, 1974, she made history by becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ person to be elected to public office.
At the time, she was a 21-year-old college student, studying at the University of Michigan. She won an Ann Arbor City Council seat as a member of the Human Rights Party. But despite this massive achievement, she isn’t widely known.
Why does her story matter? Because she showed that activism doesn’t have to wait. Her political career was the result of her desire to challenge injustice from a young age.
Your voice, as a young person, matters, and you too can bring about political change!
Early Influences
Kozachenko did not come from a politically-involved family. But like many teens, she started paying attention to the world around her, and didn’t like a lot of what she saw. It was the 1960s, and she was inspired by leaders like Robert F. Kennedy, an advocate for civil rights and the 64th attorney general of the U.S., and movements like that of the United Farm Workers (UFW), which fought for better treatment of farm laborers.
When her father didn’t let her join UFW picket lines, she helped organize a meeting in her hometown and invited a farm worker to come speak.
After arriving as a student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Kozachenko wanted to join an organization that aligned with her beliefs. She discovered the Human Rights Party, a statewide party focused on civil rights, anti-war efforts and economic justice, including fighting for tenant’s rights and labor unions. They also supported progressive movements like those for gay liberation, feminism and Black Power.
It was here that she decided to run for office.
Campaigning for Change
Kozachenko’s campaign focused on the need for funding social service programs and supporting other social issues. She wanted city funds to benefit all people, not just the powerful.
Kozachenko also advocated for more policies to protect women’s and gay rights. She was a staunch supporter of students’ rights, and she proposed a bill that protected student protestors’ First Amendment rights by limiting police power to arrest them without cause.
Still, many people don’t know her name. Kozachenko being the first openly gay person to run for and successfully win office was groundbreaking. Yet more often, people credit Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who held a seat on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, with being the first openly gay person in office. But he wouldn’t be elected until 1977, three years after Kozachenko.
Her Legacy Today
Kozachenko’s story is incredibly powerful now, when young people continue to be on the front lines of change. Whether it’s the fight for racial equity, reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections or against authoritarianism and climate change, many of the issues Kozachenko cared about are still the issues we’re talking about today.
Rent is still unaffordable for many Americans. LGBTQ+ rights have come under increasing attacks from the current administration. Protestors are still being arrested for peacefully standing up for what they believe in.
Despite all this, young people are stepping up and calling for change, just as Kozachenko did. “I feel it is more important than ever to be active,” Kozachenko told the National League of Cities on nlc.org in 2024. “In today’s political climate, many hard-won rights that protect women, LGBTQ+ people and other minority groups are being overturned.”
Kathy Kozachenko is living proof that you don’t have to be older, rich or extremely powerful to make a difference. You just have to try!
