Who was the first openly gay elected official in the United States?
As we reach the home stretch of Pride Month, what better way to celebrate than with a trip to Disneyland?
Kathy Kozachenko was the first openly gay person to hold political office in the United States.
Three years before LGBTQ icon Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Kathy Kozachenko made history in Ann Arbor, Michigan as the first openly gay person elected to political office in the United States. Then a 21-year-old University of Michigan student campaigning under the local (and now defunct) Human Rights Party, Kozachenko beat her lone Democratic opponent by 52 votes to little fanfare. The accolade of “first elected openly gay official” is often misattributed to Harvey Milk but Milk was hardly the first LGBTQ person to be elected to political office. Less than a year after Kozachenko was elected, out lesbian Elaine Noble was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
“I am so proud of all the activists that came after me … The people that pushed and pushed and pushed for gay marriage, the transgender people that have pushed for their rights … I’m grateful for the chance that I was able to play a small part in this.” —Kathy Kozachenko
Disneyland hosted its first official Pride Nights earlier this June.
Earlier this month, Disneyland held its first official Pride Night events. The California theme parks stayed open late for a special ticketed event dedicated to a celebration of queer culture. The park was decked out in rainbows and purple and many of the characters wore new rainbow-accented costumes. The event was part dance party and part defiance of the entertainment company’s ongoing feud with Ron DeSantis and Florida over the state’s anti-LGBTQ legislation.
While this is the company’s first official queer event at any of the parks, unofficial Gay Days have been celebrated at Walt Disney World since 1991. At the start of every June, guests wear red shirts to the park to show their support to the queer community during Pride Month.
For more about Disneyland’s first Pride Night, check out this story from LA Magazine.
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