There are more than 1,000 LGBTQ+ Americans running for political office in 2022, a record number. But we’ve been here and queer for a long time, with out and proud candidates winning elections since the 1970s. Here are some of the trailblazers who’ve won elected or appointed office over the years.
KATHY KOZACHENKO, a lesbian, was the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community elected to any political office in the U.S., winning a City Council seat in Ann Arbor, Mich., in April 1974. There were two gay men on the council in the liberal college town (home to the University of Michigan), but they didn’t come out until after they were elected. Kozachenko served one two-year term, then moved away, but she remained an activist, volunteering in political campaigns and helping to organize the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979. She was named to the LGBTQ Victory Institute’s first Hall of Fame class in 2021.
1974 saw another first: In November, lesbian became the first
