Detroit

Journalist & Commentator

b. March 11, 1972

“This is the gay agenda: equality. Not special rights, but the rights that are already written by [our Founding Fathers].”

Elzie Lee “LZ” Granderson is a groundbreaking, openly gay American sportswriter and commentator. His work for major news outlets such as CNN, ESPN and ABC News has increased the visibility of racial justice and LGBTQ equality in athletics.

Granderson’s passion for sports began early. Born in Detroit to a poor family, he suffered abuse from his stepfather and turned to drugs and gangs as an adolescent. Sports helped save him. “I’d be bleeding from being whipped and go to sleep reading the NBA Almanac,” he said in a 2012 interview. “It was my blanket that helped me heal. I read every line about every player.”

Granderson began his career as an actor. He attended Western Michigan University on a theater scholarship and landed his first film role in “Zebrahead” at the age of 20. A few years later, he appeared in “To Sir, With Love II” (1996), with Sidney Poitier reprising his original role.

Granderson got his start in journalism at the The Grand Rapids Press. During the 1990s, when he was trying to break into sportswriting, the industry was deeply homophobic.

Granderson, who was open about his sexuality, recalls one interviewer asking him, “What does a gay guy know about the NBA?” Undeterred, Granderson broke into sportswriting at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, after a stint as a home-design writer. He went on to serve as a writer and columnist for ESPN Page 2, co-host of ESPN’s “SportsNation” and afternoon co-host on ESPN LA710. He quickly developed a reputation for incisive columns that combined sports with social commentary on race, gender and sexual orientation.

Granderson has taken his unique perspective to numerous media outlets. He served as a CNN columnist and a contributor to “Erin Burnett OutFront,” “Newsroom with Don Lemon” and “Anderson Cooper 360.” He regularly contributed to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “This Week” and “Nightline,” in addition to co-anchoring ABC’s coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He joined the LA Times in 2019 as the sports and culture columnist and an op-ed writer.

In 2009 Granderson won the GLAAD Media Award for digital journalism for his ESPN article, “Gay Athletes Are Making Their Mark.” The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association honored him in 2008 and 2010. Granderson’s Ted Talk on LGBTQ equality, “The Myth of the Gay Agenda,” has received more than 1.6 million views.

Granderson lives with his partner, Steve Huesing. He has one child from a previous marriage.

Labor Activist

b. 1958

“Our local unions and divisions should drive our national priorities, not the other way around.”

Mary Kay Henry is a labor union organizer and the first female president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Henry grew up in a Detroit suburb as the eldest girl in a family of 10 children. During college, she was a lobbyist for a grassroots advocacy group alongside union activists. In 1979, she earned her bachelor’s degree in urban planning and labor relations from Michigan State University.

In 1980, she started her career at the SEIU California State Council as a researcher. Over the next 10 years, Henry held various positions there. She helped pioneer the union’s nontraditional collective bargaining agreements and system-wide health care organizing strategies.

Henry moved to SEIU International, where she served as director of the health care division, an executive board member, the chief health care strategist and the executive vice president.

In 2010, she was elected international president of SEIU. Henry advocates for labor, immigrant and LGBT rights. She is a co-founder of the Lavender Caucus for SEIU’s LGBT employees.

Henry serves on the executive board of Families USA, a consumer health care advocacy organization. In 2009, Modern Healthcare magazine named her one of its “Top 25 Women in Healthcare.” In 2011, CNN named Henry one of “Washington’s Most Powerful Women.”

Henry and her partner, Paula Macchello, a senior strategic organizer with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, are outspoken advocates for same-sex marriage. Together for 24 years, they share homes in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

Activist

b. July 23, 1899
d. October 5, 2000

“I never expected I’d be 100 years old. It didn’t even come to my mind.”

Ruth Ellis, who lived to be 101, was credited with being the oldest known lesbian and LGBT civil rights activist.

Ellis was born in Springfield, Illinois, at the end of the 19th century—the youngest of four children and the only girl. Her parents were born in Tennessee during the last years of slavery. Ellis’s father was the first African-American mail carrier in Springfield.

Ellis attended Springfield High School at a time when very few African-Americans enrolled in secondary education. She was aware of her sexual orientation by the time she was 16. Ellis remembered her high school gym teacher as her first female attraction.

In the early 1920’s, Ellis met Ceciline “Babe” Franklin. They became friends and lovers for more than 35 years.  

When Ellis moved to Detroit in the 1930’s, Babe joined her. The couple bought a house and Ellis started a printing business. She was the first woman in Michigan to own and operate a printing company.

Their house became the local hangout for African-American gays and lesbians. Known as the “gay spot,” Ellis opened her home for parties and dances, and never turned down a gay or lesbian friend who needed a place to stay.    

In the latter part of her life, Ellis became a well-known figure in the GLBT community, first locally, then nationally.  She attended events and programs across the country, often as a speaker or special guest. She enjoyed dancing and socializing, even in her old age.

In 1999, Ellis's life was made the subject of the documentary “Living With Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100,” directed by Yvonne Welbon. The film was screened at film festivals worldwide, and won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 1999.

Ellis lived in three centuries; she passed away in 2000. The Ruth Ellis Center honors her life and is dedicated to serving homeless LGBT youth and young adults.

University President

b. September 23, 1936
d. November 10, 2016

“You have to drive for higher standards, because it’s good for students and it’s good for society.”

David Adamany was the first openly gay president of an American university. He served as president of Wayne State University in Detroit and Temple University in Philadelphia. He was nationally recognized as a leader in higher education.

Born to a Lebanese family in Janesville, Wisconsin, Adamany earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard University and his master’s and doctorate degrees in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He was named a special assistant to the attorney general of Wisconsin and pardon counsel to the state’s governor. At 27 he became the youngest person appointed to Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission.

During the 1970s, Adamany was named special advisor to Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey and later served as Wisconsin’s secretary of revenue. He subsequently taught at Wesleyan University, California State University at Long Beach and University of Maryland.

In 1982 Adamany was named president of Wayne State University. He served longer than anyone else to hold the position. During his 15-year tenure, he helped transform the university into a premier research center. The undergraduate library was named in his honor.

In 1999 Adamany was appointed as the interim executive officer of the Detroit Public School District, where he advocated for educational reform. From 2000 to 2006, he served as the president of Temple University.

At Temple, Adamany added a new general education curriculum. He expanded enrollment by one-third, while improving SAT scores by more than 60 points and increasing the university’s honors program. He advocated for LGBT civil rights and offered benefits to the same-sex partners of university employees. After his tenure as president, he became a chancellor and taught at Temple’s James Beasley School of Law and in the Political Science Department.

In 1997 the University of Wisconsin’s Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Alumni Council honored Adamany with its Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2000 the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services named him Arab American of the Year.