When asked who the first openly LGBTQ elected official in United States history was, most people respond with Harvey Milk.
Somewhere lost in the shadow of icon and martyr Harvey Milk is the story of the first openly LGBTQ elected official: Kathy Kozachenko. And she lives right here in Pittsburgh.
Kathy Kozachenko was born in Maryland, grew up in Toledo, OH, and eventually moved to Plymouth, Michigan. She became interested and active in social change at a young age. She recalls the United Farm Workers grape boycott. Her father wouldn’t allow her to go on the picket lines to hand out literature, so with the help of a couple of teachers, she brought a representative of the United Farm Workers into their community to talk to residents about why they should support the Farm Workers unionization efforts as well as concerns with their working conditions and wages. She was 16 years old at the time. She also recalled the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and how deeply that upset her. “Those were my beginnings, and when I chose where I was going to go to college, I wanted to go somewhere where there was radical activity for change and justice. I picked Ann Arbor (University of Michigan) and found this group called the Human Rights Party. That organization enabled me to grow and have a voice and be effective not just running for political office but in being a voice for change and justice throughout my life.”
Kozachenko was an out student at the University of Michigan, where she received support for her progressive agenda, which included a fine of no more than five dollars for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Another part of her platform included a ceiling on the amount of profit a landlord could make from rent on a building. “We were ahead of our time,” said Kozachenko.
In 1974, at 21 years old, Kathy ran for a seat on the Ann Arbor City Council as an openly gay candidate and won. She became the first openly LGBT candidate to successfully run for political office in the United States. She mentions Elaine Noble (of New Kensington, PA) as being the second openly gay candidate who successfully ran for Massachusetts State Representative later that year, noting she often gets forgotten as well.
Kathy chose not to run after her two-year term was up in 1976. She felt she could be more effective with social and political change elsewhere. She wanted to be in a city with a more blue-collar, working-class mixture of people than Ann Arbor. She moved to New York City for a couple of years and took classes at The Marxist School, where she got more grounding in theory and practice, as she didn’t come from a politically involved family.
Kathy moved to Pittsburgh in 1978, where she has lived for most of her adult life. “It’s my home.” She was living in New York when politically active friends in Pittsburgh organized a rally against Anita Bryant and her anti-gay campaign in the late 1970’s. They asked Kathy to give a speech, and that changed the course of her life. “I fell in love with the city, the houses, and the hills. I came, spoke, went back to New York, and said, ‘I’m moving to Pittsburgh.’” Her grandmother was living in Toledo at the time, so this brought her closer to her family.
Rally against anti-LGBTQ activist and orange juice spokesperson Anita Bryant. Civic Arena, April 1978.
After moving to Pittsburgh, Kathy became friends with gay activist Jim Fischerkeller. The two were on the National Steering Committee for the first national March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979.
Then, she began living a more quiet and private life. She met her partner, and the two had a child together. She raised that child along with her partner’s other children. She notes that her family has always been proud of her—even her brother, whose politics are opposite of hers.
Kathy spent much of her career working in home healthcare, where she managed a home care agency. Now, at 72, she works part-time with people with intellectual disabilities.
She remains active in economic justice and social change movements and volunteers her time in between hanging out with her grandchildren. She just finished canvassing for the Kamala Harris campaign last I spoke with her, and was preparing to head to 5801 to encourage people to register to vote before the Drag Brunch.
When I asked Kathy about her thoughts on progress over the years and the upcoming presidential election, she passionately stated how crucial this election is and her belief that our democracy is at stake.
“As LGBTQ folks, it’s critical for us. Transgender folks are under attack. Drag queens are under attack. Women’s reproductive rights are under attack. There are people in the religious right that would want us to go back to very stereotypical gender roles and we need to tell them we’re not going to do that. We need to get out to vote and tell them we are not going back.” She was a young adult when women didn’t have the right to a legal, medically safe abortion. She recalls women dying of illegal abortions. “Women are dying now in Texas because the doctors are afraid to treat a woman having a miscarriage in fear of being accused of aiding with abortion and in turn lose their license and/or go to jail for life. It’s very repressive in some states now.”
“In 1987, when I got pregnant, I knew only one other lesbian who had decided to have a baby and no gay men who were starting families. A few years later, a number of lesbian couples in Pittsburgh were having children. Over the years many in our community chose to start families, chose to have children either through pregnancy or adoption. This wasn’t always possible. We can’t take anything for granted. When it comes to adopting or fertility clinics, it’s clear who supports family in this election.”
“We all need to make sure that we vote, that we stand up for people who are going to protect our freedoms, not take our freedoms away. That’s who I was 50 years ago and that’s who I am today.”
I asked Kathy what made her interested in the Farm Workers strike at such a young age. She believes it had to do with the sudden death of her mother when she was just nine years old. “I think what developed in me was a sense that life isn’t fair. Some kids still had their parents and their family and we didn’t. And out of that grew this feeling of some things you can’t control and life isn’t fair, but what can be fair, should be fair. That every kid should have a good education, it shouldn’t depend on what the tax base is. I never understood why some people could have more money than they could ever use while other people didn’t have enough food.”
Kathy doesn’t mind not being famous, like Harvey Milk.
“I may prefer to be quiet in the background but my election is part of our history. I did that with a group of committed people and I truly admire all of the other activists who fought for our rights.”
“I think that one of the things people can take away from my election and my story is that anybody can help be a part of the change we need in this country. Anybody and everybody can make a difference, even if it’s talking to friends and family about how important it is to vote in this election. I wasn’t a terribly experienced person. You don’t have to be somebody hugely special. I wasn’t and am still not particularly charismatic, I’m just a regular person. And that’s my message; we all have to be in this together, especially now. Especially now.”
But Kathy is special.
The city of Ann Arbor is planning to erect a statue in front of the city hall to honor the former city council member. It is estimated to be dedicated in 2024, on the 50th anniversary of her election.
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