June 26, 1939 – July 3, 1998
Police arrested 20-year-old Muskegon native John Leon Allen in January 1960 in a crackdown on homosexual activity at the University of Michigan. He was permitted to graduate, doing so with honors. He went on to earn his library science degree at the University in 1964 and his Ph.D. in 1974. Allen later served as longtime columnist for the Muskegon Chronicle, coming out to his readers in the early 1990s.
Muskegon Chronicle, July 4, 1998
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 