Craig Covey was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1957. He began his advocacy work on behalf of gay rights in Ohio in 1981. He founded the Stonewall Union there and then after moving to Michigan in 1985, he became executive director of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights. A resident of Ferndale, Michigan since the late 1980s, Covey has been active in a variety of both gay and community activities. Covey was a long-time member of the Ferndale city council, having served from 1999 to 2008. He had first run unsuccessfully in 1995. In 2007 he was the first openly-gay mayor of any municipality in the state of Michigan. Elected mayor of Ferndale on November 6, 2007, he was sworn into office on January 14, 2008 for a two-year term, succeeding three-term mayor Robert Porter. He was re-elected unopposed in November 2009. In 2010, he ran successfully for the Oakland County Commission in district 25, succeeding Dave Coulter (D-Ferndale).
Besides political activity, Covey was also CEO of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project (MAPP) and Chief Operating Officer of the Michigan AIDS Coalition, the organization resulting from the merging of MAPP and the Michigan AIDS Fund in 2009.
From the guide to the Craig Covey papers, 1987-2010, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
