The Michigan Messenger

Garnet Lewis prepares to give testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education.

LANSING — The Michigan Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment of Garnet Lewis to the Northern Michigan University (NMU) board of trustees, making her the first openly gay person to be named to a state university governance board.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm gets to select members for board positions at state universities, aside from the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, whose regents are elected by voters statewide. Granholm’s appointments are subject to a Senate advise-and-consent vote. The motion to approve Lewis’ appointment was made by Sen. Alan Cropsey, the DeWitt Republican who is not traditionally an advocate on gay rights issues.

Also appointed to the NMU board was H. “Sue” Sook Wilkinson, a native of Korea.

The board of trustees oversees the budget, sets tuition and administers and adopts policy for the institutions.

Lewis and Wilkinson were called to testify before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Higher Education Wednesday. During nearly 40 minutes of questioning, Lewis and Wilkinson addressed issues like tuition increases, charter schools and privatization of higher education. Members of the panel also asked Lewis about any potential conflicts of interest her NMU board post may have with her current job as a director of professional education at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.

The committee then voted unanimously to approve the appointments.

Lewis, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Midland-based 98th State House District seat last year, said she is stunned by the attention her involvement in politics has brought since being “out,” calling the experience “humbling.”

“What was surprising to me is how much of a difference it makes for others,” she said of her former political candidacy and university appointment.

Lewis also spoke out for the first time about the scathing anti-gay radio campaign launched against her candidacy in the last weekend before the November elections last year. The 60-second ad, paid for by the Campaign for Michigan Families, used the word “homosexual” five times, and the words gay and lesbian two other times.

“Vicki and I knew this would happen,” Lewis said, referring to her partner. “We didn’t know what it would look like, or feel like. They had to resort to dirty tricks and show their true colors to win.”

She said the ad also did not work as well as her opponents had hoped. The weekend the ad began airing, she was doing door-to-door knocking and she said many people responded with anger — at the ad, not her.

“They would say ‘I’ve heard the ad and I’m voting for you,’” Lewis said. “It pissed people off.”

While Lewis lost the race, young Democrats were paying attention, she said. She was recently invited to speak at a gathering of College Democrats in Ann Arbor and to start her talk, she played the commercial for them. She said in the future, she looks forward to when “an ad like that won’t work.”

But to get to a time when attacking a person’s sexuality is no longer a politically viable option, she said it will take work.

“More of us need to run and run openly. I am asking every openly gay individual to consider a run for office,” she said.