Michael Adams (lawyer)

Adams is the Board Chair of the American Society on Aging. He is the 2019 recipient of the National Council on Aging’s Change Agent Award.  In 2016, he was named an “Influencer in Aging” by PBS’s Next Avenue. Adams has twice been named one of the “100 most influential LGBT leaders” by OUT Magazine'. He has served as the vice president of the board of directors of LiveOn New York. He has served on advisory councils for AARP and the New York City Department for the Aging.

Adams also has been active in international issues. In 2017, he was part of a delegation testifying before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and has become an active member of a coalition working with LGBT+ elders in Latin America. SAGE has worked with several organizations in Latin America and Asia to secure funding for cross-cultural advocacy, services, and research. This focus is informed in part from Adams’s previous experience and academic training in Latin American studies.

In 2006, Adams became the chief executive officer of the non-profit SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders). Established in 1978, SAGE provides advocacy, supportive services, and consumer resources to older LGBT+ adults. The organization’s emphasis is on policy advocacy and promoting legislation that promotes the ability of LGBT+ adults to age with dignity and respect. In 2014 SAGE undertook a multi-year project to embed racial equity in its external work and within the organization as part of a long-term commitment to build racial equity and contribute to the dismantling of white supremacy.

In 2004, Adams married Frederick A. Davie, his partner since 1998. A Presbyterian minister, Davie is the executive vice president of Union Theological Seminary. He served on President Barack Obama’s transition team and was appointed by Obama to the White House Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He is currently the Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which provides civilian oversight to the New York City Police Department, and is a Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, appointed by Senator Charles Schumer.

In 2002, he became Lambda Legal’s Director of Education and Public Affairs. In this role, he was responsible for national public relations and community education programs on LGBT+ rights.

He worked in litigation at Clarence & Snell in San Francisco, before moving to the American Civil Liberties Union, first as a staff attorney and then as the litigation director of its lesbian & gay rights and AIDS projects. In 2001, he became the deputy legal director of Lambda Legal. Much of his litigation career involved involved issues affecting LGBTQ+ people and families, such as civil rights and recognition of victims of Nazi persecution.

He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School in 1990 and an MA in Latin American studies from Stanford University.

Michael Adams grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in government from Harvard University in 1984 and his involvement in human rights issues began at this time. He was active in campus campaigns to promote human rights in Latin America and to oppose the then-current United States policies in Central America.

His senior honors thesis adviser was Assistant Professor Terry Karl, who in 1983 filed a sexual harassment complaint against her colleague in the government department, Jorge Dominquez, in what became a groundbreaking case. In 2021, Harvard formally apologized to Karl. Adams spoke out publicly in support of Karl, for which the government department threatened him with legal action.

Michael Adams (born 1961) is an attorney and LGBT+ civil rights advocate in the United States. He has been the CEO of SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders) in New York City since 2006.