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LZ Granderson      

CNN & ESPN Columnist; Celebrated Voice on Sports, Race & Gay Rights

LZ Granderson is an ABC News contributor and host of ABC Audio’s “Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson” podcast. He is an Emmy Award-winning journalist as well as an op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

Granderson hosts the network’s first LGBTQ-focused podcast, “Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson,” of which he is also the producer. In the podcast, Granderson draws from his own lived experience as a gay, Black father to host thought-provoking, poignant, and engaging conversations with some of the most influential and inspirational people in the LGBTQ+ community. “Life Out Loud” received a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD in 2022 and Spotify selected it as one of the “Best New Podcasts of 2021.” Since joining ABC News in 2015, Granderson focuses heavily on politics in his role as a contributor.

In 2021 the Equality Forum listed Granderson among its “LGBTQ History Month Icons, and the Los Angeles Press Club as well as California News and Publishing Association named him the year's top columnist. In 2016 he was inducted into the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association Hall of Fame and his TED Talk, “Myth of the Gay Agenda,” has more than 1.7 million views. Granderson received recognition for his work from major LGBTQ+ organizations in the nation, including the Human Rights Campaign, GLSEN and GLAAD. The Advocate, the nation’s most prominent and oldest LGBTQ+ magazine, frequently includes him as one of the 50 most influential LGBTQ voices in media.

Throughout his career, Granderson worked at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, South Bend Tribune, and the Grand Rapids Press. He spent over 17 years at ESPN in a variety of roles, including NBA editor, Page 2 columnist, tennis commentator, radio host, and co-host of the television show "SportsNation." During this time, he was also a columnist and political contributor for CNN. Before that, Granderson was a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago and the Hechinger Institute at Columbia University.

Speech Topics


Sports is My Orientation

Numerous times over the course of his Hall of Fame career, Chicago White Stockings baseball player Cap Anson, refused to play if the opposing team had Black players. He carried this prejudice with him to his managerial career and his time as part owner of what is now the Chicago Cubs. In his 1900 autobiography, "A Ball Player's Career," Anson refers to one of his team's mascots as "little darkey" and with other racial slurs but makes no reference to the great Black baseball players he pushed to exclude.

Similarly, LGBTQ athletes have historically been excluded from sports, in policy, and more importantly, in culture. From slurs on the court to painting locker rooms pink, to banning trans athletes—all of the wonderful benefits that come from participating in sports are far too often kept away from queer athletes. This is a conversation about how that hurts everyone.

Dare You to Move

Through humor and candid personal stories, ESPN columnist and TV personality LZ Granderson shares his journey from poverty, physical abuse and gang culture in Detroit to becoming the most visible openly gay man working in sports today. In his commentary LZ has tackled taboo subjects such as usage of the N-word in the black community, the presence of gays in the locker room, and the truths and lies about reverse racism. He spares no one. Not even himself.

News


LZ Granderson: Hillary Clinton Is Off The Campaign Trail To Avoid ...
ABC News contributor LZ Granderson connects the dots between WikiLeaks and Hillary Clinton not planning to make any public appearances for the next 20 ...
OPINION: LZ Granderson on Trump's Comments to Black Voters ...
In 1932 a quarter of the American workforce was unemployed, housing prices had fallen by 10.5 percent and President Herbert Hoover's inability to turn things  ...

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