Mark Paron, along with U-M librarian Scott Dennis, were members of the Michigan's Gay Youth Group (the first in Michigan) that started meeting in 1978 at Ozone House on North Main Street in Ann Arbor. Paron grew up in Ann Arbor and attended Ann Arbor Community High School. When he came out to his family as a teenager, they turned him out of the family home, and he had to make it on his own. He found a place to live, held jobs to earn his own money and support himself, and finished high school on schedule nonetheless. Paron was last known to be living in San Francisco and keeps in touch with some GYG members.