Judge Lee Gates was born in Louisiana in the 1940s, but moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1960 with his father. His mother had moved there earlier, gotten a job, and established a home in the historical Westside neighborhood of Las Vegas. He was a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he was a member of the Black Student Association and studied under professor Roosevelt Fitzgerald, who raised his awareness of black history. Gates participated in the civil rights movement and worked as a lawyer before becoming a judge.

Diane Guinn was a State of Nevada Division of State Welfare and Supportive Services worker who worked assisted Ruby Duncan in developing Operation Life in 1972, a nonprofit organization that promoted welfare reform in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born on April 5, 1949 in Seattle, Washington, and later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1952. Her mother, Louise Canon, was a cashier in restaurants and a manager in dress stores, while her father, Doug Canon, was a bartender. Guinn married Frank Guinn, an electrical foreman, on 1972 in Las Vegas.