September 14, 1942 – March 23, 2006
As a participant in gay liberation activism in the early 1970s, Rodger Keller helped organize Detroit’s first pride march, Christopher Street Detroit ’72.
Author: michiganlgbtqremember
Billie Edwards
March 21, 1947 – July 5, 1995
Billie Edwards served as co-pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church in Detroit in the mid-1980s before becoming co-director of the Lesbian-Gay Male Program Office at the University of Michigan in 1987, a position she held until 1993.
Billie Louise Edwards papers at the Bentley Historical Library
Anne Cheff
November 12, 1962 – May 5, 1990
Professional horse trainer Anne Cheff was a familiar face at such Detroit area bars as Gigi’s, the Cruise Club, and the Railroad Crossing.
Anthony Welsh
August 3, 1958 – August 14, 1996
Dr. Anthony Welsh, a Dearborn Heights native and graduate of Michigan State University, established an HIV education speaker’s bureau in Ann Arbor under the auspices of the HIV/AIDS Resource Center. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 38.
Garland Gillard II
October 1, 1965 – January 24, 2001
Garland Gillard II operated PC Doctor, a computer repair business, and served as minister of music for Full Truth Unity Fellowship Church in Detroit. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 35.
Darren McCarroll
May 20, 1963 – November 27, 2011
A champion of social justice, Rev. Darren McCarroll served as pastor of Full Truth Unity Fellowship Church in Detroit from 1996 to 1999.
Eric Otto
April 17, 1962 – October 17, 2000
Eric Otto wrote a regular column about Detroit’s nightlife for Between The Lines newspaper in the late 1990s.
Danny Windsor
June 2, 1925 – January 19, 2013
Danny Windsor was an emcee and performer who entertained at several gay bars in Detroit in the 1960s and the owner of the Eagle’s Nest in Muskegon in the 1970s.
Terri Jewell
October 4, 1954 – November 26, 1995
Terri Jewell was a noted lesbian feminist poet in Lansing whose work appeared in more than seventy publications.
Andrew Platko
July 9, 1933 – April 13, 2009
A purchasing agent for Saginaw Community Hospital and a Navy veteran, Andrew Platko was onetime owner of the Heidelberg Inn, for many years one of the few gays bars in the Tri Cities.
Saginaw News, April 14, 2009
