April 20, 1976 – April 8, 2013
Detroit native Edward Johnson studied dance at Oakland University, Marygrove College, and Wayne State University. His LGBTQ activism included work with the Horizons Project and Men of Color. Johnson also won a number of Detroit area female impersonation titles performing as Tokyo Reign.
May 12, 1941 – March 19, 2014
Milton Ford taught liberal studies at Grand Valley State University and served as founding director of the campus LGBT Resource Center from 2008 to 2010. He authored the book Playing It Straight: Gay Men and Heterosexual Marriage. Ford was survived by his partner Gary Van Harn.
August 22, 1975 – December 16, 2010
Amy Chesbro taught at Cleary Business School and Washtenaw Community College, sang with the OutLoud Chorus, and was fiancée of activist PJ TwoRavens. Chesbro was murdered in her car at age 35.
January 10, 1931 – May 4, 2016
Outspoken Detroit attorney George Maurer served active duty in the U.S. Army from 1949 to 1955 and another 27 years in the Army Reserves. A co-founder of Wellness House, he earned his B.A. and J.D. from Wayne State University and was also a longtime co-owner of Gigi’s nightclub.
November 23, 1948 – September 29, 1994
Artist Jay Manning designed the Christopher Street Detroit ’72 pride celebration logo, which showed a butterfly with sweeping wings and a clenched fist for a body. The image also graced the window of the Green Carnation, the city’s first gay community center. Manning died from AIDS-related complications at age 45.
November 13, 1945 – November 29, 2013
Longtime Hudson resident and devoted Detroit Tigers and University of Michigan fan Cheryle Hudson was owner and operator of the Heritage House Adult Foster Care and later the Uptown Kafé.
July 10, 1956 – August 2, 1996
Raised in foster homes, Thesoloniki Richard “T.J.” Anthony entered politics as a campaign aide to U.S. Senator Donald Riegle. He was a 26-year-old divorced father of two when hired in early 1983 as executive director of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights, a position he held for just one year. After moving to San Francisco, he worked as an aide for two city supervisors.
February 17, 1936 – July 24, 2015
A native of Washington, DC, Effie Ambler attended Bryn Mawr, earned her doctorate from Indiana University, and taught on the history faculty at Wayne State until her retirement in 2006.
Grosse Pointe News, August 6, 2015
June 10, 1952 – August 30, 2007
A native of Mason, Elizabeth Ann Kendall grew up in Mio, received her Bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University, and earned an MBA from Oakland University, enjoying a long career in budget and finance. Her involvement in the Detroit area LGBTQ community included support for Affirmations and the Ruth Ellis Center. She and her partner Torii Hamilton married in Canada in 2003.
July 24, 1944 – November 1, 2015
An eleven-year resident of Marquette, Judith Fern “Judy” Eisenberg worked as a waitress, an emergency medical technician, Dichtaphone operator, folk singer, and piano teacher. As a member of the Lake Superior Piano Workshop from 2004 to 2010, she performed at the Peter White Library and the Women’s Federated Clubhouse.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 