January 8, 1949 – July 24, 2017
Onetime Windsor resident and Chrysler employee, Garnet “Bill” Beetham was owner of the Male Box in Detroit and Male Box II in Warren. He supported the Metro Detroit Softball League and numerous other gay causes in the Metro Area.
November 4, 1914 – January 18, 1991
Pianist Stennis Ousley accompanied Bramwell “ChiChi” Franklin at the Golden Slipper and other venues in the 1950s. She performed solo at various straight and gay bars into the 1980s, including the Willis Show Bar, the Tryst Club, and the Deck.
No known obituary.
November 3, 1924 – November 26, 2000
Born in Detroit, Leonard Lippert was raised in Essex, Ontario and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Following a long career with Manufacturer’s Bank, Lippert and his life partner operated the Hayloft on Greenfield in Detroit from 1981 to 1997.
Dates of birth and death uncertain
Stephen Franklin held retail jobs at Silverman’s and National T-Shirt. As manager of Bonnie and Clyde’s disco, he testified before the Lansing City Council in 1980 about police harassment of gay men at the nightclub. He later migrated to Texas. He died of complications from AIDS.
No known obituary.
September 17, 1932 – June 23, 2010
A native of Ypsilanti, Donald Hazlett served in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1950s. Hazlett later operated Don’s Beef N Ale in Detroit and with Paul Espenscheid co-owned Menjo’s during the 1990s. He and Espenscheid shared the Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the 1994 Detroit area Pride Banquet.
July 24, 1967 – January 28, 1991
Michael LaGatella graduated from Lincoln High School in Warren and tended bar at the Woodward in Detroit while attending Wayne State University. After he took his own life, LaGatella’s friends established a scholarship in his name for gay and lesbian students at Wayne.
Wayne State Celebrates 20th Anniversary of LaGatella Scholarship
June 15, 1950 – November 22, 2004
Known to customers as “Ma,” Linda Lee Smith of Maybee waited tables at the aut Bar in Ann Arbor for its first eight years. She was survived by four children, five grandchildren, and her life companion Terrie Slisher.
January 9, 1949 – February 19, 1996
Known as the Godfather of House, legendary DJ Ken Collier spun music around Detroit for more than 30 years at such gay clubs as Bookie’s Club 870, Heaven, Todd’s, the Chessmate, and L’uomo. His skill with the turntable inspired a new generation of DJs and helped put Detroit’s dance scene on the global musical map.
MetroTimes, May 15-21, 1996
July 29, 1912 – March 1, 1976
For more than three decades, Danny Brown directed the Jewel Box Revue. Prior to establishing the famed touring company, Brown emceed female impersonation shows at the Club Frontenac in Detroit during the pansy craze of the 1930s.
August 15, 1926 – January 8, 2003
Delores “Dee” Sweet operated D’s Lounge in Mount Clemens during the 1970s and ’80s, at the time the only gay bar in operation in Macomb County.
No known obituary.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 