July 10, 1926 – June 22, 2010
Margaret Lorick of Flint was employed as a cafeteria worker, a machine operator, and an office secretary before earning her degree to become a teacher. Lorick described attending gay house parties hosted by Ruth Ellis in Detroit during the 1950s for an essay in the collection Inventing Lesbian Cultures in America.
October 1, 1976 – April 3, 2012
Coko Williams, a 35-year-old transgender woman who sometimes worked as a hairstylist, was found shot to death in Detroit’s Palmer Park neighborhood. After Fox 2 Detroit identified her as a “male prostitute” in its report of the crime, activists launched a protest against the station for being transphobic. There was also no evidence that Williams engaged in sex work.
March 23, 1975 – March 28, 2012
Detroiter Dimitrez Griffin was active in such groups as the Horizon Project, Mpowerment Detroit, and the Black Male Xchange. As an HIV+ man, he advocated on behalf of other men who had sex with men. Griffin was found murdered in his apartment at age 37.
May 25, 1961 – October 2, 2004
A 1979 graduate of Southeastern High School in Detroit, Ken Christopher earned a degree in business from Wayne State and worked as an accountant for the City of Detroit. He shared his passion for film with the monthly Moon-lit Movie Club he founded at Affirmations. His other community activities included AIDS Walk Detroit and Brothers United in Literary Text, a book club for gay African American men.
May 27, 1963 – September 18, 2009
A 1981 graduate of Flint Southwestern High School, Carter Conway worked for the Hamady Brothers Grocery and the City of Flint. A familiar patron at the State Bar and Copa Nightclub, he was a pianist, choir leader, and a member of Divine Peace Metropolitan Community Church in Waterford.
Flint Journal, October 1, 2009
July 1, 1954 – August 28, 1996
Born in Middleville in Barry County, Rexford Palmer moved to Detroit as a young adult to work in retail. He continued his retail career after relocating in the mid-1980s to San Francisco, where he became active in the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
August 27, 1965 – June 4, 2015
A graduate of Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, Vielka Holness received her B.A. from New York University. She studied law at the University of Michigan Law School, clerked with the Michigan Court of Appeals, earned a Masters from Columbia, and received certification from Harvard’s Management Development Program in Higher Ed. She capped an esteemed career serving as director for Post-Graduate Opportunities and the Pre-Law Institute of John Jay College.
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.
December 19, 1983 – April 28, 2016
Kalamazoo resident Esmeralda Bermudez graduated from Traverse City High School in 2005, earned her associates degree from Northern Michigan College, and worked as a dental technician. She was survived by two daughters and her wife Jade Austin Morgan.
May 12, 1984 – June 27, 2006
Known for his “fallout” dance move, Robert “Reebe” Hatcher became involved in the Ruth Ellis Center for homeless LGBT youth in Highland Park in his late teens. He died of complications from a heart condition at age 22.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 