March 22, 1959 – August 31, 2015
Ordained into the priesthood in 2007, Rev. Karen Johanns moved to Michigan in 2008 to become rector at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Pontiac, a position she held until cancer forced her into “grouchy” retirement. Johanns was survived by her wife Claire Dodds.
January 19, 1911 – February 8, 2004
Rev. Anne Garrison was a longtime ally who joined Michigan State University campus ministries after retiring as a business professor. She served on the bishop’s committee that produced a pioneering 1973 report that recommended greater inclusions for gay people within the Michigan Diocese of the Episcopal Church.
Detroit Free Press, February 17. 2004
January 13, 1949 – November 24, 2015
A graduate of Oakland University, Rev. Rod Reinhart left teaching to attend divinity school and became one of the nation’s first openly gay priests ordained in the Episcopal Church. He helped found the annual ecumenical worship service People Who Care About People with AIDS.
August 31, 1933 – July 19, 2016
From 1972 to 1975, Anthony Clemente, known to congregants as Pastor Tony, served as the first official minister of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit.
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
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.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 