February 27, 1936 – November 26, 2011
Gordon Barnard moved to Detroit when he was five and came out into Detroit’s gay world while in high school at Cass Tech. A graphic artist, Barnard worked as a graphic designer for Michigan Consolidated Gas Company for 35 years. His partner of 22 years, William Ownby, preceded him in death in 1994.
September 5, 1934 – July 3, 2011
Minnesota native Vicki Marlane was among a troupe of female impersonators who performed at the Diplomat Lounge in Detroit in the early 1960s. Born Donald Sterger, Marlane underwent gender affirmation surgery in San Francisco, where she continued to perform into her 70s. She was subject of the 2009 documentary Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight. She died from AIDS-related complications at age 76.
Bay Area Reporter, July 14, 2011
Vicki Marlane photographs and artifacts at the GLBT Historical Society
February 5, 1940 – February 1, 2016
Judith Ann McNeill graduated from Wayne State University and worked for the Detroit House of Correction before moving to Holland in 1976. She operated the Zeeland Pet Shop in the 1980s and finished her career with Sears. McNeill was survived by her wife Nora Ewing.
March 9, 1947 – March 31, 1987
Allen Robinson grew up in Port Huron and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Robinson moved to Detroit in his early 20s, lived for a time in San Francisco, and in the early 1980s returned to Michigan, where he worked at Tiffany’s and the Interchange, and at Metra magazine as managing editor. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 40.
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.
April 12, 1959 – June 20, 1993
Detroiter Pete Malek graduated from Cody High School and worked as a waiter in Phoenix, Arizona before returning to his hometown, where he was a familiar face at Tiffany’s. He died of complications from AIDS at age 34.
May 29, 1940 – April 18, 1994
Joseph LaRosa Jr. was born in Ann Arbor, graduated from Dexter High School, and attended Cleary Business School. In the early 1970s, LaRosa hosted Lillian’s Down Under in the lower level of Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit. In December 1974, he, Michael Crawford, and Hank Trent opened the former supper club Menjo’s as a gay dance club. LaRosa later operated Orca’s before moving to Phoenix.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 