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
September 12, 1950 – May 24, 2016
A native of Detroit, Anne Birch graduated from East Catholic High School in 1968 and remained a resident of the city until the early 1980s. After moving to Florida, she had a 30-year career with the Water and Wastewater Engineering Division of Broward County.
June 4, 1963 – July 19, 1993
Bradley Grant was a longtime member of the Detroit chapter of Black and White Men Together. He served on the board of the Michigan Organization or Human Rights and was active with the Detroit Area Gay/Lesbian Council. He also performed as a female impersonator under the name Peaches la Fleur. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 30.
November 19, 1955 – September 27, 2003
As board chair and educator with Gospel Against AIDS/Global Research, Education, and Training Network, physician Isabello Reyes Jr. pushed for AIDS education, care, and civil rights protections. In addition to his advocacy, Reyes taught at Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Detroit.
August 14, 1922 – June 6, 1993
Finley Hooper grew up in Detroit and was an assistant professor of Greek and Roman history at Michigan State University in the mid-1950s when he was discovered to be homosexual and forced to leave. He subsequently enjoyed a long and esteemed academic career at Wayne State University.
Grosse Pointe News, June 17, 1993
November 24, 1907 – August 12, 1971
James Francis Jones, better known as Prophet Jones, was a nationally renowned religious leader in Detroit famed for his flamboyance and fantastical predictions. In 1956, he was arrested for allegedly making an “indecent proposal” to an undercover vice officer.
The Advocate, September 15-28, 1971
June 8, 1937 – October 19, 1986
Fr. James Markunas was a graduate of Detroit’s Cody High School and Albion College. While serving as associate rector of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Detroit, Fr. Markunas was arrested for peaceably demonstrating after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 49.
October 15, 1909 – March 19, 1984
The son of a Russian junk peddler, Sam “Bookie” Stewart worked as manager of his brother-in-law’s bar the Silver Dollar in Detroit in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1959, Stewart opened the Diplomat, famed for his female impersonators, and from 1970 to 1984 operated Bookie’s Club 870 on West McNichol’s.
March 23, 1940 – March 12, 2004
A graduate of Southfield High School, Victoria “Vicky” Samalis operated the Underground beneath the Bell Bar on Eight Mile in Detroit from 1977 to 1990. She spent much of her retirement in Jacksonville, Florida.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 