September 11, 1951 – November 4, 1993
Detroiter Armando Lomibao worked as a microbiology specialist for area hospitals and was active in the BTI Bowling League and the Metro Detroit Softball League. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 42.
Tag: Detroit
Rod Reinhart
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.
James P. Wiles
June 21, 1908 – March 13, 1960
Detroit resident James P. Wiles, a heterosexually married personnel manager for IBM who was arrested in a crackdown on homosexual activity on campus at the University of Michigan in late 1959 and early 1960, took his own life days before he was to be sentenced.
Bobby Calvert
November 28, 1942 – February 15, 1986
A onetime store manager for Kmart, Bobby Calvert and his life partner Dan Campbell operated both Todd’s Sway Lounge and the Akron Health Club on Detroit’s East Side. Calvert also testified before city council in favor of including sexual orientation in the 1979 Omnibus Human Rights Ordinance. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 43.
Elizabeth Kaiser
February 24, 1949 – March 30, 2000
Detroit native and world-traveling hippie, Elizabeth Kaiser interrupted her long lesbian relationship with physician Margaret Poscher to nurse her mother and raise her son. She died from breast cancer at age 51.
Burton Fogelman
September 14, 1945 – November 4, 2012
A founder of the Motor City Business Forum and Southfield podiatrist, Burton Fogelman received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Detroit Area Pride Banquet in 2001.
Babe Franklin
November 25, 1909 – December 12, 1973
A native of Springfield, Illinois, Cicilene “Babe” Franklin worked as a cook and co-operated Ellis and Franklin Printing with her longtime partner Ruth Ellis, with whom she also co-hosted house parties that added vitality to Detroit’s black LGBTQ life in the 1940s and ‘50s.
No known obituary.
Mylen Jenkins
October 2, 1991 – October 5, 2015
An aspiring model who hoped to someday become a dentist, Detroiter Mylen Jenkins was murdered in a carjacking three days after turning 24.
Cynthia Dawkins
June 13, 1952 – April 6, 1986
Born and raised in Detroit, Sindy Dawkins enjoyed writing, skiing, and shooting pool. She served on the board for the Performers Awards of Detroit and held the title of Ms. Gigi’s 1980-81.
Patrick McGee
July 23, 1945 – May 7, 1987
Before moving to Houston in the late 1970s, Patrick McGee taught school by day and at night performed in various Detroit gay nightclubs as the drag sensation Trisha Trash. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 41.
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 