August 7, 1952 – September 1, 2004
While pursuing his first undergraduate degree at Oakland University, Detroit native Homer Young-Kennedy III served as arts editor for the student newspaper. He went on to earn a B.A. in audiology and speech from Michigan State University and taught special education. Young-Kennedy moved to New York City in 1980.
July 18, 1949 – August 9, 2006
Detroit native Colleen Annette Regan was valedictorian of the class of 1967 at McKenzie High School and went on to earn her B.A. and M.A. in education from the University of Maryland. She left teaching to pursue a 20-year career as a Certified Public Accountant, retiring in 2003. Regan and her partner Kathe Kirkbride resided in New Mexico.
Lesbian Connection, November/December 2006
April 18, 1925 – November 2, 2017
Erie, Pennsylvania native John DeCecco, a pioneering scholar of sexuality and longtime editor of the Journal of Homosexuality, taught at the University of Detroit from 1953 to 1955 and at Michigan State University from 1955 to 1960. Turning his interests to psychology, he moved on to an esteemed career at San Francisco State University until his retirement in 2003.
Windy City Times, November 12, 2017
August 17, 1959 – May 1, 2018
Suzan Ruth Selewski of Taylor graduated from Riverside High School in Dearborn Heights. For 18 years she taught at Logan Elementary School in Detroit. She retired in 2013, preceding a long battle with ovarian cancer. Selewski was survived by her spouse and life partner of 23 years Julia Herod.
April 3, 1936 – September 10, 2010
Born in Detroit, poet, activist, and educator Judy Freespirit studied drama and speech at Michigan State University. After being heterosexually married, she came out in the feminist movement in California. In 1973, Freespirit coauthored the Fat Liberation Manifesto and in 1978 helped defeat the Briggs’ Initiative. Among her other publications was the 1982 chapbook Daddy’s Girl: An Incest Survivor’s Story.
October 15, 1916 – October 2, 2010
Chester James “Chet” Sampson of Los Angeles was born in Hubbell and attended Michigan Tech before transferring to the University of Michigan. During World War II he produced variety shows in the U.S. Navy. He later taught high school in Grosse Pointe before opening his own travel agency. In 1965, he founded ONE in Detroit, only the second formal homosexual organization in Michigan.
Grosse Pointe News, November 4, 2010
September 19, 1967 – July 23, 2011
David Blair, better known as Blair, was born in Newton, New Jersey and moved to Detroit in the 1990s. He achieved national recognition as an openly queer socialist poet, artist, singer-song writer, and activist. Blair also taught poetry to Detroit Public School students and at the Ruth Ellis Center. Among his many achievements were a National Poetry Slam title and the BENT Writing Institute Mentor Award.
May 4, 1932 – October 19, 2012
In 1953 and 1954 Barbara Jean “Barb” Sowers played outfrield with Muskegon Belles and the Grand Rapids Chicks in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Born in Detroit, she grew up in Livonia and retired as a high school counselor with the Livonia schools, where she headed the teachers’ union in the mid-1970s. Sowers was preceded in death by Shirley Weaver, her companion of 45 years.
March 19, 1954 – January 29, 2014
Longtime HIV and AIDS educator and advocate Kaye Lourena McDuffie served as communicable disease coordinator and intervention prevention specialist for the Lansing Area AIDS Network. Born in Ferndale, she graduated from Cass Tech in Detroit before attending Lansing Community College and Michigan State University. A devoted wife and mother, McDuffie was also active in local theater.
June 11, 1936 – May 4, 2005
Known as the “Worm Woman,” Kalamazoo resident Mary Arlene Appelhof became a world-renowned expert on using earthworms for composting. She was born in Detroit, grew up in Alma, and attended high school in Ohio. She earned a B.S. and two Masters from Michigan State and taught in Kalamazoo and at Interlochen. Appelhof was survived by her partner of 27 years Mary Frances Fenton.
Kalamazoo Gazette, May 5, 2005
Between The Lines, May, 19, 2005
Lesbian Connection, September/October 2006
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 