January 8, 1901 – January 10, 1996
A native of Otsego, Forman Brown attended the University of Michigan in the early 1920s and, with cousin Harry Burnett and companion Roddy Brandon, formed the famed Yale Puppeteers. In his eighties, Brown revealed that he was the author of the 1933 gay novel Better Angel written under the penname Richard Meeker.
Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1996
January 10, 1931 – May 4, 2016
Outspoken Detroit attorney George Maurer served active duty in the U.S. Army from 1949 to 1955 and another 27 years in the Army Reserves. A co-founder of Wellness House, he earned his B.A. and J.D. from Wayne State University and was also a longtime co-owner of Gigi’s nightclub.
November 23, 1948 – September 29, 1994
Artist Jay Manning designed the Christopher Street Detroit ’72 pride celebration logo, which showed a butterfly with sweeping wings and a clenched fist for a body. The image also graced the window of the Green Carnation, the city’s first gay community center. Manning died from AIDS-related complications at age 45.
July 10, 1956 – August 2, 1996
Raised in foster homes, Thesoloniki Richard “T.J.” Anthony entered politics as a campaign aide to U.S. Senator Donald Riegle. He was a 26-year-old divorced father of two when hired in early 1983 as executive director of the Michigan Organization for Human Rights, a position he held for just one year. After moving to San Francisco, he worked as an aide for two city supervisors.
February 25, 1968 – February 13, 2007
Heather MacAllister was a staffer for the Triangle Foundation in the 1990s. She later moved to San Francisco where she founded Big Burlesque, the original Fat Bottom Revue. Suffering from ovarian cancer, she died by assisted suicide at age 38.
Bay Area Reporter, February 22, 2007
Between The Lines, February 22, 2007
Lesbian Connection, May/June 2007
October 3, 1928 – December 22, 2011
Born in Allegan, Henry Lewis Van Dyke Jr. served in the U.S. Army and earned a B.A. and M.A. at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he developed lifelong gay friendships. He later authored several novels and taught as a writer-in-residence at Kent State.
July 4, 1950 – March 20, 1997
Thomas Gamble earned his B.A. from Oakland University and his M.S. from Michigan State University before moving to San Francisco here he worked in health care. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 46.
January 20, 1921 – April 16, 1998
Irma Wolf grew up in Mount Clemens and worked as a stenographer and sales clerk during World War II. After the war, she moved to Los Angeles where, in the 1950s, she served as editor of ONE magazine under the name Ann Carll Reid.
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.
April 1, 1967 – March 18, 2016
Mary Beth Dietz earned a B.A. in English from Michigan State University and taught English in Wisconsin before returning to school to become a chiropractor. She and LeAnne Ray became the first same-sex couple married in Michigan City, Indiana.
Grosse Pointe News, March 24, 2016
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 