June 6, 1929 – March 14, 2016
From 1948 to 1954, June Ann Peppas played first base and as a pitcher with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, including the Battle Creek Belles and the Kalamazoo Lassies teams. She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Western Michigan University and later operated PJ’s Printing in Allegan with her life partner of 46 years, Polly Huitt.
October 5, 1980 – December 13, 2014
Activist Robert Clark was past president of the Black Pride Society, which produces Detroit’s annual Hotter Than July celebration. He served on the Michigan HRC Steering Committee and was active in the Peninsula Group.
September 6, 1951 – July 7, 1995
A Sioux raised in South Dakota and formerly known as Mervyn Moore, White Eagle was a member of the Church of Today in Warren. In the mid-1980s, he was profiled for People magazine after drawing national attention for his tenor voice. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 43.
February 7, 1923 – February 20, 2012
Flint resident Alice G. Miller operated her own photography business and in 1982 retired from General Motors after 28 years with the company. She was among the many people who attended gay house parties hosted by Ruth Ellis in Detroit during the 1950s.
September 30, 1963 – January 1, 2014
Novi resident Lino Vincent Lopez grew up in Holland and was general manager of Mitchell’s Fish Market restaurant in Livonia. He was a supporter and volunteer, with life partner Todd Patrick Kananen, of Art Road.
April 17, 1927 – April 18, 1986
Raised as James Dunlap, Marion Dunlap Whitman worked as a sewing machine operator in the late 1950s and was one of numerous crossing-dressing African-American Detroiters entrapped on the streets by undercover vice. After serving 18 months in the State Prison of Southern Michigan, she moved to San Francisco.
February 1, 1982 – October 5, 2015
A 2001 graduate of Pontiac High School, Greg Daniels, also known as Melvin, was shot to death on Detroit’s East Side wearing women’s clothing. At the time of death, Daniels was a manager-in-training at Wendy’s and also engaged in sex work.
April 20, 1976 – April 8, 2013
Detroit native Edward Johnson studied dance at Oakland University, Marygrove College, and Wayne State University. His LGBTQ activism included work with the Horizons Project and Men of Color. Johnson also won a number of Detroit area female impersonation titles performing as Tokyo Reign.
January 9, 1949 – February 19, 1996
Known as the Godfather of House, legendary DJ Ken Collier spun music around Detroit for more than 30 years at such gay clubs as Bookie’s Club 870, Heaven, Todd’s, the Chessmate, and L’uomo. His skill with the turntable inspired a new generation of DJs and helped put Detroit’s dance scene on the global musical map.
MetroTimes, May 15-21, 1996
August 22, 1945 – November 17, 1993
Wyandotte resident Gay Whiteside formed a chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis in Detroit in 1971. She was also active with the Gay Radio Collective, was a longtime member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, and volunteered on the Affirmations telephone hotline.
Detroit Free Press, November 19, 1993
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 