April 5, 1934 – September 25, 2012
Mancelona resident Therese Marie Bluhm attended Detroit parochial schools, received her Bachelor’s at Marygrove College, and earned her Masters at the University of Detroit. After teaching public school she moved to Massachusetts in the early 1960s and had a 33-year career with the Silver Burdett Ginn textbook company. Bluhm was preceded in death by her beloved partner Elizabeth Houston.
February 15, 1934 – January 27, 2020
Former Rochester Hills resident Nancy Ann Unwin earned her M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Detroit and served as a school psychologist for 25 years in Detroit, Clawson, and Lapeer. Through Affirmations in 2001, she formed OUTSkirts, a discussion group for older lesbians. Unwin also co-founded Women OUT & About to provide a social outlet with dances, picnics, and other activities.
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 15, 1914 – December 23, 1985
A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Leon Alfred DeMeunier grew up in Detroit and earned a degree in business administration from the University of Detroit, after which he operated his own tax and accounting service. He chaired the Detroit Congress of Racial Equality in the early 1960s and was active in the early gay organization ONE in Detroit.
No known obituary
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.
September 16, 1958 – July 17, 2015
A graduate of Roeper High School in Birmingham, Sharon Gittleman earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and J.D. from the University of Detroit. She later left the field of law to pursue a career in journalism, serving as editor of the Royal Oak Mirror and a freelance writer for Between The Lines.
September 16, 1942 – June 18, 1993
Raised in Tacoma, Washington, Barry Joseph “Biejay” Brewitt served in the Army Medical Corps, attended the University of Detroit and Wayne State University, and worked for Westin Hotels. He was a founder and longtime officer in the early Detroit leather group Tribe. He died from AIDS-related complications at age 50.
Tacoma News Tribune, July 1, 1993
Michigan LGBTQ Remember 