Collections By Michelle Brown

Michelle Regalado Deatrick lives with her family on an 80-acre farm in southeast Michigan, where she cares for a large organic garden, an orchard and a 20-acre native prairie surrounded by stands of native trees. For the past two farming seasons, her family has been unable to plant on most of their farm. Regalado-Deatrick is also is a poet, a community advocate, an elected official. and an activist for the environment, small farm rights, women and fair wages. She has served as Vice-Chair of the Washtenaw County Commission. In 2016, she ran successfully as a Democrat for the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. She was also elected to the Democratic National Committee and was subsequently elected as Midwest Representative to the DNC Women's Caucus At the Democratic National Committee’s meeting in San Francisco in August,  the party approved establishing the Environmental and Climate Council.  This DNC Council was the culmination of months of work, garnering support from 50+ DNC co-sponsors to ensure pas

Kamora Herrington is Founder and CEO of Kamora’s Cultural Corner in Hartford, Connecticut. She has offered cutting-edge community programs in Hartford for decades and is recognized for her groundbreaking work. Kamora's Cultural Corner is a community space where people learn how to use their unique and shared identities to make genuine connections with others; Their work is driven by cultural humility. Cultural humility is the “ability to maintain an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented (or open to the other) in relation to aspects of cultural identity that are most important to the person. The Cultural Corner serves, celebrates, and uplifts Hartford’s diverse families and individuals who are Black and Queer, as well as the larger community. The Cultural Corner is housed in the location of the former Kabbalah House community cultural center on Albany Avenue. Moving the Center into space with a history of welcoming marginalized communities into the larger Hartford community just made sense. Before fo

It’s time for the Lupus Detroit 7th Annual Walk for Warriors. Val Harris Carter is the organization's Board Secretary and Shannon Hester is a Lupus Warrior. Val has been involved with the organization since its beginning stepping out on faith with Founder/Executive Director Sharon Harris to start this organization to fill a gap left by the more traditional Lupus organizations. Val has lost two family members to this disease. She uses her background in communications and marketing to inform and an educate others about the disease and build support for Lupus Detroit. Shannon is one of those Warriors who has found home, community, and family at Lupus Detroit. She was diagnosed with Lupus in 2002. The disease attacked her kidneys and she has battled it for the past 17 years. Lupus Detroit is a community based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating lupus as a major health problem through education, advocacy, and service. The organization has assembled a hard-working and dedicated group of empat

Derrick Clifton is a Chicago-based freelance journalist and writer whose work focuses on the intersections of identity, culture and social issues. Clifton’s reporting and opinion writing have appeared at NBC News, Vox, The Root, Windy City Times, Out, Chicago Reader and various other news outlets. He holds two degrees from Northwestern University, including an MSJ from the Medill School of Journalism. He is an avid volunteer and has served on boards for scholarship organizations, education nonprofits and causes serving LGBTQ people. He also is a speaker and commentator on various cultural, wellness and social justice issues.  Clifton, who is queer and gender-fluid, is working on a memoir aimed at help readers understand the uniquely beautiful yet turbulent coming-of-age experiences for queer and gender-variant people of color. He believes "It takes all kinds to elevate awareness of intersectionality in media and mainstream culture, and it's been the blessing of his life to help advance a Black, queer and fe

Allison Van Kuiken is the Executive Director of Trans Can Work (TCW), a leading Workplace Education and Workforce Development organization advancing transgender inclusion in the workplace.  Born, raised, and educated in Michigan, Allison now spends their time between Washington DC and Southern California. Prior to joining Trans Can Work, Allison spent 20 years in leadership positions within the private sector, higher education, the political realm, state government, and LGBTQ Advocacy spaces, including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Equality California (EQCA)-work that has been defined by innovative programming, successful political, legislative, and marketing campaigns, and development of hundreds of leaders working in political, nonprofit, public, and private spaces.  Since joining Trans Can Work in 2018, Allison and their team’s collective vision have led to new and innovative approaches to workplace education, the expansion of the organization’s jobs program, which connects hundreds of inclusive w

Like so many adults, Angela Denise Davis took piano lessons for many years as a child and was involved in middle school chorus but discontinued her music instruction after high school. She had a profound loss of vision in 2003 and became legally blind, which caused her to rethink how she could engage music. Angela ultimately discovered the ukulele in 2015, and it changed her life. In January of 2019, she started teaching ukulele classes and formed The Ukulele Griot Collective.  The Collective focuses on awakening musical skills in adults in order to increase social engagement and foster joy in making music. Davis assists students in laying a foundation that will provide a framework for independent learning beyond group instruction. She believes that almost anyone can learn to play the ukulele and reap a wealth of benefits from music instruction. Her work as a minister focuses on how the fusion of art and spirituality can enlarge the ground beneath our feet and enrich the ways we move in personal and social

She has been a performance artist, poet, and writer. She has also been known as a playwright, a curator, a visual artist, a spoken word artist performer, and public speaker. She was also the Trans Oral Historian for the Tretter Collection at the  University of Minnesota interviewing and collecting the oral history of over 150 members of the transgender community.  In 2017 she’s added a new position to her impressive resume – Councilwoman representing Minneapolis’s 8th ward and Vice President of Minneapolis City Council. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th largest city in the United States. With its smaller neighbor St. Paul,  Minneapolis makes up the Twin Cities, the 16th largest metropolitan area in the country. In this historic election she became the first transgender woman of color elected to a major city council in the country. She serves with Phillippe Cunningham, a transgender man elected at the same time to represent to the city’s 4th Ward.   At its 110th annual convention, the

Jacquise Purifoy is an attorney, community and business developer, an HIV counselor and a Facilitator and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Build Institute. She was sworn into the State Bar of Michigan in 2010. Prior to private practice, she was hired by former U.S. House of Representative Hansen Clarke as his Chief Correspondent. Later as Clarke’s Community Grants Coordinator she worked directly with key federal and state business and civic leaders to identify small business and economic development initiatives in Southeastern Michigan. She joined the Build Institute in 2019, as the lead for Citywide Detroit Soup. The Build Institute helps people turn their business ideas into reality by providing them with the necessary tools, resources, and support network in Detroit. Detroit Soup is a micro granting dinner celebrating creative projects in Detroit. She was profiled in Dbusiness Magazine’s 2014 Top Lawyers Edition, featured in Legal News’ Motion Magazine and recognized in B.L.A.C. Magazine as a local Home

The name “Jim Toy” is synonymous with the queer movement in the state of Michigan.  The first publicly “out” man in Michigan, Jim was a founding member of the Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front.  In 1971 he established the first campus center in history devoted to the support of sexual minority group members.  The Human Sexuality Office (HSO) at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor was later renamed The Spectrum Center Jim served as its Co-Coordinator, and Gay Male advocate at the Spectrum Center, from 1971 until 1994. His status as a TBLG icon is based on over 40 years of tireless efforts to create safety and equality for people of all sexual and gender preferences through his speaking, teaching, writing, administrating, organizing and protesting. The Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project an Ann Arbor resource center that existed to provide information, education, social events, and advocacy by and for the Queer and Ally community in the Washtenaw County area was renamed the Jim Toy Community Center in 2010 to

Originally from Nashville, Reverend Keron R. Sadler now calls the Baltimore, Maryland area home. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Religion/Theology from the American Baptist Theological College. She is a graduate of Hood Theological Seminary with a master’s in divinity. For three years she studied at Pfeiffer University pursuing a second masters in Marriage & Family Therapy. During her internship at the Pfeiffer Institute, she provided intensive therapy to individuals, couples and families. She has worked in Corporate-America for over twenty years; and is recognized for her organizational, leadership, verbal and written communication skills. Presently, she serves as the national Manager of Health Programs for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Headquarters. She is responsible for maintaining and strengthening the NAACP’s commitment to HIV/AIDS as a high priority and high-profile issue. In her tenure there she managed the development and co-authored The Black Church

The 2019 Esteem Awards will take place on Sunday, July 7th.  It’s the 12th year individuals and organizations from Chicago and across the country will be recognized for their accomplishments. Philip Esteem is the founder and organizer of the annual awards ceremony. He started working in the community with Black Pride in Chicago back in 2005. Philip founded the Esteem Awards to give recognition to outstanding LGBTQ organizations and individual not only in Chicago but nationally each year. Besides the Esteem Awards, he also manages PrideIndex.com, an online entertainment guide to events, bars and parties for the African-American and LGBT communities.  This year’s 12th annual Esteem Awards ceremony will take place in collaboration with the Lighthouse Church of Chicago. The awards will take place at the Church. The Lighthouse Church of Chicago is an inclusive predominately African American LGBT church. Esteem Awards honorees will receive their awards at the Church's Fifth Annual Black Gay Pride Worship Service

Owen Keehnen  has had his fiction, essays, erotica, reviews, columns, and interviews appear in dozens of magazines and anthologies worldwide.His books include Dugan's Bistro and the Legend of the Bearded Lady, Tell Me About It with St Sukie de la Croix, The LGBTQ Book of Days and A Place for Us: LGBTQ Life at the Belmont Rocks. With the Windy City Times co-founder Tracy Baim, Owen co-authored, the Chicago LGBT historical biographies including Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, and Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to The White House. He’s a co-founder of the Legacy Project. The Legacy Project was inspired the first time the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was shown at the National March on Washington for LGBT Civil Rights in 1987. Chicago's Legacy Project celebrated the LGBTQ community by installing the first of its kind “Rainbow Pylon” streetscape, This Legacy Walk is a dynamic outdoor LGBTQ history exhibit. Every year on National Coming Out Day new plaques are added. Th

Rev. Dr. Selma Massey was reared on the west side of Detroit as a Christian Scientist. It taught her a great deal including a mindset to think of God first. When her mother discovered Massey was gay, she rebuked and rejected her. That rejection ripped her to her core. After graduating from High School, she attended the University of Detroit Mercy receiving her bachelor’s in sociology and master’s degrees in Student Personnel Work. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in two and a half years because she didn’t know it couldn’t be done. Massey went on to earn a doctorate degree in education from Western Michigan University. She then began to work in the mental health and corrections fields. While the work had its rewards, it eventually lost its appeal. In 1966 she left that profession to learn more about God.. While serving as assistant pastor of Full Truth Fellowship of Christ Church, she began to envision having her own ministry, Whosoever Ministry has had several homes - at the YWCA build

Walter Naegle was the partner of the American Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin and is executive director of the Bayard Rustin Fund,]which commemorates Rustin's life, values, and legacy. Naegle’s commitment to civil rights began long before he met Rustin.  During high school in the 1960s, he became interested in the African American struggle for civil rights and social justice, particularly with its commitment to nonviolence as the means to bring about democratic change. He met Bayard Rustin in April 1977.  They were on the same corner waiting for the light to change. After a few months, the two became steady partners. He moved in with Rustin who resided in the Mutual Redevelopment Houses (Penn South). Because same sex marriage was illegal at the time, Rustin legally adopted Naegle in 1982. The two were together for 10 years until Rustin's death in 1987. On November 20, 2013, Naegle accepted the Medal of Freedom from President Obama in honor of Rustin's work of 1963 March on Washington He and Sally Ride's

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. Taissa Morimoto is a member of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community. She has experienced instances of microaggressions, harassment and being bullied as an East Asian woman and a queer woman. She received her bachelor’s degrees and J.D. from the University of Florida, where she represented survivors of intimate partner violence and led workshops on civil rights restoration. She moved to Washington, DC to work in public policy. During her first year in DC, she worked simultaneously at the Task Force and at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) as a policy research fellow. Taissa currently works on criminal and economic justice, democracy, and census advocacy as policy counsel at the National LGBTQ Task Force( NGLTF). She has explored the dangers of the for-profit prison industry and the impact of a recent Supreme Court decision which may help reverse this trend. She has also done work related to reprod

The Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek is originally from Chicago but Michigan has been home for many years. She and her wife have been married for 47 years with three married sons and seven grandchildren. In 2007 she made national news when she was fired from Spring Arbor University when she came out as a transgender professor. While at Spring Arbor University Julie led the university into online education, developed three graduate programs, and was recognized internationally as an expert in adult education. She left the University after a mediated settlement of her EEOC complaint. In 2008 Julie was appointed co-executive director for the LGBT civil rights organization Michigan Equality. She was the first transgender person to serve as executive director for a statewide civil rights organization She has spoken at numerous colleges and universities as well as dozens of churches. Julie has served on three national boards working for LGBTQ equality including National PFLAG board of directors  Julie is currently serving

Todd Ross currently lives in Toronto. He served in the Canadian Navy from 1987 till 1990 when he was released for being gay. As a young sailor, he was investigated by the military police. The investigation lasted 18-months and when he finally admitted that he was gay, he was released with an honorable discharge. In 2016, he joined two other former soldiers to launch a lawsuit against the Canadian government and on November 28, 2017, the government of Canada settled the class action lawsuit. The settlement was on the same day Prime Minister Trudeau made the historic apology to LGBTQ2 people in Canada. As part of the settlement, a $25 million reconciliation and memorialization fund was established. Todd serves as the Vice-Chair of this fund. He is Métis and is the President of the Toronto and York Region Métis Council (The Métis are a distinct Indigenous people in Canada). We’ve all heard the old adage that “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” For many in the LGBTQ community in the U

Kevin Terrell Heard is President of the Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce.  In 2013, Heard founded the Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce.  As President, he secured a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundations of Southeast Michigan, Hope Fund and an additional $2,500 from the Wells Fargo Rainbow Supplier Program. That increased membership and engagement with over 50 companies. Currently, the chamber has grown to have nine corporate partners and over 70 members. In May 2017, Kevin was honored as one of Crain’s Detroit Twenty in their 20’s for his work with the Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce and lead of Pride Forward USA Today Network LGBTQ Employee Resource Group. The Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber of Commerce is hosting Ford Globe's 25th Anniversary Dinner on Thursday, June 6th, 2019 at the Dearborn Inn. Ford GLOBE is an Employee Resource Group within Ford Motor Company for it's LGBTQ and ally employees. The night will feature keynote speaker Wade Davis. The VIP reception for th

Shortly after graduating from FAMU, Sharon Harris was diagnosed with Lupus. She not only lives with Lupus but thrives and provides support and encouragement for others living with this chronic autoimmune disease. Sharon says she didn’t wake up one morning after graduating from college and say she wanted to start a non-profit organization about this disease. She wanted to be Oprah! But apparently, God had a different plan.” Rosetta  “Rosie” Shaw is from Detroit. In 2005 she had to travel to San Diego, California for surgery related to complications from LUPUS. There wasn’t any organization to help this young mother and her young son. Back in Detroit a few years later she was introduced to Sharon Harris and Lupus Detroit and she found a village of survivors there to support her emotionally and spiritually. Lupus Detroit believes that no Lupus Warrior should have to decide between purchasing their medication and buying food or providing for their families. Everyone needs assistance from time to time. Lupus Det

Mary Anne Adams is Founder and Executive Director of ZAMI NOBLA the National Organization of Black Lesbians on Aging a service, advocacy and community-based research organization for Black lesbians 40 years old and older. She founded and developed the Audre Lorde Scholarship Fund, an international fund that awarded over $250,000 in scholarship monies and expenses to out LGBT scholars of color of all ages from 1997-2008. In 2015, the Scholarship fund redirected its focus to award funds only to Black lesbians and lesbians of color over 40 years of age attending accredited academic institutions in the United States. Adams received her B.A. in Sociology and Social Work from the University of Mississippi and a master’s in social work from Georgia State University. A twelve-year breast cancer survivor, Mary Anne served as an inaugural member of the LGBT National Advisory Council for Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. In 2018, she was awarded an achievement award by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association for prom