LGBT culture in Metro Detroit

Congressman John Conyers speaking on stage alongside Alicia Skillman (l) and Curtis Lipscomb (r) during Hotter Than July 2013 in Detroit's Palmer Park

The LGBT community in Metro Detroit is centered in Ferndale, Michigan, as of 2007.[1] As of 1997, many LGBT people live in Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, and Royal Oak.[2] Model D stated in 2007 that there are populations of gays and lesbians in some Detroit neighborhoods such as East English Village, Indian Village, Lafayette Park, and Woodbridge and that the concentration of gay bars in Detroit is "decentralized".[3]

History

Before World War II, Downtown Detroit served as the center of the LGBT community. It later shifted to New Center.[4] Around the 1970s the gay community in Detroit was centered in Palmer Park.[1] Due to crime occurring around Palmer Park in the 1980s, the LGBT community moved to Ferndale.[4] Wendy Case of Metro Times said "Ask three different people what happened to Palmer Park and you'll get three different answers. But all will eventually agree that crime is what dismantled Detroit's opportunity to have a gay renaissance akin to those of San Francisco and New York."[1] Craig Covey, who later became a member of the city council of Ferndale, said that most of the former gay residents of Palmer Park "tended to move up Woodward Avenue and they settled in Ferndale, Royal Oak and Birmingham depending on their economic abilities. The middle-class folks came to Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge, as I did."[1]

Ferndale received the LGBT community because housing prices were higher in Royal Oak and typically LGBT communities move into lower priced neighborhoods which are then revitalized. A law against discriminating against homosexuals was enacted by the City of Ferndale. Covey first ran for a city council in the City of Ferndale in 1995. He won a city council seat in Ferndale in 1999 and later became Mayor of Ferndale.[4] In 2003 the Farbman Group, a real estate company renovating loft apartments in the inner city, began targeting lesbians and gay men in an effort to get them to move into the complexes.[5]

Institutions

KICK is an organization that serves LGBT African-Americans.

The Gay Liberation Front had a chapter in Detroit.[6]

Recreation

Motor City Pride is held annually in Detroit.[1] Ferndale Pride is held in Ferndale.[4] Motor City Pride moved from Royal Oak to Ferndale in 2001,[1] and it was held in Ferndale until 2011, when it moved to Detroit. Ferndale Pride was started that year.[4] The "Hotter Than July!" annual LGBT festival, catering to black LGBT people, is held in the park Palmer Park in Detroit.[1]

In 1940s many gay men in Windsor, Ontario, went to Detroit as it had several gay bars, such as "Gay Paris". Some police officers in Windsor doing police work crossed the border and entered Detroit gay bars.[7]

Ruth Ellis, a black lesbian, held house parties at her residence, "The Spot". It became a socializing place for black lesbians and gay men, allowing them to avoid heterosexism and racism in their society. Ellis, who was featured in the documentary Living With Pride, was the oldest known black woman who identified as a lesbian until October 2001, when she died. She lived in Detroit until her death.[8]

Media

The newspaper Between The Lines and the website PrideSource, published by Pride Source Media Group, LLC (PSMG), are headquartered in Livonia. The company opened in 1995.[9] A collective named the Gay Liberator had formed itself from the Gay Community Center and the Detroit GLF; this collective published the Gay Liberator.[6]

Notable residents

Notable LGBT people who have resided in the Metro Detroit area include:

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Case, Wendy (May 30, 2007). "Affirming Ferndale". Metro Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  2. ↑ Gallagher, John (June 24, 1997). "Location, Location, Location: The Most Livable Places in America". The Advocate (736): 60. ISSN 0001-8996 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ Supergay (April 24, 2007). "Where the Gays Are". Model D Media. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Rupersburg, Nicole (October 13, 2011). "From Blue Collar To Rainbow Flags: How Ferndale Got Its Gay Groove". Metro D Media. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  5. ↑ Gates, Gary J. & Ost, Jason (2004). The Gay & Lesbian Atlas. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780877667216 – via Google Books.
  6. 1 2 Rivers, Daniel Winunwe (2013). Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States since World War II. Gender and American Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 117. ISBN 9781469607191 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ Brode, Patrick (2009). The Slasher Killings: A Canadian Sex-Crime Panic, 1945-1946. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780814334485 – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ Hornsby, Alton Jr., ed. (2008). A Companion to African American History. Wiley Blackwell Companions to American History. Malden, MA: Blackwell. p. 418. ISBN 9781405137355 – via Google Books.
  9. ↑ "About Us". PrideSource. Retrieved April 14, 2014. Mailing address Pride Source Media Group Between The Lines Newspaper 20222 Farmington Road Livonia, Michigan 48152
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