The Accidental Activists Of Ann Arbor's Homoplex

By AJ Trager

ANN ARBOR – "First you have to ask, what is the Braun Court Community?" Keith Orr says.
Nearly thirty years ago, the area had an ethnic restaurant identity with Chinese, Middle Eastern, Mexican and Japanese cuisine filling the court with scents of curry and wasabi. Now, Braun Court, located directly across the street from Kerrytown and the Farmer's Market in Ann Arbor, is the center of what Orr describes as a "Gayborhood" and is home to the Jim Toy Community Center (JTCC), Trillium Real Estate, Shout, autBar and Common Language Bookstore.
This year, autBar was voted Best Neighborhood Bar in Washtenaw County, and Linda Lombardini was chosen as Realtor of the Year by the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors. Lombardini's award reads "Representing integrity, individual achievement and recognition from your peers in the real-estate industry."
The impact Orr, Lombardini and their partners in life and business, Martin Contreras and Sandi Smith, bring to Ann Arbor and the statewide LGBT community is extraordinary and seemingly tireless.
Contreras has been a part of the Braun Court development since the mid '80s when he and his mother owned a Mexican restaurant called La Casita de Lupe in the center of the area. In 1995, nine years after they got together, Orr and Contreras decided to turn the "wolf's cottage" into a gay bar, forever changing Ann Arbor's gay scene with autBar.
"We wanted to do something that was very bright with open windows, and (be) all welcoming. We always advertise that we are serving the men and women of the gay community, their families and friends," Contreras said.
When the bar opened, the Court was losing money and many of the buildings were empty. Today, the couple owns four of the buildings and have created a Gayborhood community where LGBT people can feel safe and have fun.
"It's a proud thing. We've had this profound effect on an entire area. That in itself is pretty profound. It's not just like, 'Oh, we make people happy by giving them good food and drinks,'" Orr said.
Together they are pioneers within the LGBT community of eastern Michigan, even getting a visit by Westboro Baptist Church Leader Fred Phelps (an event that fundraised $7,500 for the Jim Toy Community Center). They've had the attention of politicians – some local and some national – who have come out to support the community and served on other Ann Arbor Community boards such as the HIV Service Center Board, Performance Network Board and The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Council and have helped plan events such as OutFest, The Wine Cellar and have fundraised for the Great Lakes Board of Colleagues and Spectrum, to name a few.
Contreras explains his experience as "exhausting" but notes his work, activism and volunteer opportunities are all a high priority. They work daily in autBar planning menus and managing the staff, rarely with a day off. But Orr and Contreras enjoy their work and are not making any plans to slow down.
In 2003, the couple bought Common Language, one of the last eight remaining LGBT bookstores in the country, Orr says, and moved it to Braun Court in '05. In recent years, they've changed their hands-on approach, supplying books during the Fall and Winter semesters for University of Michigan students and adding events like authors' forums.

Recession Not A Barrier

In the midst of the recession, Linda Lombardini and Sandi Smith bought a building at the edge of Braun Court directly across from the JTCC and converted it into an office space for their business: Trillium Real Estate.
"We took our own advice and bought the building because deals were not making it to the selling table," Lombardini said. The place had no dividing walls, and after working for six months to get the space ready to house a business, the couple re-opened and branched out to work on property management. "I felt like being a lesbian owned business, it felt like this is the right place to be by giving back to the community by being directly in the middle of it," Smith said.
Smith and Lombardini have been leaders in the LGBT community for over 20 years. Smith was president of the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP), the group that became the JTCC in 2010; they have also been hosts to numerous fundraisers and get-togethers and hosts for many LGBT positive "politicals" that have come to Braun Court. They've worked on building a community with the JTCC as the center piece, serving on the board of directors. Smith served on the City Council, the Washtenaw Housing Alliance and the Downtown Development Authority.
They were a part of the JTCC when, in 2006, the center was asked to assist in updating the Ann Arbor Non-Discrimination Ordinance to include updated language for one of the first non-discrimination ordinance to pass in the state.
"We've fallen back and allowed others to take charge in the language and all that. The center has been involved with the Human Rights Commission to make sure that the word choices were done right. The city turned to us for help," Smith said.
And just this year, the couple organized an Equality Cabaret event that, in one day, raised $17,000 that went directly towards the DeBoer-Rowse family and the Michigan Marriage Challenge.
For 19 years, Lombardini and Smith have been together, seeing big changes and growth within the LGBT community. They fought the Michigan Marriage Amendment in 2004 and were a part of the March on Washington in 1993.
"It's been, for me, a personal evolution. As much as I would've said I was an out lesbian in '93, I didn't know what out was until I found myself on the front page of the paper with my partner, fighting Proposal 2 in 2004," Smith said.
Coming out is a long drawn out process, according to Smith, who says it was difficult when she came out in the '90s. She has friends who have been together for 40 years and tell her stories about how bad it was in the '50s and how terrible the police were.
"I think it's a lot different for younger people, for the work that has been done. I hear people talking about it when they were 12. If I had known at 12 what I now know at 50, you know, life would've been a lot simpler. The visibility is so much broader and the isolation is minimal," Smith said. "And I think the internet has a lot to do with it – and television."

Marriage Battle

Orr agrees that much has changed in the past 20 years since the development of Braun Court. He and Contreras were married this past March in the wake of the DeBoer v Snyder ruling and have marriage equality on the forefront of their minds.
"Some things have so dramatically changed, and then you can be so surprised with how things haven't. With marriage equality, we look around and see how many states are recognizing marriage equality, but you look at Michigan and go, 'but we aren't one of them.' There is real suffering for folks that are parents and cannot both be legally parents. So many things about marriage are important, and we have a hostile government," Orr explains. "You have to celebrate the victories, no question. But there are some ways that we are still living the same life as quite some time ago."
Inter-community fighting is a challenge Orr would like to see eradicated. He says the community is big enough that all should be respecting of one another's differences.
"Isn't this our problem, that we cannot get society to respect our differences? So let's find ways to respect the differences within our community. When we do get past those differences, amazing things happen," Orr said.
"And the visibility of the trans community – people are striving for more inclusion," Contreras agreed.
These power couples are not going to stop here. They plan on continuing their work within the community for years to come and want to see LGBT leaders within the LGBT community and in high positions within the state and federal governments.
"I think that the more opportunities that we have to have people in elected and appointed positions throughout the state, the better off that we are as LGBT persons, in a position of leadership," Smith said. "Now, we have no representation in Lansing. We have some opportunities to fill some seats this time. We have got to step up and take these opportunities to be in elected office, if we want change beyond just Elliott-Larsen."
"One of the things we think about, but don't spend enough time thinking about, is how do we look ahead to the future in how we, and other generations, are going to be involved," Orr said. "One is often thrust into positions that one doesn't count on being thrust into. And I think that is probably true in wide ranges of leadership roles. Accidental Activists. You find yourself in that position before you find yourself becoming a leader. What are the qualities? Persistence, commitment, visibility – tremendous commitment."

Join Braun Court on the "Day of Decision," date to be determined, at 5:30 p.m. for a rally or a celebration, when the 6th Circuit Court determines marriage cases from Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky. Stay connected with BTL online and on the Facebook Page to be one of the first people to know the Court's outcome.