By BTL Staff
Former Detroit resident, Miriam Frank, will return to the area to present her new book, "Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America." The book tells the story of queer American workers from the mid-1960s through 2013. Frank interviewed 100 LGBT labor activists who came out on the job and in their unions; several of these individuals hailed from Metro Detroit.
With this information, Frank studies the evolution of labor politics with queer activism, carefully detailing how queer caucuses in local unions were instrumental in implementing domestic partner benefits and union-based AIDS education, acts that have influenced the U.S. workforce as a whole. Also chronicled in the book are campaigns for marriage equality, organizing drives at queer workplaces and other LGBT civil rights issues.
Frank, who will hold a community conversation on the gay labor heritage of working-class Detroit in addition to presenting her book, lived in Detroit during the 1970s. She founded the Women's Studies program at Wayne County Community College and taught Humanities courses at Wayne State University. She's been living in New York City over the last several decades where she teaches Labor History in union education programs and Humanities courses at New York University.
Miriam Frank's presentation will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, Oct. 13 at Affirmations, 290 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale. For more information, call 248-398-7105 or visit http://www.goaffirmations.org. Copies of the book will be available to purchase (at a discount) and for signing.
