LGBT Detroit Leadership Academy Presents Seventh Graduating Class

DETROIT – It's the place where young leaders are born and bred. The LGBT Detroit Leadership Academy presented its seventh class of graduates at a ceremony Saturday that took place in the LGBT Detroit offices in Midtown. To date, the Academy has produced 47 young activists who are already making their mark on the movement. In order to graduate, students must attend six Saturday morning sessions led by leaders in Detroit's LGBT community.
"The purpose of LGBT Detroit's Leadership Academy is to prepare the next generation of leaders in Michigan's LGBT movement," explained LaKeisha Burchett, secretary of LGBT Detroit's board of directors, who presented the graduates with their diplomas along with LGBT Detroit Executive Director Curtis Lipscomb.
"These students have learned the basics of public speaking, LGBT mobilization, inclusion and diversity, group processes and black LGBT history and herstory," Lipscomb said.
Four students comprised the graduating class of Spring 2015. They are Stoyan Francis, Anthony Hibbler, Ahya Taylor and DeVon Weatherspoon.
LGBT Detroit Program Director Rhiannon Chester, a previous graduate of the Leadership Academy, spoke to the class via a prerecorded video message. She told the crowd of about 20 how impressed she was with the current graduating class.
"Today we welcome these young leaders into the fold," Chester said. "Their efforts and talents were and are far reaching. They all have made a mark on this world in unique ways and we are grateful to be a part of nurturing their individual and collective genius."
Chester cautioned the graduating class that the life of a community leader is not an easy one.
"A leader is a special type of person that is courageous and brave, even when quiet," she said. "Leaders do the work. The work is not always between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The work is not sexy. And the work does not always mean being in the front. We need leaders on all levels and in all places. There is so much work to do."
Nathan Strickland, another former graduate of the Leadership Academy and current LGBT Detroit health and wellness coordinator, warned the graduates about the risk of burnout.
"There are a lot of actions, movements and initiatives that you can take part in," Strickland said. "But it can be very time consuming and exhaustive to take part in everything that happens in Detroit. So it's important that you exercise self-care. You all have your own personal and social concerns that you are willing to fight for and those will be (the fuel) that will keep you motivated to do this work."
Speaking after the class, the graduates talked about how much the program meant to them.
"I learned how to be more sympathetic, how to be more open," said Taylor, a 22-year-old who just graduated from Wayne State University with a bachelor's degree in music. "I've learned that there's more than one way to contribute to a movement and that's probably the biggest thing that I've taken away from this class."
As for being voted class valedictorian, Taylor said she was honored.
"It was very inspiring and very humbling to know that people are paying attention to me and my voice and want to know what I think," she said.
Taylor is an advocate for trans issues and she is "looking to create programs for trans women of color in order to foster healing and solidarity, and just growth of a largely marginalized community."
Francis, 26, recently earned a master's degree in social justice from Marygrove College. Her cause is sexual assault awareness.
"I learned the importance of telling and sharing our stories," Francis said of her time in the Leadership Academy. "We need to write our own stories. Being out and LGBT and black, we are easily lost in the fold."
Weatherspoon, 23, studied at Morehouse College in Atlanta before returning to Detroit, where he focuses on promoting financial literacy.
"I learned how to turn the ideas and thoughts that I already had into action," Weatherspoon said. "And I saw how much hurt and how much of a need there is for healing in our community."
Of the Leadership Academy's current graduates, Lipscomb said he couldn't be more proud.
"The Spring 2015 class is brilliant, intelligent and beautiful," he said. "They've already shown leadership, philosophy and thought, education and expression. This enthusiasm that I witnessed in orientation at our first class was thrilling and insightful. I can imagine the contributions manifesting from this day forward and I'm eager to see it."