By Dave Coulter
The Stonewall uprising nearly half a century ago, widely considered the start of the modern gay rights movement, was the impetus for the first Pride parade. We've been marching ever since.
We've marched for acceptance, we've marched for justice and we've marched for attention to a deadly disease. And we continue to march today, because marriage equality is an uneven promise, and states still discriminate in the name of religious freedom.
Although the causes change over time, the marches continue, bound by a common determination to walk proudly into a future that includes our full participation.
The author Anne Sweeney wrote: "Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you're proud to live." Indeed, in the end we march to define our own success, on our terms, by our rules.
As we prepare to celebrate the month of Pride, I'm reminded of some of the many people who have shaped our movement by truly living this creed.
I think about Dr. Henry Messer, discharged from the Air Force during World War II for being a gay man who refused to hide his love for his partner, Carl House. Undeterred, Messer committed himself to a lifetime of fighting for equality, and he lives on in the organization he helped lead (Triangle Foundation, now Equality Michigan) and the soldiers — like Jeff Montgomery and Sean Kosofsky — he helped train for battle.
I think about seven brave people, meeting in private homes at first, who founded a new organization called Wellness Network to confront an emerging disease then dubbed "gay-related immune deficiency," or G.R.I.D. And I remember the words of the feisty woman who became its Executive Director, Barb Murray: "In the late 80s, what we did, bluntly, was to help people die," although she and her team did far more than that.
I think about the woman who took over a simple switchboard (1-800-398-GAYS) and transformed it into an organization to meet the growing needs of our diverse community. Under Jan Stevenson, Affirmations created a bisexual women's rap group, coming out groups, men's rap, silver foxxes, young men's group, youth groups and 12-step groups designed for the unique needs of LGBT people.
More recently, I'm proud to know two brave women and nurses, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse. Their determination to protect their children's future by demanding marriage equality in Michigan has resulted in extending our march all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The passion of DeBoer and Rowse also motivated another ally in our ever-evolving battle, Lisa Brown, to bravely use her office as Oakland County Clerk to issue the first marriage licenses in our state's history, briefly allowing me the honor to marry same-sex couples in my city.
And I'm reminded that our march towards a better future is in good hands when I watch the passion and energy with which Julia Music has taken the baton of leadership as she organizes Ferndale Pride with humor, grace and a determination these predecessors in equality would greatly admire.
These people and many, many others have helped create the world we enjoy today because they defined success on their terms, writing the rules as they went and building a movement we can all be proud of.
Just as important, they continue to serve as examples still available for anyone willing to take up the challenge. Tomorrow's causes will demand it, in fact, as there will be no shortage of opportunities to march towards a future we deserve.
This June as we gather and march in Pride events across our state, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on the courage of those who saw a need and stepped in to help. Then, turn around and look towards the future for ways to offer your unique talents to a movement that still needs you — on your terms, by your rules.
