Compiled by Sharon Gittleman
• Quilt display marks World AIDS Day
The AIDS quilt was made available for viewing at 10 public and private locations throughout Michigan in honor of World AIDS Day – Dec. 1. As of Aug. 2003, there were over 45,000 quilt panels, each stitched as a memorial for a person who died of AIDS. Viewing organizers said the idea for the quilt was sparked by a 1985 San Francisco wall display of placards with the names of the then 1,000 people felled by the deadly virus. Today, there are over 82,000 names memorialized on the quilt. If laid end-to-end, the quilt would cover over 51 miles.
Ceremonies for World AIDS Day, like this year's candlelight vigil and quilt display at Royal Oak's Shrine of the Little Flower Church, helped raise $3,250,000 for direct services for people with AIDS.
• Lesbian moms group formed
African-American moms had a new place to talk about parenting. A moms support group and networking system for baby-sitting, child care and family-based activities was created for black lesbian mothers. Birth moms weren't the only women welcomed in the group. Step-parents, foster care providers, adoptive mothers and their women partners, who live with a child under age 18, were made eligible for membership. At press time, the group did not yet have a name.
• Black churches targeted by marriage foes
Anti-gay activist Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association Michigan, organized a town hall meeting at the Detroit black church, Greater Emmanuel, to lobby against same sex marriage. The meeting was just one of many similar gatherings designed to stir up support for banning gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnership benefits.
At the meeting, Glenn claimed the ultimate goal of gays and lesbians was to legalize incest, polygamy, bestiality and pedophilia.
"What is going to come after homosexual marriage?" he asked. "What is going to be the radical cutting edge movement 20 years from now?"
Rev. Darren McCarroll, the gay pastor of Unity Fellowship Church of Detroit was a panelist at the meeting.
"As a black gay man, I can't separate the civil rights struggle from the gay rights struggle," said McCarroll. "This is the civil rights issue of our time."
• Second parent adoption gets group's okay
The National Association of Social Workers Michigan Chapter (NASW-MI), endorsed the mission of the Coalition for Adoption Rights Equality (CARE) – the advancement of second parent adoption. This was the first state wide social service advocacy organization to publicly endorse that cause.
"NASW-MI's support of second parent adoption shows the organization's long history of advocating for social justice and equality," said Bev Davidson of CARE.
CARE officials say they hope the endorsement will be just the start of similar actions taken by other child welfare organizations.
Milestones
• The Greater Lansing Gay Men's Chorus celebrated its 15th anniversary season this year. The group's Music Director Steve Huyser was named Commissioned Composer of 2003 by the Michigan Music Teacher's Association.
• Stephen D. Pollock, former executive director of the Lansing group, Michigan Network for Youth and Families, was given a Project YES Role Model and Mentor Award on Dec. 6, for his work helping LGBT Youth in Michigan.
• CARES of Southwestern Michigan, an HIV-
AIDS organization, appointed David O. Kirby as the group's interim Executive Director.
• BTL columnist Charles Alexander's art was featured in two exhibits. "Recredobar," was displayed at the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library, while Alexander's mixed media work, "Avatars" earned a third place award at the Scarab Club's Gold Medal Show.
• Christine Anderson, former treasurer for PFLAG Ann Arbor, admitted to using several thousand organization dollars for her own use causing the group to go into the red.
