DETROIT –
"How hot is it?" "Hotter Than July!"
This is the rallying cry heard throughout the week-long Hotter Than July celebration put on by KICK and the Black Pride Society. For six days Detroit's LGBT movement celebrated and mobilized with a family picnic, a cruise on the Detroit River, an interfaith service, a day of education and activism, a candlelight vigil and more.
With record turnouts and a smooth-running event, Curtis Lipscomb, executive director of KICK said he was "overwhelmed with happiness" at the event. "I'm so proud of the way all the Committee Chairs did their part to make this happen. Rev. Darlene Franklin organized the candlelight vigil that brought out the most people in the 17 years of the event. Stacey Hale did a great job with the Film Festival, Jeremiah Jones with Kickin' it on the River, Walter Houston and the picnic and Robert Tate with the Sunday Brunch that grew by some 400 percent.
"And then my favorite part, while I'm proud of them all, is the Annual Gathering that Cornelius Wilson and his volunteers put together. We had Congressman Hansen Clark and Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh in attendance. We had spiritual leaders from around the country for different faith institutions. And we had six different workshops people could attend."
Lipscomb was also thrilled that Jonathan Del Arco of the hit show The Closer made an appearance. The actor spoke out about the importance of getting out to vote.
Another highlight of the week was being able to give out HTJ's first awards. Barb Murray, longtime executive director of AIDS Partnership Michigan was given the Milestone Award, and Ron Turner, one of the originators of CHAG, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award. The details of their moving acceptance speeches are covered in another BTL article in this edition.
"We had a long-time community activist come home after 20 years of doing AIDS work in New York, and it was so great to have him here. Ron Turner has done so much for our community and inspired so many people," said Lipscomb.
He said the picnic attracted tens of thousands of people, exceeding previous turnouts. To find out more about this annual week-long festival, go to http://www.hotterthanjuly.org.
