Ellen Shanna Knoppow
Historic Michigan Coalition of Pro-Equality Organizations Puts Collective Muscle Behind Campaign to Get Out the Queer Vote
As recently as a few weeks ago, those who support an anti-gay agenda in Michigan were out in full force. Voters in west Michigan’s Jamestown Township were so outraged by their library offering age-appropriate reading material to LGBTQ+ youth [...]
["Monkeypox in Michigan, Part 1","The Patient: 'People Treat Me Like I Have the Plague'"]
In an attempt to keep pace with the monkeypox virus spreading rapidly across the state, Pride Source is featuring a five-part series, Monkeypox in Michigan, by Ellen Shanna Knoppow.Since the first probable case of monkeypox appeared in Michigan June [...]
The National Suicide Lifeline Is Now 988. How Well Does It Serve the LGBTQ+ Community?
Until recently, individuals in crisis who wanted to seek help by phone or text had two main options: They could call 911, which might involve the police or result in a trip by ambulance to the emergency room. Or they could call the 10-digit National [...]
The Primary Election Is Here. What LGBTQ+ Voters Need To Know.
I was an uneducated voter.The first time I voted, I thought it would be easy: just vote for all the Democrats. I wasn’t expecting a test. For some offices, more than one Democratic candidate appeared on the ballot, for others, several. I seem [...]
How to Ban Conversion Therapy: It’s Not as Hard as You Might Think
The 2021 Netflix documentary about conversion therapy, “Pray Away,” was a turning point for Doug Booth, a political activist and openly gay man living in Grand Rapids. After watching the film, he said he had to pick himself up off the [...]
Is The Debate Around Abortion Rights Transphobic?
Although the draft was leaked, many have said when Roe v. Wade and 50 years of precedent were unceremoniously thrown out the window, they weren’t quite ready for it. And as Pride Source found, those within the LGBTQ+ community — who, in [...]
This Michigan State Rep. Candidate Could Be the First Transgender Woman of Color Elected to the State House
On April 22, Toni Mua tweeted, “Hi I’m Toni Mua & I believe I just broke history as the first trans person to run for state legislature in Michigan! I’m doing this to change the face of politics and to rebuild community trust. [...]
If Abortion Is Banned In Michigan, Is IVF Next?
As of today, abortion is legal in Michigan. But after the Supreme Court so cruelly overturned Roe v. Wade, that right hangs in the balance.Attorneys and lawmakers face mounting pressure to determine the extent of the fallout from the Court’s [...]
Southfield City Councilmember Could Become Michigan’s First Black, Openly LGBTQ+ State Legislator
According to State Sen. Jeremy Moss, Jason Hoskins is the most prepared person to run for the State House District 18 seat — probably more prepared than Moss was when first elected back in 2014.Jason Hoskins, candidate for Michigan’s 18th [...]
Mayoral Candidate Maurice Turner Already Making Positive Impact in Highland Park
In Feb. 2019, when Maurice Turner and his now husband, Blake Milnes, took a leap of faith and purchased their historic home in Highland Park — a “fixer upper” if ever there was one — it’s led Turner on an adventure he [...]
For Photographer Quinn Kirby, This Assignment Was Personal
When Ashlea Phenicie, communications director for Planned Parenthood of Michigan (PPMI), needed a professional photographer to join a new campaign focused on gender affirming care, she knew where to look. Phenicie had been following Quinn Kirby on [...]
UM's Spectrum Center 50 Years Later: Some LGBTQ+ Students Never Stepped Inside. It Still Changed Their Lives.
As a first-year student at the University of Michigan (UM) in the late '70s, Martin Contreras struggled with his attraction to men.“Didn't have a name for it,” Contreras told Pride Source. Contreras and his husband Keith Orr are former [...]