Michelle E. Brown
From Tahrir Square to Hart Plaza
Like the rest of the world, I was glued to the television watching the events in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. The 18-day protest against the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak ultimately led to Mubarak's resignation and put the people of [...]
Affirmations, Equality Michigan, Ruth Ellis: Will our 'big 3' be stronger?
We've all felt the effects of this economic downturn in our personal lives. Companies downsizing, jobs lost, friends moving to other states. Even Detroit is downsizing, neighborhoods disappearing, education struggling, businesses closing, and [...]
Viewpoint: Pope on Condoms: Half Right Church, Still Wrong Pew
Hello, I'm Michelle and I'm a recovering Catholic. I usually don't out myself as a Catholic unless it's for shock value or an excuse to get out of contentious religious discussions. But it's true; I am a Catholic – baptized as a baby, first [...]
Viewpoint: Voting's over now what?
By now we have all had time to recover from "Red Tuesday." Whether it's from a hangover from drowning your sorrows or celebrating your successes over the mid-term elections, everyone should have stopped hyperventilating, dried their tears and [...]
Viewpoint: Did NPR miss a teachable moment?
Anyone who knows me will tell you: I LOVE NPR! I am one of those folks they talk about. The one who is always citing some tidbit of information or trivia – which can be heard only on NPR – in my conversations, speeches and my writing. But these [...]
Viewpoint: View From the West Wing
Whether it was in a civics/history class or on "Schoolhouse Rock" when the concept of our government was first introduced to you, there's nothing like a visit to Washington, D.C., to get you really thinking about where we have been and where we can [...]
Viewpoint: Never on Sunday with Grappa
The abundance of misinformation bantered about by opponents of LGBT rights never ceases to amaze me. One would think in this day and age with Google, Bing and all the other search engines, folks would get their facts straight (maybe that's the [...]
Viewpoint: Passing the baton, continuing the struggle
With the passing of equal rights titans Benjamin Hooks, Dorothy Height and others across the country and locally, my thoughts once again have been on struggle of old vs. new, and new leadership vs. seasoned activists. You see this going on [...]
Viewpoint: Creating Change
When all the furor erupted over Sen. Harry Reid's remarks that then candidate Barack Obama could be successful in obtaining the presidency because "he is light skinned" and that he spoke with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." I was [...]
View from the mountaintop sees clearly into today
At last February! The holidays are over. I've lost those five pounds that found their way to my thighs. I've stopped writing 2010 on my checks and I've started the countdown to Valentine's Day. But the most important thing of all is that February [...]
Viewpoint: We really were invited to the White House. Really!
I'm sure on Sunday, Dec. 20 at some non-affirming church somewhere in Washington, D.C., some hellfire-and-brimstone minister blamed the 16 inches of snow blanketing the nation's capital on the invitation of some 50-plus members of the LGBT community [...]
Viewpoint: At the intersection of racism and homophobia
They say every picture tells a story and is worth a thousand words. What they don't say is how pictures can be staged to manipulate, deceive and divide by their back story. Most people would say they know this. Who hasn't seen the photos of alien [...]