Happy Pride Month! Our Ann Arbor community is known across Michigan and the country as one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly places to live, thanks to dozens of long-standing community leaders, many of whom are still active in the fight to advance and protect the rights of our LGBTQ+ siblings. I’ve been working to support and protect LGBTQ+ rights for decades now, since I was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan. I served as a voluntary HIV test counselor and safer sex outreach worker for years at our community’s HIV and AIDS services organization, and I was overjoyed to officiate some of Michigan’s first same-sex marriages on March 22, 2014.
As someone who strives to be an ally, I’ve been taking action to defend and advance the rights of LGBTQ+ people long before I was running for office. Even today, in my role as a contractor for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, I work to ensure that state programs deliver and measure LGBTQ+ affirming services. If elected to be a Michigan lawmaker, I will build on my extensive work in this area to add further protections of LGBTQ+ rights in our state laws and services.
Due to my long-standing work to support the LGBTQ+ community, local LGBTQ+ leaders are hosting a Pride Month fundraiser for my campaign next week, the evening of Thursday, June 16, in Braun Ct., Ann Arbor’s beloved LGBTQ+ friendly gathering place. RSVP to secure your ticket today!
Remember: Pride started as a riot.