about Us
More Information About Michigan Pride
Michigan Pride provides education, outreach, support, and events to enhance the lives of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender people and builds quality relationships with all Michigan residents. Thank you for your generous and continued support!
Michigan Pride is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Like many non-profit groups, we operate on the kindness of volunteers. Michigan Pride is governed by an elected Executive Board comprised of volunteers. They meet once a month; the meetings are open to new members throughout the year. If you would like to attend a meeting, please email the Board Secretary.
To learn more about Michigan Pride’s governance please email us at pride@michiganpride.org
FROM THE LANSING STATE JOURNAL Published 10:00 a.m. ET June 15, 2017 |
Michigan’s first major gay rights rally and pride march stepped off in Detroit on Sunday, June 15, in 1986.
The 1986 Michigan Lesbian Gay Pride Parade and Rally brought about 2,000 people together in Kennedy Square downtown.
Organized by the Michigan Organization for Human Rights, the group’s executive director Craig Covey led the marchers in spirited cheers.
The pride parade was moved to Lansing in 1989 in hopes of attracting statewide participation.
That year’s festivities commemorated the 20th anniversary of the 1969 gay rights uprising 20 years at the Stonewall Inn, a bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City.
Stonewall’s gay patrons had been the targets of police harassment. Their rebellion kicked off a three-day riot and is recognized as the beginning of the gay rights movement.
“Michigan Pride as an organization, was incorporated in 1994,” said Emily Horvath, former co-chair of Michigan Pride. “It’s an all volunteer committee. There’s no standing committee. There’s nobody that’s paid to do it.”
There was a time, Horvath says, back in the ’80s and ’90s, when no one was going to go to a pride march in their home town.
“They would come to Lansing, which had a very big pride for a long time…because it was centrally located geographically in the state,” Horvath said. “Most of these other cities didn’t really have pride festivals or marches to speak of.”
The rally on Sunday, June 25, 1989, was Lansing’s first major gay rights event. There were “hand-holding women and chanting men,” enough to fill the street for five blocks in front of the Capitol. About 2,500 people from around the state carried balloons, banners and signs in mid-80s heat.
Lansing Mayor Terry McKane and the Lansing city council were booed when it was noted they had not officially welcomed the group. East Lansing’s city council was cheered for issuing a proclamation recognizing the anniversary.
Over the years, pride celebrations have been organized in other larger Michigan cities, including Detroit, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids.
By Vickki Dozier