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AADL Talks To: Steve Culver, Publisher of the LGBTQ+ focused Magazine Out Post
In this episode, AADL Talks To Steve Culver. Steve first visited Ann Arbor in his early 20s, and soon began his publishing career in Ann Arbor at the Ann Arbor News. In 1990, he released the first issue of his LGBTQ-focused publication Ten Percent, which later became the Michigan Tribune and finally Out Post. Steve reflects on 34 ½ years of covering Ann Arbor & Southeast Michigan’s queer community, how his publication has changed over the years, and broader changes in Ann Arbor’s social scene.
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LGBTQ+ Washtenaw Oral History Project - Lynden Kelly
Lynden Kelly, who goes by Kelly (she/her), was born in 1954 in suburban Detroit. In 1972, she moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan. She became involved in countercultural organizations and collectives such as the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and the People’s Wherehouse, a wholesale warehouse for the Michigan Federation of Food Co-ops. She recalls visiting LGBTQ+ spaces in Ann Arbor and beyond, including the U-M Gay Advocates’ Office (now called the Spectrum Center), Canterbury House, the Rubaiyat, and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. From 1990 to 2003, she and business partner Kate Burkhardt ran Common Language Bookstore, which catered to feminist and LGBTQ+ readers, on Fourth Avenue. Kelly also discusses gender roles, coming out to her parents, marriage equality, and co-founding Ann Arbor Queer Aquatics (A2QUA), a queer swimming group.
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AADL Talks To Jim Toy and Jackie Simpson
November 18, 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the University of Michigan’s Spectrum Center, making it the oldest LGBT student organization in the country. AADL spoke with Jackie Simpson, the director of the Spectrum Center, and Jim Toy, one of the two people who founded the organization in 1971. Jackie and Jim talked about the beginning of the organization, its history and ongoing development, and the challenges and joys of the center today.
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AADL Productions Podcast: Bring It Back, Take It Forward Conference
Bring It Back, Take It Forward (BIBTIF), a 3-day conference celebrating 50 years of activism in southeast Michigan, will take place March 12-14, 2010. In this podcast, we talk with two of the conference organizers, Elizabeth Gonzalez and Jim Toy. Gonzalez, a graduate student in the UM School of Social Work, and Toy, a veteran activist and founding member of the University's Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office in 1971, reflect on the achievements and challenges of activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as their hopes for the conference and the future of the progressive movement.