Media
AADL Talks To: Jan BenDor and Catherine McClary, Women's Rights Activists
Women’s rights activists Jan BenDor and Catherine McClary have been working together for over 50 years. Among their many pioneering contributions to regional and national causes are the Women’s Crisis Center, domestic violence reform, and legislation to combat job, housing, and sexual discrimination. Jan, a member of the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame, is the founder of the Rape Crisis Center movement in Michigan and has pioneered programs for law enforcement training in the treatment of domestic violence and sexual assault. Catherine, retiring Washtenaw County Treasurer, was the youngest person elected to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners and has been recognized nationally for her work fighting home foreclosures and championing the rights of women and people of color. Jan and Catherine talk about their pioneering roles in the rape awareness movement, including their writing and distribution of the influential “Freedom From Rape” publication and their involvement in the passage of Michigan’s landmark 1974 Criminal Sexual Conduct Act, which would become a national model. They also talk about their work to establish the first publicly funded domestic violence shelter in the country and offer their perspective on the continuing challenges women face in the wake of the 2022 Dobbs decision.
Media
AADL Talks To: Liz Brater, 58th Mayor of Ann Arbor (1991-1993)
Elizabeth S. Brater is Ann Arbor's first female mayor, serving as a Democrat from 1991 to 1993. Prior to 1991, she was a member of Ann Arbor City Council. As both council member and mayor, Liz focused on housing and environmental issues, causes she continued at the state level when serving as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000, and in the Michigan Senate, where she represented the 18th district from 2003 to 2010. Brater talks with us about her time in office, its many challenges, and some of her initiatives and accomplishments, notably her campaign to start the Michigan Recovery Facility (MRF).
Media
LGBTQ+ Washtenaw Oral History Project - Maggie Hostetler
Maggie Hostetler was born in 1944 in Bay City, Michigan, where she grew up with four siblings. As a young adult, she worked for her parents’ newspaper, the Fremont Times-Indicator. She moved to Ann Arbor in the late 1960s to complete her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Michigan, and she went on to become a social worker and a technical writer. She recalls that being an activist for LGBTQ+ rights in the 1970s was primarily about coming out to friends and family and creating community. She was a founding member of A Woman's Bookstore and a contributor to The Leaping Lesbian magazine. She and her partner Lorri Sipes have been together for 43 years, and married for 10 years. They enjoy many shared activities including gardening, golfing, and hosting dinner parties.
Media
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.
Media
The Gayest Generation Ep. 14 - Laughing Womyn Ashonosheni
Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today. Their stories make noise where there is silence and that silence has lived for far too long.
In this episode, we speak with Laughing Womyn Ashonosheni. We discuss queer spirituality, how to mend broken relationships, and the act of naming oneself.
AADL is excited to announce that you can listen to this episode, or any episode of The Gayest Generation, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!
Media
The Gayest Generation Ep. 13 - Thomas McCauley
Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today.
In this episode, we speak with Thomas McCauley. We discuss his surviving conversion therapy, gay kismet, and the journey to self-love.
Media
The Gayest Generation - Episode 15: Roger LeLievre
Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today.
In this episode, we speak with Roger LeLievre. Roger has lived a thousand lives--Ann Arbor News reporter, longtime DJ at The Nectarine Ballroom, Lake Superior freight ship sailor. We get an inside look at the height of queer nightlife in Ann Arbor, the unique challenge of interviewing Yoko Ono, and almost killing Sylvester.
AADL is excited to announce that you can listen to this episode, or any episode of The Gayest Generation, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!
Media
AADL Talks To: Jerry DeGrieck, Former Human Rights Party Council Member
In this episode, AADL Talks To Jerry DeGrieck. Jerry was the first elected official to come out as gay in the U.S. alongside council member Nancy Wechsler in 1973. Both were members of the Human Rights Party, and in 1972 beat out local democrats and republicans for two seats on Ann Arbor’s City Council. Jerry recalls his time in Ann Arbor and discusses influential moments in his life politically and personally. Though Jerry moved to Seattle in 1974, he still remembers his time in Ann Arbor fondly, has visited several times over the years, and has maintained lifelong friendships that began here.
Media
The Gayest Generation Ep. 11 - Curtis Chin
Welcome to The Gayest Generation, where we hear LGBTQ older adults speak for themselves. Every episode, we sit down with a different member of the LGBTQ community who laid the foundation for the freedoms we have today.
In this episode, we speak with Curtis Chin. We discuss his childhood growing up in Detroit’s legendary Chung’s Restaurant, “The Gay Agenda”, and what it’s like to meet Vanna White (and the Obamas).
Curtis is the author of the forthcoming memoir Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant, which is currently available for pre-order. To learn more about Curtis Chin, visit www.curtisfromdetroit.com.
Media
JCC Conversations | Shanay Watson-Whittaker and Renee Chelian
Learn why the loss of abortion rights in Michigan is a real possibility and what’s being done about it. It happened in Texas and other states and it most likely will happen in Michigan.
Shanay Watson-Whittaker of Reproductive Freedom for All and Renee Chelian of the Northland Family Planning Centers illustrate why this freedom for women is so important. They share personal stories, why it’s in jeopardy and how it can be avoided.