Michigan’s first openly gay man, proment Ann Arbor LGBTQ activist, di at 91

Contents:

• MICHIGAN’S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN, PROMENT ANN ARBOR LGBTQ ACTIVIST, DI AT 91
• LONGTIME LGBTQ+ ACTIVIST JIM TOY, FIRST PUBLICLY GAY MAN MICHIGAN, DI AT 91
• GAY DATG ANN ARBOR
• LGBTQ+ SUPPORT GROUPS ANN ARBOR, MI
• LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS MICHIGAN
•  MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS
• GAY ANN ARBOR
• GAYT PLAC IN MICHIGAN FOR 2020

MICHIGAN’S FIRST OPENLY GAY MAN, PROMENT ANN ARBOR LGBTQ ACTIVIST, DI AT 91

A2 is home to Kathy Kozachenko, the first openly gay person to be elected to any office the Uned Stat, and Jim Toy, a legendary figure Michigan’s LGBTQ history by openg the first mp center voted to supportg LGBTQ muny members.

LONGTIME LGBTQ+ ACTIVIST JIM TOY, FIRST PUBLICLY GAY MAN MICHIGAN, DI AT 91

This is fely a great place to be if you’re terted gettg volved wh Ann Arbor’s gay nightlife. What's gay life like Ann Arbor? Also I'm gay so I'm wonrg how straight people treat gay people.

GAY DATG ANN ARBOR

Obvly here LA no one really r and 's normal to see upl or gay people everywhere. Are there gay bars/clubs? In fact, was the first cy the untry to have an openly gay ndidate be elected to public office, back 1974.

LGBTQ+ SUPPORT GROUPS ANN ARBOR, MI

Unlike some larger ci that tend to have one specific “gayborhood, ” the LGBTQ muny Ann Arbor is sprkled throughout the cy, and tly, anywhere the cy would make a wonrful place to ll home.

While many gays and lbians live throughout Ann Arbor, there is an pecially high ncentratn of LGBT people Kerrytown.

LGBTQ+ AFFIRMG THERAPISTS MICHIGAN

Aut Bar is a much-loved gay bar & grill the cy known for s excellent Mexin food, strong drks, pool tabl, and foc on muny fundraisg.

Contact an Ann Arbor Gay Realtor Today.

 MICHIGAN LBIAN AND GAY BARS, RTRANTS, LODGG, PRI EVENT, BS MAPS

Contact an Ann Arbor gay realtor today for a ee, no-obligatn nsultatn! In my send semter at the Universy of Michigan, I ma a iend whom I, as a transfer who was sperately lookg for other Queer people Ann Arbor, latched onto as somethg of a gay mentor. She gave me two remendatns for where to fd gay culture: the -ops and Aut Bar — the latter beg the cy’s only gay bar.

After I regnized Aut Bar’s absence, I realized how disnnected and sparse Ann Arbor’s gay scene really was.

GAY ANN ARBOR

It was te that Ann Arbor felt like had a larger, lour gay populatn than East Lansg, where I had spent two years prevly as a stunt at Michigan State Universy, and certaly had more of one than where I grew up. I knew firsthand that Ann Arbor lived up to s reputatn for beg gay-iendly.

But what, really, did the cy of Ann Arbor have to show for s gay muny other than what I n only ll the “vib?

GAYT PLAC IN MICHIGAN FOR 2020

” For as gay as Ann Arbor touted self as beg, where was the cy’s physil evince for this claim? A iend asked me to e along to a discsn group at the Jim Toy Communy Center — an LGBTQ+ rource center named after the pneerg Ann Arbor gay-rights activist who found the Human Sexualy Office, now the Universy’s Spectm Center — that they found onle, supposedly two doors down om the empty Aut Bar space. The skeletons of Aut Bar, the Jim Toy Communy Center and Common Language — the LGBTQ+ bookstore between them — pated a picture of the ltle urtyard as a former center of gay muny Ann Arbor.

Wh my regret at havg jt missed the tail end of Aut Bar’s n revived, and a new cursy about not only Brn Court’s gay history but Ann Arbor’s, I rolved to do a ltle rearch of my own. Keh Orr and Mart Contreras, Aut Bar’s owners of 25 years, uld wre the book on the gay history of Ann Arbor. Dpe their amiable, open meanors and excement to talk wh me about Ann Arbor’s gay muny — somethg they were clearly so passnate about — I was nervo to meet them.

I asked them about their time as unrgraduat and, wh the precisn of seasoned storytellers wh steel-trap memori who have been asked to tell certa stori multiple tim over, both said that they knew they were gay at a young age but were havg trouble g out their early days at the Universy. Although not gay-owned, beme the cy’s facto gay bar the ’60s. “It was a dive, ” Orr said, but, “In many ways, was nsired kd of safe bee ps didn’t want to go the gay bar.