“Gay om Gaylord” explor growg up LGBTQ northern Michigan | WKAR Public Media

Contents:

• STONEWALL AT 50: EXAMG MICHIGAN'S GAY HISTORY
• “GAY OM GAYLORD” EXPLOR GROWG UP LGBTQ NORTHERN MICHIGAN
• IS THERE GAY IN IT?

STONEWALL AT 50: EXAMG MICHIGAN'S GAY HISTORY

The police raid on the Stonewall Inn New York Cy fifty years ago this week, and the ensug vlence, is often creded wh sparkg the morn gay rights movement. To mark the 50th anniversary, WKAR is explorg gay life Michigan those ’s Stt Pohl talks about that wh Tim Retzloff of MSU’s Center for Genr Global Context. He’s a historian who has done extensive rearch on gay and lbian Retzloff’s rearch on Michigan’s gay history has produced an encyclopedic knowledge of gay and lbian life the state.

“GAY OM GAYLORD” EXPLOR GROWG UP LGBTQ NORTHERN MICHIGAN

”Michigan liquor ntrol regulatns ma unlawful to operate a bar where homosexuals gathered until 1979, ten years after Stonewall. “Up until 1969 and 70 and this perd right after Stonewall, when thgs started to change, people livg what we would now ll LGBTQ life, " explas Retzloff, "back then, they jt would have said gay life, so we’ll ll gay life, lived largely closeted existenc.

As the news slowly arrived Michigan, Retzloff says Detro’s gay muny began to tch up by late October 1969.

IS THERE GAY IN IT?

Someone New York saw the personal ad and ntacted him and me to vis and said ‘really, what you need to do is start a gay lib group. ’ Startg January 1970, the Gay Liberatn Front Detro had s first meetg. Tomorrow, WKAR News will have the story of a gay man who was livg Lansg at the time of the Stonewall uprisg.

In the past , the number of televisn shows and movi feature gay, lbian, and transgenr characters has explod. But for kids growg up smaller, more nservative towns, cidg to be hont about their sexual orientatns n be a tough Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network says youth ral and small town schools often face more bullyg and have fewer rourc available than their urban and suburban ’s the subject of a new documentary om stunts the MSU College of Communitn Arts and Scienc. “Gay om Gaylord” looks at what ’s like to grow up gay small town Michigan through the story of Chris Ryan, now a junr at Michigan State.