LGBT Detroit

LGBT Detroit History

For over two decades, LGBT Detroit has been providing safe, brave spaces throughout southeast Michigan since 1994. Formerly operating as a publishing company, KICK Magazine, LGBT Detroit got its start in education and advocacy by being a vital source of information, awareness, and an organizing tool at a critical time with the crisis of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its impact on the gay and lesbian community. Kick Magazine gained national distribution, placing Detroit’s LGBT+ community on the international map and gave credence to the vision and the goals of the company.

In 1995, LGBT Detroit celebrated Hotter Than July as a symbol of hope during the AIDS epidemic of the 1990s, which has now become known as the worlds’ longest running, second oldest Black Pride. Hotter Than July attracts an audience of 10,000+, providing guests with an exciting, entertaining, and educational experience as well as free health screening/testing.

With a long history of providing safe, brave spaces,  LGBT Detroit continues to work towards making Detroit a safer place for all to live and play together. Our growth has expanded to offering 15 programs, which entails events and activities that serve thousands of LGBT+ community members, allies, and friends across the country and around the world.

LGBT Detroit Mission

LGBT Detroit, founded in 1994, commits to furthering its mission, increasing the prominence and visibility of Detroit’s LGBT culture, and building a strong, healthy, and vibrant community, with a focus on economic and racial justice, health care disparities, global sexual freedoms and expressions, and anti-discrimination policies. LGBT Detroit activates, amplifies and sustains LGBT+ culture, education, advocacy, and human rights.

LGBT Detroit | 30

LGBT Detroit, North America’s leading Black LGBTQ+ organization, will spend the next year as a run-up to its 30th-anniversary celebration of delivering quality resources and needed services to the full spectrum of the Metro Detroit area’s sexual and gender diverse communities. From this spring through the fall of 2024, the agency will be honoring its past while focusing on what lies in store through public events and campaigns leading up to its birthday in October of 2024.