Three prominent Detroiters were appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the state’s first LGBTQ+ Commission, representing educators, religious institutions and first responders. 

Whitmer created the commission through an executive order issued in June, also celebrated as Pride Month, to advise her office and Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity on policy matters impacting LGBTQ+ residents. The commission includes twelve members who serve four-year terms expiring at the end of November 2027. Detroit commissioners include Brandon Shamoun, Bishop Bonnie Perry and Detroit Police Department Cpl. Danielle Woods.

Woods is a 24-year veteran of DPD and has spent a decade as the LGBTQ+ liaison officer. She previously established an advisory board made up of members of Detroit’s LGBTQ+ community to work with police, and provides sensitivity training to officers. She is representing first responders on the commission.

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“Trust is imperative,” Woods said Friday. “A lot of times in this advocacy work, people are there for a moment but don’t stay the course. Real commitment matters. Specifically for Detroit, we have become the blueprint for a lot of other cities.” 

Woods said repairing relationships between police and the LGBTQ+ community has been a long process. Trust in law enforcement has come a long way since the Stonewall riots of 1969, Woods said, which was sparked after a New York City police crackdown on gay bars ignited a liberation movement now recognized with Pride Month celebrations each June. 

“Nobody is claiming we need to have preferential treatment,” Woods said. “We’re training officers, because we’re public servants, about the culture and terminology and pronouns and history. It gives them a better understanding of the community that they have to serve.”

Representing educators is Shamoun, the assistant dean of students for student involvement, activities and organizations at Wayne State University and co-chair of the university’s Queer Employee Organization. Shamoun also serves as chair of Stonewall Sports Detroit, an LGBTQ+ recreation organization. 

Perry, a bishop with the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, is representing welcoming religious institutions on the commission. She is also the co-founder and co-chair for End Gun Violence in Michigan, a political advocacy organization. Perry is married to the Rev. Doctor M. Susan Harlow, a pastor at United Church of Christ.

Perry and Shamoun could not be reached for comment on Friday. 

The statewide commission is led by Raúl Hernández Guzmán, a talent development and diversity recruitment manager at Grand Rapids Public Schools. Members are meant to represent different facets of the LGBTQ+ community, including educators, medical professionals, tribal members and advocates. 

Michigan is home to an LGBTQ+ community of around 373,000 residents, roughly 4 percent of the state’s total population. There are between 119,000 and 143,000 LGBTQ+ residents living in the Detroit metro region, according to Data from the University of California, Los Angeles. The data shows LGBTQ+ Michiganders are more likely to be unemployed, uninsured and lack food access. 

Whitmer announced the new advisory body on the heels of a landmark expansion of Michigan’s civil rights law. Long-awaited amendments to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. 

The commission will help safeguard constitutional and legal guarantees against discrimination codified in the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, according to a press release.

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission played a key role in adding protections to the law, issuing an interpretive statement in 2018 that was affirmed by a legal ruling and set the stage for lawmakers to solidify protections. 

Luke Londo, a Hazel Park City Council member and first openly LGBTQ+ member of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, said Whitmer’s appointments demonstrate her strong commitment to equity. 

“Thanks to her leadership and the appointment of these pillars of our community, the LGBTQ+ Commission will go a long way toward improving LGBTQ+ representation in our government, our economy and our future,” Londo said in a statement. 

This week, the Human Rights Campaign announced Detroit achieved a perfect score on an evaluation of inclusivity laws and policies. It’s the eighth consecutive year Detroit earned full marks from the civil rights advocacy organization. 

Woods said she’s seen more LGBTQ+ people applying to become Detroit police officers in part thanks to increased visibility and support from government officials. 

“Michigan is really pushing forward,” she said. “The relationship was strained, if non-existent. Now you have all these representatives under the rainbow, on the job, creating change from within.”

The Human Rights Campaign raised the alarm earlier this year in response to what it described as a spike in “legislative assaults” against LGBTQ+ Americans. The June report details a rise of bills aimed at banning gender-affirming care and peeling back anti-discrimination policies, but Michigan was listed as a positive example of states signing protections into law. 

Other members of the commission include:

• Chatham resident Dr. Renee McLaughlin a national medical director at CIGNA Healthcare. She is the founding member of the Chattanooga LGBT Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign. She is appointed to represent medical professionals who regularly provide care to the LGBTQ+ community.
• Rosebush resident Lacey Mandoka, a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and leadership intern at Elijah Elk Cultural Center, will represent a tribal community.
• Saginaw resident Audra Wilson is a clinical workflow specialist at Great Lakes Bay Health Center. She is a board member for the Great Lakes Bay Pride and the Pride Festival committee, as well as a facilitator for a local support group for underserved, at-risk minorities. She is appointed to represent the transgender community.
• Kalamazoo resident Erin Knott is the executive director of Equality Michigan. She is appointed to represent LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations.
• Birmingham resident Anthony Williams, the chief executive officer at Corktown Health, non-profit LGBTQ-focused medical home, is appointed to represent LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations.
• Marquette resident Al Gray, a social worker at Suunta Integrative Health, also serves as program coordinator for Trace Holistic Inc and they are a volunteer co-facilitator with the Upper Peninsula’s Stand with Trans Teen support group. They are being appointed to represent rural communities.
• Ann Arbor resident Diane Kreger, a psychotherapist, works in private practice with the Arbor Wellness Center. She is appointed to represent the private sector.
• Grosse Pointe Park resident Angela Gabridge, executive director of MiGen – Michigan LGBTQ+ Elders Network, is appointed to represent parents, guardians, or caregivers of a child who is a member of the GBTQ+ community.
• Ypsilanti resident Kevin Nguyen is a master of policy and political social work student at the University of Michigan. Nguyen is also an intern with an Ann Arbor City Council member and community engagement and development assistant with the dispute resolution center of Washtenaw and Livingston counties. Nguyen is appointed to represent 18-25 year olds in the LGBTQ+ community.
• Grosse Pointe Woods resident Dr. Tonya Griffith is a clinical trauma therapist at Limitless Possibilities Counseling Services in Harper Woods and works as a special services program manager at the Development Center in Detroit. Griffith is appointed to represent social workers or mental health professionals who work regularly to provide care to the LGBTQ+ community.