Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,906 posts)
Tue Jul 19, 2016, 04:18 PM Jul 2016

Jeff Montgomery, gay-rights advocate, dies at 63

Jeff Montgomery, gay-rights advocate, dies at 63

Matt Helms, Detroit Free Press 3:45 p.m. EDT July 19, 2016
313-222-1450
mhelms@freepress.com
@matthelms

Jeffrey Montgomery, who turned his anger over inaction in the wake of his partner’s killing in an anti-gay hate crime into the Triangle Foundation, an influential group fighting for LGBT rights in Michigan and beyond, died Monday at Harper Hospital in Detroit. ... The Detroit resident was 63. A cause of death wasn’t immediately known, but friends said his health had been declining in recent years.

Montgomery’s legacy will be the “amazing impact that he had on our state,” said Stephanie White, executive director of Equality Michigan, a statewide LGBT-rights organization created in 2010 with the merger of the Triangle Foundation and Lansing-based Michigan Equality. “It’s a little bit hard to overstate the legacy. At a time when a lot of us were afraid to come out of the closet, he was very public and very unapologetic. He inspired a generation of activists. He was a little rock with a big ripple.”

After his lover, Michael, was shot to death outside a Detroit gay bar in the mid-1980s, Montgomery said he learned through a Wayne County prosecutor that Detroit police weren’t spending many resources on solving the murder, saying it was “just another gay killing,” and that other anti-gay crimes similarly went without investigation. Michael’s killing was never solved.

Montgomery in 1991 helped found Triangle, formed initially to assist victims of anti-gay crimes and work with police and prosecutors to change the culture of how anti-LGBT crimes were treated. Soon the foundation, for which Montgomery was the first executive director, was taking on other forms of discrimination against LGBT people, including in housing and employment, and branching into lobbying in Lansing and Washington on legislation affecting the gay community.
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Jeff Montgomery, gay-rights advocate, dies at 63 (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2016 OP
Rest in peace shenmue Jul 2016 #1
Latest Discussions»Alliance Forums»LGBT»Jeff Montgomery, gay-righ...