Stop by the Detroit Historical Museum and experience the Black Queer Community and Interview Historians with two new exhibits.

Black, Queer, Proud: 30 Years of Hotter Than July
During the 1990s, the Black queer community in Detroit struggled with the severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the rampant discrimination they experienced in housing, employment, and everyday circumstances. The community lacked a space to gather together.

In 1995, activists met in a one-bedroom apartment at John R and Elizabeth Street, now the site of Comerica Park, to introduce a new celebration that brought Pride back to Detroit. Hotter Than July, now the second oldest and longest running Black Queer Pride event in the world, was founded to welcome, uplift, and advocate for the full spectrum of Detroit’s Black queer community. Learn about its significant history in this new photography exhibition.

Learn about the story of Christopher Street Detroit ’72, the first-ever LGBTQ+ pride celebration in Michigan held over 50 years ago, through a full-color, nonfiction comic book by freelance illustrator Isabel Clare Paul and historian Tim Retzloff.
"Come Out! In Detroit" was created using eyewitness primary sources, oral histories, and a cache of largely unseen photographs. This exhibition features enlarged prints of the comic book cover and pages. Explore this historic event through the colorful lens of the comic.