The Equality Michigan records contain materials documenting both of the organization's predecessors (Triangle Foundation and Michigan Equality), as well as the organization's recent political and advocacy activities. The record group also documents the anti-violence and victim's services provided by Equity Michigan and its predecessor organizations.
Topical files across the collection contain materials documenting hate crimes and violence perpetrated against the LGBTQ+ community in Michigan and across the United States. They also contain reports of police misconduct and violence.
Equality Michigan is a civil rights organization, providing advocacy, education, victim-support, and lobbying services for the LGBTQ+ community in Michigan. Its mission is to educate and advocate for change to Michigan laws that disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ community, including prioritizing transgender health and safety; advancing anti-violence initiatives; and supporting victims of anti-LGBTQ+ violence and hate crimes. The group began operating under the name Equality Michigan in 2010, after a merger of the Triangle Foundation and Michigan Equality.
The Triangle Foundation was an anti-violence organization founded in 1991 by Jeffrey Montgomery, Henry D. Messer, and John Monahan. In 1994, it succeeded the Michigan Organization for Human Rights (1977-1994) as the LGBTQ+ civil rights organization for the State of Michigan, expanding its mission to include policy and political advocacy.
Michigan Equality was founded in 1999 by Lisa Hansknecht, Beth Bashert, Stephanie McLean, and Tom Base. It was originally founded as a political organization and a voting rights activist group. The group continued working following successful electoral campaigns supporting LGBTQ+ rights in Ypsilanti, Kalamazoo, Traverse City, and Huntington Woods, among other Michigan cities.
In January 2010, both groups announced their official merger. In May 2010, they announced the name of the newly merged group, Equality Michigan. Equality Michigan is a founding member organization of Equality Federation, a national social justice, advocacy, and capacity building organization supporting state-based LGBTQIA+ organizations.
Additions processed in 2024 by MC Griffith and Gideon Goodrich. This finding aid contains original creator-supplied titles. Original folder titles have been maintained to preserve the original context of how the creator labeled their files; they may include outdated or harmful descriptive language, particularly regarding LGBTQIA+ communities in Michigan. Due to the sensitive nature of Equality Michigan's case files, names of individuals have not been included in the finding aid; individual names can still be found on the physical folders.
A note on archival description: Due to the evolving language surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community, Gideon chose to use the umbrella term LGBTQ+ (as used by the Homosaurus international vocabulary of LGBTQ+ terms). Other common terms - such as LGBT, queer, gay, 2SLGBTQ+, and GLBT - are contextually appropriate when describing communities. However, to best represent the work of Equality Michigan as an organization, Gideon chose to use a single acronym throughout the finding aid.
