Jim Toy is an activist for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender issues, and is the namesake for the nonprofit Jim Toy Community Center in Ann Arbor.
The community center's website lists these highlights from his decades of advocacy:
- First publicly out queer in Michigan.
- Co-author of Ann Arbor’s non-discrimination policy in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.
- One of the founders of the Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front and the Detroit Gay Liberation Movement.
- Co-founder of the first office at any university in the world devoted to sexual orientation concerns, the Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office at the University of Michigan – now known as the Spectrum Center.
- Co-author of the first official “Lesbian-Gay Pride Week Proclamation” by a governing body in the U.S.: the Ann Arbor City Council.
- Founding member of the PFLAG/Ann Arbor, GLSEN/Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti Area, WRAP, Transgender Advocacy Project, Washtenaw Rainbow Neighbors, Washtenaw Faith Action Network, and the Out Loud Chorus.
In the News
A chat with activist, gay rights champion Jim Toy – All About Ann Arbor, Nov. 8, 2017
Michigan's first openly gay man reacts to Supreme Court decision on gay marriage – MLive, June 26, 2015
Michigan's First Publicly 'Out' Citizen Still Fighting for LGBTQ Rights – NBC News, Jun 12, 2015
http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=71200 PrideSource/Between the Lines, 4/27/15
New protections added to Ann Arbor's non-discrimination ordinance – MLive, Oct. 20, 2014
Column: Happy Birthday, Jim Toy, Ann Arbor Chronicle, April 29, 2013
Proclamation Honoring Jim Toy, City of Ann Arbor, April 2013; via the Ann Arbor Chronicle (pdf)
Link to a 5-minute Vimeo interview with Jim Toy, on the Spectrum Center's 40th anniversary.
In 2012, he received a Bezonki Award from The Ann Arbor Chronicle for his advocacy work. One of the next year's winners, Linda Diane Feldt, had been a student in a class Jim taught decades ago at Community High School.