Who Are This Year's LGBTQ+ Progress Award

Who Are This Year’s LGBTQ+ Progress Award Winners?

BY PAUL MASTERSON

Established in 2015 by the Shepherd Express, the LGBTQ+ Progress Awards recognize individuals, businesses and organizations that have contributed to Milwaukee’s progress towards equality, human rights and quality of LGBTQ life through long-term community engagement, activism, philanthropy, arts and culture, health and education. In addition to veterans of the struggle, activists of more recent generations have been recognized as well. Each has contributed to the cause of LGBTQ progress towards achieving the rights and equality of their community.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE 2022 RECIPIENTS:

Photo courtesy of Gary Hollander. PIONEER OF LGBTQ PROGRESS: As founder and former director of Milwaukee’s capacity building organization, Diverse & Resilient, Gary Hollander advanced the cause of LGBTQ health, focusing on underserved and marginalized Black, brown and indigenous communities. In 2002, in a city with a long history of racism, and additionally, with further cultural obstacles created by attitudes towards LGBTQ people within communities of color, Hollander took on the task of addressing social justice and health disparities in that underserved demographic.

His success can be measured by the impact made by Diverse & Resilient. His strategy was all-encompassing. Diverse & Resilient collaborated with 20 networking agencies to create evidence-based HIV, tobacco, substance abuse, STI and partner violence prevention programs that reach thousands of youth and adults annually. It also devised marketing campaigns that contributed to significant reductions in new HIV cases and reduced anti-LGBTQ stigma in Milwaukee’s communities of color. In collaboration with Milwaukee’s PrideFest, Diverse & Resilient launched the Health & Wellness Area that assembled dozens of organizations, groups and agencies to promote healthy lifestyle choices.

PHILANTHROPY: The philanthropic power couple of Robert Starshak and Ross Draegert has, over several decades, supported major LGBTQ community, social service and political projects. Their efforts in underwriting major community efforts have helped create, support or develop such institutions as the LGBT Community Center and PrideFest. Since 1982, Starshak and Draegert have been involved with the Cream City Foundation with Starshak serving as its vice president.

The Birch Lodge Fund was established under the Cream City Foundation’s donor advised funding program. Over the years it has funded many (if not most) of the LGBTQ’s community’s high-profile organizations. In 2003, when PrideFest faced near bankruptcy, that fund provided the parachute that saved and revived that event. Thanks to their generosity and insightful awareness of the needs of the community, today PrideFest remains one of the nation’s most respected LGBTQ celebrations. Most recently the couple has helped launch a new LGBT milWALKee app offering historical walking tours through the city’s LGBTQ history, a history they themselves have helped make. Whether as philanthropists or board members of community organizations, Starshak and Draegert have made an indelible and immeasurable mark on Milwaukee’s LGBTQ progress.

Photo courtesy of Robert Starshak and Ross Draegert.

Photo courtesy of Elle Halo. ACTIVISM: Trans advocate, consultant and activist Elle Halo has become a prominent leader in Milwaukee’s BIPOC struggle for social and racial justice. In 2020, just weeks after the killing of George Floyd, she was instrumental in helping organize the Pride March for Black Lives Matter. Already recognized for her activism in 2019 with a PrideFest award, her leadership has also been immortalized on a Milwaukee mural.

Especially within the BIPOC trans community, Halo’s commitment to social justice issues encompasses a broad spectrum of roles. These include the Black Trans Advocacy Commission as Empower HER Summit facilitator, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin as inclusion health program specialist consultant as well as field organizer for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Equal Rights Commission-MKE as inclusive restroom working group member / WI Out For Biden Committee, and the Movement for Black Lives as a member of the Black National Convention 2020 WI All Black Womxn’s Delegation. She has also served as a member of the Statewide Planning Group for HIV/AIDS of Wisconsin, ACLU of Wisconsin, as well as member, facilitator or consultant with numerous other health and advocacy groups. She currently serves on the Diverse & Resilient board of directors.

ARTS & CULTURE: Coming out in 1978 Michael Johnston immediately became engaged in the LGBTQ community. Over the ensuing decades Johnston has worn many hats (and wigs) as a press columnist, fundraiser, philanthropist, volunteer, chorus member, bartender, mentor and, of course, as drag icon Karen Valentine. Because his impact on Milwaukee’s LGBTQ and broader cultural progress has been made by the cumulative effect of all his many roles, saying Johnston is best known for a particular accomplishment would be an impossible task.

His career in the arts began as an entertainment writer in 1999 and continued to this day. His journalistic style is a tad gossip with a touch of critical wit and, with a flourish, always focused on Cream City’s cultural and theatrical assets. Named after his drag persona Karen Valentine, he also directs the Cream City Foundation’s Karen Valentine Fund dedicated to the promotion of the arts, LGBTQ and otherwise. As drag diva Karen Valentine, he often appears as an M.C. or host of a spectrum of events from fundraisers for all manner of causes to the Pride Parade. Of course, his many cabarets and shows have long part of Milwaukee’s drag landscape, earning his recognition in the recently published coffee table book entitled Legends of Drag.

EDUCATION: Greta Voit is a Waukesha School District physics teacher. In 2011, as vice president of her school district union, she found herself embroiled in then Gov. Scott Walker’s union bashing campaign, fighting against a bill that would deprive teachers of collective bargaining rights, reduce benefits and break their union. A decade later, she was again in a fight for social justice, this time against her school district that had implemented a ban on classroom signage deemed divisive, controversial and political. That signage included LGBTQ rainbows, inclusive symbols and Safe Zone/Safe Space signs declaring “This space RESPECTS all aspects of people including race, ethnicity, gender expression, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, age, religion and ability.”

With the Alliance for Education in Waukesha, a parent and teacher advocacy group, she promoted an “Equity and LGBTQ+ Rights Under Attack in Waukesha Schools” petition that would garner over 4500 signatures. A recent recipient of the Wisconsin GSAFE (Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools) Educator of the Year Award, Voit has long been involved with LGBTQ+ equity as a Gay Straight Alliance organizer and has worked with the Waukesha Community Equity Team. In a recent interview, Voit stated her educational philosophy: “I recognize that creating a safe learning environment is critical in allowing students to thrive as learners and individuals.”

Photo courtesy of Karen Valentine.

Photo courtesy of Greta Voit.

Photo courtesy of Holton Street Clinic. HEALTH: Since 1983 the nonprofit community health service, Holton Street Clinic, has conducted awareness and outreach programs and has provided evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV in Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community. Having expanded its services over the years, HSC now serves over 1200 individuals annually. Its programs include Outreach to the city’s LGBTQ bars and clubs where HSC offer free testing and resources for treatment to patrons.

Partnering with and providing medical staff to such organizations like Diverse & Resilient, HSC expands its service range, affording access to health care that might not otherwise be available. Its social media page updates information on prevention programs as well as health care awareness. HSC also provides free PrEP consultations and services to those who qualify. Other programs focus on health issues like cervical health, offering HPV information and free vaccine.

Photo by Michael Burmesch.

BUSINESS: Corporate political activism usually takes the form of financial donations made without much fanfare and often with a degree of secrecy. Milwaukee based Penzey’s Spices, however, is deeply engaged and identified with their overt progressive political expression. In fact, due to its unapologetically politicized product advertising, Penzey’s has become not only an outspoken voice for social justice but also an industry leader in innovative digital marketing. That includes supporting marriage equality and calling attention to gay teen suicide and the Trevor Project. A group of its employees founded Theatrical Tendencies, an LGBTQ dedicated theater that would perform at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center.

The strategy has not been without its pitfalls. Because of the universal reach of spices into every kitchen, Penzey’s politicking has been too sharp for some customers who felt personally addressed by such marketing campaigns like a recent MLK Day sale that decried Republicans as racists. Yet, for the many customers lost, far more have been gained. Indeed, Penzey’s impact on LGBTQ progress is not only in its positive depictions of the community but also in its broader leadership, proving that an embrace of inclusive values is good for business and for the community. CEO Bill Penzey once wrote “Cooks are amazing people. Their compassion and kindness and caring set a better future in motion for all of us.”

Logo courtesy of Lesbian Alliance Metro Milwaukee. EQUALITY: Since 1989, the Lesbian Alliance of Metro Milwaukee has represented the Milwaukee lesbian community, advocating for lesbian visibility, rights and awareness as well as providing social, health and education support to its members and the community at large. Prior to the creation of the LGBT Community Center as a Milwaukee’s umbrella organization, lesbian activists recognized the need for a socially and politically focused women’s organization and founded LAMM. Over its history, it has sponsored and co-sponsored numerous community-focused cultural activities like the Milwaukee LGBT Film/Video Festival, History of Women’s Music Concert, an annual Valentine’s Dance, an art show at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, games nights, and picnics. It has also staffed a PrideFest Beer Pod and participated in its Health & wellness Area. It has been a tenant at the LGBT Community Center since its opening and remains so today.

Current LAMM chairperson Brenda Hanus reflected on LAMM’s current relevance saying, “With the recent Supreme Court ruling on women’s rights, and potential for future rulings that might affect the LGBTQ+ community, I feel the need for LAMM today even more so than before. Beyond the social connections, LAMM can provide a means of advancing the political activism within and beyond the lesbian community.”

Paul Masterson is an LGBTQ activist and writer and has served on the boards of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA and other organizations.