Donna Benke, Oral History Interview, 2022
Item
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Title
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Donna Benke, Oral History Interview, 2022
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Performer
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Donna Benke
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Interviewer
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Matt Jones
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Description
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On June 6th, 2022, Jones sat down with EMU alum and former Tri-Pride member, Donna Benke. Benke found her way to Eastern in the 1990s, looking to obtain degrees in social work. Noticing the absence of a student org dedicated to LGBTQ students in the Masters in Social Work program, she joined her fellow students in founding Tri-Pride. Later, after the group was denied service by the print shop in 1997 and the incident made its way to the city council, Benke became one of the first students to speak up at the Human Relations Commission Hearings. She continued to be an active presence in Tri-Pride throughout the ordinance campaigns and up until her graduation from EMU in 1998. In this interview, she recounts how her academic and personal backgrounds impacted the way she navigated the campaigns, how the Tri-Pride students supported each other, and the lessons she took with her afterwards.
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Exact Date
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06-06-2022
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Subject
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Eastern Michigan University Archives, EMU Oral History Program, Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti history, LGBTQ history, LGBTQ, nondiscrimination ordinance, community organizations, discrimination, Ann Arbor, local government, community activism, LGBTQ activism, LGBTQ allies, Tri-Pride, social work, Kathleen Russell, Citizens for Community, Depot Town, PFLAG, student orgs, coming out, MSW Program
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Collection Location
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013.OH_OOTM
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Run Time
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1 hour, 6 minutes, 15 seconds
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Language
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English
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Rights
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Copyright to the audio resource and its transcript is held by the content creator, author, artist or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any other format without written permission of the copyright owner, Eastern Michigan University Archives (lib_archives@emich.edu).
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