By Caroline Skaret, Alliant Credit Union

Today, a friend and colleague shared their favorite Harvey Milk quotes and their remembrances of this pivotal icon and his continued importance to today’s political climate. That spurred me to post.

How do I remember Harvey Milk? I remember how the first openly gay man to run for office was portrayed in the 2008 movie, Milk, by Sean Penn. The scenes portraying his life and the lives of other gay men in his lifetime (1930 to 1979) have stuck with me since then. As someone who came of age during the height of the AIDS crisis, this story made it, and the people who suffered most, very real.  

According to the Harvey Milk Foundation’s official biography, he ran for local office because he “believed that government should represent individuals… and should ensure equality for all citizens while providing needed services.” That resonates today as the community and other marginalized groups are being pushed out of their cities and states as legislation is passed that makes them and their needs illegal.

It’s not only important to recognize Harvey Milk’s achievements in the past but to recognize the throughline as LGBTQIA+ community continues to face today’s challenges and remain politically active as a protest. Two community members, and CU PRIDE supporters, are carrying on this important work, Linda Bodie in West Virginia and Ashley Brundage in Florida.

Today is a great day to remember Harvey Milk and others who paved the way for LGBTQIA+ rights. But I ask you to remember the work isn’t finished and to support those who are continuing to lead the way forward so government represents and ensures equity for all individuals.

By Andy Manthei, GreenPath

In June 2023, GreenPath secured a booth at one of the largest LGBTQ+ gatherings in Southeast Michigan, Ferndale Pride. The goals were as follows:

1. Show up authentically in support for the LGBTQ+ community.
2. Gather precise feedback from real people for innovation designs on serving the financial needs of the LGBTQ+ community, having authentic conversations with the community. What was the community seeing as specific barriers and struggles, or what goals were people working on?
3. Celebrate wins and/or acknowledge what the individuals were working towards!

When it comes to human centered design, post it notes and artifacts are the name of the game, and our innovation team created a unique rainbow board to gather feedback from those who were willing to share. It was a powerful moment to have genuine conversations, show support, let people know they are not alone, and tap into needs in a less structured setting as it was a fun day to celebrate with the community and their families and friends.

By no means is this intended to be the end all be all, but provide us key data at this point in time with so much uncertainty around state and federal legislations cutting at the financial lives of those in the community, and economic hurdles such as student loan repayment restarting.
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Drum roll please…….
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Top 3 Barriers

• Student Loans and Cost of College
• Affordable Housing
• Health Care

Top 3 Goals

• Successful/Dream Job
• Financial Stability
• Financial Literacy

​On the surface, someone may look at and say but aren’t these for anyone? The LGBTQ+ community has layers and nuance to consider impacting their financial health. 

​For example, in consideration of health care and health care costs, for a transgender person, the costs of doctors, medication and mental health costs all come into play. Additionally, some states do not offer equal protections for same sex couples when it comes to health care. There is continued discrimination that prohibits equal access for health services and restricting access for those services. There can also be significant costs and barriers for LGBTQ+ couples who decide to have a family, whether that be through adoption or other means. The point is we have to find ways to support and normalize the community needs for their financial journeys.
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