Collections By Michelle Brown

Thirty years ago, a group of friends came together to network, have fellowship and enjoy life. They didn’t intend to break barriers but they did by doing community work through entertaining. They called themselves THE BILLIONAIRE BOYS’ CLUB (BBC) The BBC primarily wanted to make sure that everyone had a good time and meet new people. According to Robert Tate, “We never knew we were doing anything special. All we wanted to do was entertain the community. I now realize that we are activists in a different kind of way. Our way was to bring people together and network with community organizations.” In 1996 the BBC in collaboration with numerous LGBT organizations — including the Men of Color Motivation Group, Karibu House and Ladies of a Current Affair started HOTTER THAN JULY metro-Detroit’s annual celebration of Gay Pride for the African American LGBTQ community. HOTTER THAN JULY is one of the oldest Black Gay Pride celebrations in the Midwest and takes place the last weekend of each July every year. This ye