Equality Chelsea, a local non-profit and social action group focused on uplifting members of the LGBTQ community, celebrated its second Pride Month this year since the group’s formation.
Equality Chelsea was created in 2022 by many Chelsea area members, including Chelsea resident Mike Townley and city council member Kate Mehuron. Mehuron, who has taught at Eastern Michigan University for over three decades, moved to Chelsea in 2018 after her partner relocated to the town. The non-profit branch of Equality Chelsea was formed in 2024 to enable fundraising.
“When I moved here in 2018, I went to the Pride march, and it was very nice,” Mehuron said. “And then I decided I wanted to support Pride Month more in Chelsea. I’m also, at heart, a social activist, in the sense that I’m living in this small community, so I want to create something where I can call it a real home instead of just an address.”
Townley echoed the sentiment in his reasoning for wanting to create a group like Equality Chelsea in the community, emphasizing the importance of action, especially in smaller towns.
“A lot of people think it just happens,” he said. “It’s actually a little more complicated, and you have to have the right people in the right place, and people that have been around and know, or if they don’t know how to do it, are willing to learn how to do it.”
Chelsea’s Pride this year had a record turnout, and the event included a march through Pierce Park and a community picnic, along with several speakers, including Chelsea Human Rights Commission Chair Mary Keaton, Joanna Whaley, a local civil rights activist and Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell. Dingell emphasized the importance of acceptance and unity in local communities, a focus of Equality Chelsea.
Various community groups have participated in and supported the march, including One World One Family, the Chelsea Human Rights Commission, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, and St. Paul United Church of Christ.
“I’m not used to seeing such an organized ally group as I do in Chelsea,” Townley saud. “Because I wouldn’t say Chelsea is an LGBTQ hub of America, but the community is very supportive of the LGBTQ community. I mean, hugely supportive, and that makes me happy and sort of proud to live in it.”
Among other achievements this year, Equality Chelsea also advocated for Pride flags to be placed on street poles throughout the city during June.
“We’ve been getting a lot of feedback on that, mostly positive,” Townley said. “It’s interesting to hear people’s views on that. A lot of them wrote to City Council. Kate shared a few letters people wrote, and it actually brought tears to my eyes how much it moved the parents and the children of the community to see that Chelsea was saying we welcome you here, and you’re safe here in Chelsea. Wow. It’s amazing. Sometimes, you may do just one little thing, and you don’t realize the effect it may have on people.”
The group’s next meeting will be July 24 to focus on plans and discuss what else the community of Chelsea would like to see from the group.
“We’re in a sweet spot right now, despite all of our worries,” Mehuron said. “So you know, we’re just going to keep moving forward.”
More information about the organization is available at www.equalitychelsea.org. The group is open to all LGBTQ+ people and allies.
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