The Billie Edwards papers document her work as a lesbian-gay rights activist and co-director of the University of Michigan's Lesbian-Gay Male Program Office and her work as a minister in Metropolitan Community Church in Oklahoma City. The papers are organized into five series: Miscellaneous Personal Papers, Writings, Research Material, LGMPO Training, and LGMPO Miscellaneous.
Billie Edwards was born in 1947 to a military family and moved frequently in her youth. She joined the Marine Corps in 1966 and received training in photography. She was dishonorably discharged in 1967 for her sexual orientation. President Carter had this changed to an Honorable Discharge in 1977. She worked several years in the graphic arts and later trained to be a draftsman. She became a minister with the Metropolitan Community Church in Oklahoma, later ministering in northern Virginia and Detroit. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities in Los Angeles, California in 1985 and a Master of Arts in Humanistic and Clinical Psychology from the Center for Humanistic Studies in Detroit, Michigan in 1986.
Ms. Edwards was hired as the co-director of the University of Michigan Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office (LGMPO) in 1987. During her tenure there, she established the Educational Outreach Program, provided counseling for women and organized programs for the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual community. She resigned effective January 31, 1993 to protest against the university's decision to take counseling away from the office. She died at age 48 in 1995 of a brain tumor.
