Grace Bacon

Grace Bacon began life at Swartz Creek, Michigan, in 1940 . She began wearing women's clothes at a young age and identified with the transexual and transvestite perspectives as presented by the story of Christine Jorgenson, the first gender affirmation patient of the United States . Bacon continued to live in the closet while also living what she described as a normal high school life .
==College and the Army==
Bacon was a journalism student in college and sports editor at her school paper . She went on to form a photography and videography service for the local highs school sports teams and weddings . After three years Bacon sold the business to Saginaw Photo and dropped out of college . Soon after, Bacon joined the Army and worked her way up to non-commissioned officer status while stationed in Germany . Bacon looks back fondly on her three years in the Army, and especially the German culture .
==Family Life and Career==
Bacon married and had two children after her service but she still managed to dress up occasionally . She found a job at General Motors as a paper-handler and worked her way up to manager of production control analysts . She was eventually sold to Electronic Data Systems (EDS) where she served various roles throughout her years . At the end, Bacon had spent more than 20 years in these roles . Bacon came out to her coworkers in the ‘70s and began crossdressing openly despite chastisement from management . Bacon married again in 1991 during a break from social organizing .
==Organizing and Activism==
Bacon began calling in and was a frequent contributor to Dave Barber's radio program Flint Feedback in the early to mid-'70s . The program, a conservative-leaning shock-based talk show, is now looked upon as the beginning of the LGBTQ radio presence in Detroit given it's frequent contributors and topics covering the culture . Bacon formed a social and outreach group for transvestites and transexuals in 1977 called Crossroads . The operation was run out of a post office box and served as a place the community could get together and an alternative to the local Ballroom movement . Crossroads became a location based organization that moved around the Metro Detroit area 8) and is still in operation today, now serving all members of the Detroit population in need . After several years with Crossroads, Bacon moved to Cincinnati and started a similar organization called Crossport , also still in service but still focused on LGBTQ needs . She also helped organize the popular annual seminar and social weekend for transexuals and transvestites called the Be All You Want to Be Weekend, which ran for 30 years . Bacon remarried and took a break from organizing between the years 1991 and 2012 .
==Influence==
Bacon's work through Crossroads inspired several notable LGBTQ organizers, activists, and educators in the area. Most notably, Rachel Crandall-Crocker, founder of Transgender Michigan who started the International Day of Visibility in 2009 . Bacon was also an inspiration for Gender-Identity Network Alliance board member Michelle Fox-Phillips and founder of the University of Michigan Gender Identity Clinic, Sandra Cole . Samantha Rogers of Detroit Invasion also considers Bacon and Crossroads to be sources of inspiration .
==Awards and Honors==
The city of Ferndale, Michigan, awarded Grace Bacon with the Good Neighbor Award in November, 2018 . The Metropolitan Community Church – Detroit began recognizing November 14 as Grace Bacon Day in 2021, it was co-sponsored by Gender-Identity Network Alliance and Transgender Michigan .
Category:1940 births