Collections by Michelle Brown WSG Ypsilanti Mayor Beth Bashert

Activist, advocate, leading salesperson, councilwoman, she's been called many things in her lifetime but "Your Honor" is something Beth Bashert is still getting used to.
In 1993 she and her wife Lisa were the first lesbian couple to have an engagement announcement in The Ann Arbor News. At the ceremony later that year, they legally took the name Bashert (meaning “destined, meant to be”) a new family name for both. When the window opened up five years ago for same-gender loving couples in Michigan to be legally married the Basherts joined the 300 couples who took advantage of that window.
Already a member of Ypsilanti’s City Council, in 2018 Bashert ran for and won the mayoral race with 63 percent of the vote. She ran on a platform that advocated for changing the city’s budget, bringing back services and increasing development.
She is the recipient of many awards including Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign, Living Pride Award from Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project, Political Action Award from PFLAG and the Gay & Lesbian Pride Award.

Being both the Mayor of a small city and a leading salesperson at a local family owned car dealership is hectic and exciting nut Beth Bashert manages to do both working and talking with people about their needs at both. It turns out serving people does not change much even in different environments.

She has focused on serving people long before taking on either of these roles. 

In 1999, she was selected as the founding President of Michigan Equality an organization designed to identify, educate and mobilize voters to help further equality for LGBT people in Michigan. She was the first Director of Fund Development for the Ruth Ellis Center serving LGBTQ youth including many who were homeless.