B.Michael was willing to lend his perspective and expertise wherever he was able. As someone who had studied law and worked in different types of workplaces — corporations, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions — and experienced a range of subtle and overt discrimination, he would have been extremely compelling as a panelist for the those in attendance.
As a public school teacher and thus New York City employee, B.Michael was eligible for certain benefits that were hard-won by his teachers union, including domestic partnership for same-sex couples. (See bulletin from Lambda Legal below.) In February 1994, B.Michael and John Manzon-Santos officially became domestic partners, in large part to access and secure their rights as a couple. For example, as domestic partners, John could be added to B.Michael’s health insurance and be acknowledged legally as B.Michael’s decision-maker in the event of loss of capacity, and vice versa. There had been too many horror stories about the wishes of long-term, same-sex intimate partners being dismissed and dishonored.
In the above vid clip, B.Michael and John complete their Domestic Partnership application, a necessary first step, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1993. This occasion is joyfully witnessed by cousins Sheilah Mabry (notary), Nikki Harrison (videographer), and Kimberly Wright, along with Kimberly’s scene-stealing son Travis.
Indeed, even though the sound was off during the recording, the blissful vibe is palpable!
On January 7, 1993, then Mayor David Dinkins expanded the definition of domestic partnership through Executive Orders 48 and 49. For B.Michael and John, their first steps to registering included filling out an application as well as an optional Statistical Data Form, about which they gave robust feedback.
It takes a village to teach a young person! (See B.Michael listed on page 4, along with Rhea Modeste.) Did you earn your diploma in this ceremony? What would you tell Bert about your life since 2001?
In 1992, B.Michael invited his lover John to move in to his small 1.5-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s East Village. To some, the building had an infamous address! For B.Michael and John, they were able to split a $500 monthly rent and fantasized, for a New York minute, remodeling their cozy bathroom and kitchen.
B.Michael and friend/sister/teacher Rhea Ummi Modeste team-taught a groundbreaking class on HIV/AIDS awareness at City-As-School High School. Here is a draft of their outline.
City-As-School’s principal at the time visited — and was duly impressed by — one of the sessions and wrote a letter to B.Michael’s and Ummi’s files.
B.Michael’s father, Bertram Meredith Hunter, was born in Deerfield, Florida, a community of immigrants from the Bahamas. In August 1993, B.Michael was able to visit the Bahamas for the first time with his lover John.
The only remaining memorabilia from that trip are HIV/AIDS-related materials gathered at the office of the Bahamian Ministry of Health.
This bumper sticker may have been a joint venture with the Ministry of Tourism!
More photos from this trip are viewable here!
B.Michael was a life-long learner. He was also strategic and skilled at navigating systems. As an employee of the New York City Board of Education, he made sure to optimize his opportunities.
If you came into this system with a master’s degree as B.Michael did — he had a J.D. under his belt — you could set your sights on the highest possible credential as a public school teacher by pursuing a Doctorate degree OR a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification OR 30 additional credits.
He chose the latter, the so-called “Masters+30” path. This collaboratively written paper on Curriculum Development and Issues capped off a summer class for which he earned credits.
Roy Gonsalves was one of B.Michael’s Black Gay brothers whom he met in Boston in the mid ’80s and, subsequently, in New York through Other Countries in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
REMEMBRANCE
When my voice does not speak
And my tears no longer fall
Sew my spirit into a quilt
Add silk for the woman
I used to be
Rhinestones for my arrogance
But whatever you do
Sew one of my poems
With red thread
And remember me.
~ Roy Gonsalves, Perversion, 1990
B.Michael’s copy of Perversion, Roy’s collection of poems and three stories with an inscription:
Click here to read the final, published version of this essay.
B.Michael’s complimentary copies of the book arrived from the publisher in this box postmarked 14 September 1994:
After putting Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS to bed, B.Michael decided to sit once again for the Bar.
The grueling process of cramming for the exam was documented in a stack of lined notebooks.