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Program Staff and Committee Members

Program Staff

Heather Grace, Program Associate (hgrace@afsc.org)
Heather Grace grew up in Michigan and has worked in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. She has studied, taught and traveled independently or as a host in more than 19 countries. Heather has worked on Queer and other social justice issues throughout the nation. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W), Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Political Science from Western Michigan University. She graduated with honors. She earned a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Interdisciplinary Studies Concentrating in Education, Art and Counseling in multi-cultural settings from DePaul University in Chicago. She earned certificates from University of Cambridge in English Language Teaching, Outward Bound as an Outdoor Educator, Stonehearth Open Learning Opportunities as a Wilderness First Responder and a Leave No Trace Educator through Center for Outdoor Ethics. Having returned to Michigan in late 2004, she became the Co-Founder of the Huron Valley Earth Day Festival, Co-Chair of the Huron Valley Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Founder and Director of One Community Action, a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Host Committee and runs her own consulting business. In all her work she enjoys creating inclusive safe spaces that engage, educate and empower. She looks forward to continuing to learn from and serve the many communities throughout Michigan.

Lisa Bashert, Administrative Associate (lbashert@afsc.org)
Lisa Bashert recently joined the American Friends Service Committee as the Administrative Associate for both the Criminal Justice and Inclusive Justice programs. She lives in Ypsilanti, MI and is active in community gardening and sustainability politics, and currently serves on the Ypsilanti 2020 Task Force (a committee which will make recommendations for the city’s future). She and her partner of nearly 20 years, Beth Bashert, have raised two children, Stacey, age 16 and Siâned, age 25. Lisa’s favorite activities are creative—singing with Women With Wings and Sacred Song choruses, quilting with the Ypsilanti Food Co-op Quilting Club, growing medicinal plants, baking pies, and beekeeping. She finds sustenance through earth-based Goddess-focused spirituality and regularly attends the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting.

Andrew Hinkle, Intern (ahinkle@afsc.org)
Andrew Hinkle is currently a senior at a private Christian university in Michigan majoring in Political Economy. Drew has a background in studying and doing activism related to nonviolence, LGBT concerns, international relations, poverty issues and is active with the Michigan Democratic Party. He also founded a GSA at his university which has played a very active role in that community. Drew lives and works in Ann Arbor, Michigan and spends free time exploring TBLG history & culture, traveling, biking, and writing poetry.

Crystallee Crain, Interfaith Organizer (ccrain@afsc.org)
Crystallee Crain is a native of Flint, Michigan. She loves her home state and believes in its ability to create progressive social change. She received her Bachelors of Science from Northern Michigan University in Political Science and a Masters of Arts from Eastern Michigan University in Social Sciences. She is currently working on her PhD in Transformative Studies, online, at the California Institute for Integral Studies. In the past she has worked with organizations like Young People For, People for the American Way and Advocates for Youth.

As one of the Interfaith Outreach Organizers with the American Friends Service Committee she would like to help create a more inclusive and responsive group of citizens throughout the state to help insure equality for all people. She believes it is her role as an educator and as an organizer to do all that she can to facilitate positive change in whatever capacity that may be in.

Khristian Speelman, Interfaith Organizer (kspeelman@afsc.org)
Khristian Speelman grew up in Ann Arbor and was brought up in the Lutheran faith. Today Khristian identifies as being interfaithed, honoring and celebrating the practice and teaching of Judaism, Buddhism, and Kabbalahism. Processing a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in General Studies, Khristian had been fortunate to enjoy divisive career ambitions in the area of Photojournalism, Interior Design, Event Planning, Real Estate Sales and Marketing. With over eight years experience as a activist and volunteer in the LGBTQ Community, Khristian is excited to work for the AFSC because of it’s mission and vision to take communities to a hole new level that creates diverse collaborations for individuals, groups, and institutions that can find ways to work together to create a continuum for open and safe places to communicate, celebrate differences, and find resolution to move ahead in an endeavor to enhance and build community. Khristian takes pride in the opportunity to serve as a Interfaith Outreach Organizer to Mainline Moderate Congregations because this is a position that creates a statewide opportunity to organize faith and spirituality based communities that will give voice of LGBTQ rights and recognition that can be powerful and conclude in prophetic justice.

Mariela Elizondo, Interfaith Organizer (melizondo@afsc.org)
Mariela Elizondo was born and raised in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago, Illinois. Her parents are both originally from Guadalajara, Mexico and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. She was raised Catholic but currently identifies with many different faiths and believes that every religion or practice is valid. After high school, she spent three months at Universidad Autonoma de Colima to study Spanish. She attended DePaul University’s Barat Campus to study Art. While at DePaul Mariela worked as the Campus Activities Board Coordinator planning events and activities for students and was also a Student Outreach Leader for the Career Center. After two years at DePaul, she transferred to Harold Washington College where concentrating on Philosophy. Marielafeels strongly about and motivated by issues affecting queer & faith communities. Working with a broad diversity of people has taught her to respect every individual as they are, and value their ideas and expressions. Through her work with the AFSC and FAN, she hopes to promote equality for the LGBTQ and SGL communities.

Ronchele Andres, Interfaith Organizer (randres@afsc.org) Ronchele Andres was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. At the age of four she was singing and leading songs with the mass choir at my family church, Pentecostal Church of God in Christ. At the age of twelve she was playing the bass drums at Saint Thomas Missionary Baptist church. In 1991 she graduated from Raines High School and continued her education at Florida Community College. In 1993 she decided to relocate to Detroit Michigan to live with her mother and came out of the closet in 1995. She have worked many places in the last 14 years, in the mist of that she grew away from the church for about 8 years. She felt for a long time she was not worthy and that she had to choose between being gay and Christian. October 2002, Ronchele found Full Truth Fellowship of Christ Church and honorable pastor Darlene C.A. Franklin. For a couple years she set in the back of the church getting fed the word and learning that God loves us just the way we are. In 2003 she began working in the tape ministry for about a year taping all the sermons. At the end of the year she surrendered to God by accepting my calling to ministry. Ronchele became a Deacon Candidate for a year during that year and God called her out of the Deaconate to becoming the Pastors Armor Bearer. In 2006 she became a minister candidate and in September she was licensed as a minister in training. She has worked in many areas of the church and is currently a chairperson over the membership ministry of the church. A very important and nervous day for her was January 27, 2008 when she was ordained as a minister and became a minister of the church. She said she felt like I was at my wedding marrying God.

Program Committee Members

Max Heirich (mheirich@umich.edu)
Max Heirich is now retired from the University of Michigan. He has been involved in social justice work all his adult life, and was the AFSC staff person who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. and Ella Baker during the civil rights era of the late 1950s and early 1960s, helping with the student sit-in movement and creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. He currently serves both on the LGBT Issues Program Committee and on the Great Lakes Region Executive Committee of AFSC. In addition to his AFSC volunteering he has been involved with gay rights issues and alternative health movements. He consults about disease prevention and health care policy, and has done a lot of health and spiritual work with the HIV community. In his spare time he is a hands-on healer.

James Toy (james.toy@umich.edu)
Jim Toy is a long-time LGBT activist, considered a pioneer among LGBT activists in Michigan. He became the first gay person in Michigan to come out of the closet in public during a speech at an anti-Vietnam War rally in Detroit's Kennedy Square in April, 1970. Toy was a founding member of the Detroit Gay Liberation Movement and the Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front. He successfully lobbied the University of Michigan to establish the Lesbian-Gay Male Programs Office in 1971. At its founding, it was the first LGBT office at any university in America. He was its co-coordinator and then director from its founding until 1994. In 1972, Toy co-authored the first official “Lesbian-Gay Pride Week Proclamation” by a U.S. governing body, the Ann Arbor City Council. The same year, he co-authored the city's non-discrimination policy on sexual orientation. He also successfully lobbied the University of Michigan to include sexual orientation in the nondiscrimination clause of its bylaws, a fight that would last until 1993. Toy continues to work for the University of Michigan as a diversity coordinator in the Office of Institutional Equity.

Beth Rakestraw (revrake@sbcglobal.net)
A native of Dallas, Texas, Beth came to Michigan in 2000 with her partner Beverly Fernsemer to serve as the pastor of two Metropolitan Community Churches, Redeemer MCC in Flint and Gospel Of Jesus Christ MCC in Midland. Originally ordained in the United Methodist Church in 1988, Beth resigned her credentials when she came out as a lesbian in 1993. Her ordination was reaffirmed by MCC in May of 2000. Witnessing to an alternate Christian perspective about LGBT issues and educating people about discrimination and other realities that LGBT persons experience is vitally important to Beth, and is among the reasons she serves on AFSC-LGBT Issues Program Committee. Beth holds a BS in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Masters of Divinity from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. She resides with Beverly in Saginaw Township.

Andy DeBraber (pastor@douglasucc.org)
Andy serves as the pastor of Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ, an Open & Affirming church in the beautiful resort community of Saugatuck/Douglas. He has been the convener of Concerned Clergy of West Michigan, a group working for full inclusion in church and society. Besides parish ministry, he has worked as a newspaper reporter and a community organizer in public transportation. He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Liz and their children Anna and Ezra.

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