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Henry D. Messer
Henry Davis Messer (September 22, 1927 – February 18, 2014) was an American LGBT rights activist and neurosurgeon. He was an early member of the Mattachine Society, involved with the first attempt to pass a human rights ordinance inclusive of sexual orientation in New York City, and co-founder of Triangle Foundation (today known as Equality Michigan).
Messer was born in Madison, Florida on September 22, 1927, to Henry Messer, owner of a Chevrolet dealership, and Sarah Messer, a housewife. He moved to Durham, North Carolina to study premedicine at Duke University and went to Duke University School of Medicine.
Messer met his life partner, Carl House, while serving as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces. House was a corporal in the United States Army when they met in 1951 after a night out with a group of gay servicemen. In 1953, after resigning from the Army Air Force, Messer and House moved to New York City's Greenwich Village. They moved to Dearborn Heights, Michigan in 1976.
He was shot while volunteering at the Triangle Foundation's office in Detroit on June 28, 1995. The incident received national attention as a possible anti-gay hate crime.
Messer died at approximately 5:00am on February 18, 2014, at his home in Dearborn Heights after a struggle with cancer.
During the Korean War, he entered the United States Air Force as a first lieutenant. During the war, he was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, and began his specialization in neurosurgery under orders from his commanding officer.
Messer was forced to resign his commission as a captain in 1953 after an officer with whom Messer had been involved turned him in for being a gay man. Air Force investigators went through his phone book and the film on his camera while searching for evidence. The investigation lasted three months and included the investigators traveling to his hometown and asked acquaintances whether he had shown signs of being gay while he was growing up.
After resigning from the Air Force, Messer completed his residency and then practiced neurosurgery at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in Greenwich Village. In the late 1960s, he took a position at Harlem Hospital Center, where he became chief of neurosurgery in 1972. He left in 1976 to become chief of neurosurgery at Wayne County General Hospital, at that time a teaching unit of the University of Michigan. When Messer applied for the position, he listed a 1974 article that essentially identified him as an openly gay man. At the time, it was unusual for physicians to be open about their sexuality. He retired from Wayne County General Hospital at age 60.
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Henry D. Messer
Henry Davis Messer (September 22, 1927 – February 18, 2014) was an American LGBT rights activist and neurosurgeon. He was an early member of the Mattachine Society, involved with the first attempt to pass a human rights ordinance inclusive of sexual orientation in New York City, and co-founder of Triangle Foundation (today known as Equality Michigan).
Messer was born in Madison, Florida on September 22, 1927, to Henry Messer, owner of a Chevrolet dealership, and Sarah Messer, a housewife. He moved to Durham, North Carolina to study premedicine at Duke University and went to Duke University School of Medicine.
Messer met his life partner, Carl House, while serving as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces. House was a corporal in the United States Army when they met in 1951 after a night out with a group of gay servicemen. In 1953, after resigning from the Army Air Force, Messer and House moved to New York City's Greenwich Village. They moved to Dearborn Heights, Michigan in 1976.
He was shot while volunteering at the Triangle Foundation's office in Detroit on June 28, 1995. The incident received national attention as a possible anti-gay hate crime.
Messer died at approximately 5:00am on February 18, 2014, at his home in Dearborn Heights after a struggle with cancer.
During the Korean War, he entered the United States Air Force as a first lieutenant. During the war, he was stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, and began his specialization in neurosurgery under orders from his commanding officer.
Messer was forced to resign his commission as a captain in 1953 after an officer with whom Messer had been involved turned him in for being a gay man. Air Force investigators went through his phone book and the film on his camera while searching for evidence. The investigation lasted three months and included the investigators traveling to his hometown and asked acquaintances whether he had shown signs of being gay while he was growing up.
After resigning from the Air Force, Messer completed his residency and then practiced neurosurgery at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center in Greenwich Village. In the late 1960s, he took a position at Harlem Hospital Center, where he became chief of neurosurgery in 1972. He left in 1976 to become chief of neurosurgery at Wayne County General Hospital, at that time a teaching unit of the University of Michigan. When Messer applied for the position, he listed a 1974 article that essentially identified him as an openly gay man. At the time, it was unusual for physicians to be open about their sexuality. He retired from Wayne County General Hospital at age 60.
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