Transgender PFLAG inspiration killed in car accident
by Kate Sosin
2010-11-10

http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=29439

Quinn Collins, the transgender man who inspired Chicago's first PFLAG ( Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays ) support group for parents of transgender kids, was buried last weekend by a family that set a community example by supporting him unequivocally through transition. Collins was killed in early hours of Nov. 1 in New Buffalo, Mich., when his stopped 2007 Honda Accord was rear-ended on I-94. He was 38.

Quinn "Q" Collins was born Nov. 17, 1971, on Long Island, N.Y. He was the fourth child in a family of five kids ( Thomas, Maureen, Kathleen and the late Michael, who passed away at a very young age ) . Described as a "typical middle child" by his mother, Arlene Collins, Quinn grew up playing tricks on teachers and friends. In high school, he got in trouble for cutting class and roller-skating through the hallways and for spiking the punch at a high school dance.