SAN FRANCISCO - The California chapter of the NAACP has endorsed a bill that would legalize equal marriage rights in the state, marking the first time an arm of the civil rights group has lent [...]

By Jeffrey Hammerberg The desire to buy a home together comes with the natural progression of any committed relationship. It not only signifies a couple's commitment, it also strengthens it. However, for gay and lesbian [...]

By Dawn Wolfe ANN ARBOR - From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on March 24, members of UofM's Graduate Educator's Organization joined undergraduates, union members from several unions and other parts of the country and [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Are our homes reflections of who we are, or just a place to crash after a busy day? Do the colors we choose and that perfect chair, sitting in just the right [...]

Spring has sprung! Well, spring has sprung figuratively, if not literally. But the best way to help it along is to actually spring into action. Now is the time to tackle all of those projects [...]

The Associated Press Keeping your home and its operating systems clean and in good working order will make everything safer, more energy efficient and will cut utility and repair bills. What's more, regular maintenance can [...]

Compromise is an important part of any relationship and when two people move in together their compromising skills are often put to the test. Whether it's her tacky wall-hangings, his insistence on keeping the heat [...]

KALAMAZOO - A popular Kalamazoo nightspot caught fire last week, causing an estimated $75,000 worth of damage. Firefighters from the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety responded to call from Brothers bar, located at 207 E. [...]

Dear BTL, I'm getting fed up and I've started to do something about it. The issue is the mainstream press that, whenever there is a story about gay issues, always does an article that gathers [...]

By Dawn Wolfe CLEVELAND - Citing Ohio's ban on equal marriage rights, a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge ruled that unmarried people cannot have domestic violence charges brought against them because of Ohio's new anti-gay [...]

Kevin Thompson stumbled into the business of creating custom ponds by accident. "I went to St. Louis and they have great public parks there," he recalled. "They have waterfalls and ponds and I said, 'I [...]

Khon Artist puts the finishing touches on Mahogany, a 20-year-old regular at the Ruth Ellis Drop-in Center. BTL photo: Jason Michael DETROIT - The goal was to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to [...]

By Gwendolyn Ann Smith A few weeks back I had the pleasure of attending the viewing party of a new transgender documentary. As I watched, I noticed many of the same cliches and stereotypes that [...]

By Dawn Wolfe On March 23, Republican Attorney General Mike Cox issued an opinion stating that the anti-gay Proposal 2 could be used to deny domestic partnership benefits to employees of the city of Kalamazoo. [...]

ROYAL OAK - Royal Oak police arrested a Warren resident on March 14 after he was observed tampering with a Between The Lines newspaper box at the corner of Fourth Street and Main. According to [...]

By R.J. Beaumia If it wasn't for the fantastic press that homosexuals generate for the Bush administration and the rest of the extremist right, we would have all been sent off and gassed long ago. [...]

By Peter J. Hammer, J.D., Ph.D. Last November, Michigan voters approved Proposal 2. Ostensibly, the constitutional amendment was about restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples. A wolf, however, was hiding in Proposal 2's intentionally inartful language: [...]

By Mubarak Dahir For the second time in a year, gay and lesbian couples gathered in matrimonial throngs at city hall in San Francisco this past week. Some were waving rainbow flags. Others held up [...]

Paul Varnell The Cutting Edge . . . During a recent series of reports on widespread drug use at gay Circuit Parties, Chicago's WBBM-AM news reporter Steve Miller interviewed one man at the party who [...]

By Joel Dossi "Walk on Water" director Eytan Fox was joined by his producer, Gal Uchovsky, during an interview in Toronto last fall. That's not unusual. But Fox introduced the casually dressed man by saying, [...]

By John Hanna, Associated Press Writer TOPEKA, Kan. - Voters in Kansas overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment April 5 banning same-sex couples from marrying or entering into civil unions. Republican state Attorney General Phill Kline [...]

Garfield is a handsome 18-month-old German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever mix. He is at the shelter looking for a new home because his previous family did not have time for him. Garfield is an active dog that [...]

Last December's tsunami -- that took the lives of 170,000 people in Southern Asia, and prompted a caring world to raise millions of dollars for aid and assistance -- was not without its strange I-told-you-so [...]

Queer Car-ma Across 1 Belle's companion 5 Like the cheeks of one who streaks 10 Harold's problem in The Boys in the Band 14 Ms. Swan portrayer Borstein 15 Dirty Dancing director Ardolino 16 ___ [...]

Operation Truth lets troops speak for themselves Supporting the troops doesn't require blind allegiance to the Bush Administration or support for the war in Iraq. In fact, judging from the poor planning and lack of [...]

By Jack Fertig Listen politely, Virgo! Admitting confusion and ignorance is the first step to enlightenment. Mercury retrograde is aspecting Mars in Aquarius and Uranus in Pisces. Sudden snafus can set off the sort of [...]

"You've got 435 congressman, 100 senators, one Commander in Chief. You get a van. You roam the country solving people's problems. It'll be just like 'Queer Eye,' only they'll hate gay people." - Correspondent Stephen [...]

TE1 Dream.jpg: Music and acrobatics come to life in "Cirque Dreams" at Detroit's Fisher Theatre. Photo: Cirque Productions TE2 Story.jpg: "The Story" moves this week from the BoarsHead Theatre to Detroit's Plowshares Theatre. Photo: Dave [...]

Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center Board of Directors is now accepting letters of intent from individuals interested in running for election to the board. Election to the Board will take place at Affirmations' Annual [...]

LANSING - On March 31 at 10 p.m. a progressive and politically-focused drag show will take place at the Temple Club. The show is called "Kiss My Gender" and is organized by Drag King Rebellion, [...]

Gay author E. Lynn Harris will be speaking at Wayne State University in Detroit about life as gay man while being a minority on Friday, April 1. Author of "Invisible Life," "Just As I Am," [...]

Special is the couple who can live and work together. The lack of privacy and personal space isn't always healthy, and at times it can be hellacious. And so it is that after nearly a [...]

Midwest AIDS Prevention Project's Annual Ferndale Metro Blues Festival raised over $13,700 in 2005. After expenses, $11,000 will be presented to Ferndale Youth Assistance and MAPP on April 11. During the festival, nearly forty concerts [...]

BIRMINGHAM - The Birmingham-First Concert Series will present soprano Adele Crawford in Concert on Saturday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m. Adele Crawford made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2001. She has received international acclaim for [...]

By Sharon Gittleman Big Rock Chophouse provides a necessary function for hard-working Birminghamites - a place to slip away for a bit of non-politically correct fun in the middle of the afternoon. Red meat and [...]

By Dawn Wolfe ST. CLAIR SHORES A lesbian couple has been turned away from St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church because they are in a committed same-sex relationship. On their first visit to St. Joan [...]

COLOMBUS, Ohio - Registration is open for the fourth annual Between the Worlds men's gathering, which will be held at a a private campground in southeastern Ohio Sept. 14-18, 2005. BTW is geared toward adult [...]

Auditions for the Motor City Pride Idol contest will be held at Detroit's Rainbow Room April 14 at 8 p.m. Twenty finalists will be selected to perform at the competition itself April 16. Judges for [...]

Comedians Dana Austin from Cleveland and Chantal Carrere from San Francisco flank the Triangle Foundation's event coordinator, Stephanie Newman, on a break between shows at Saturday's ninth annual Lesbian and Gay ComedyFest. Newman co-produced the [...]

By Dawn Wolfe MOUNT PLEASANT - On April 6, Alan Chambers, president of the anti-gay group Exodus, will be giving a talk at the Lutheran Missouri Synod chapel on Central Michigan University's campus. According to [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Politics Maine passes gay rights bill AUGUSTA - A bill that would bar discrimination against gays and lesbians won a strong vote of approval March 28 in the state Senate, moving [...]

UMS Arab World Music Festival finale weekend celebration ANN ARBOR - The University Musical Society's Arab World Music Festival closes with a special finale weekend celebrating Arab artists who span the traditional-contemporary spectrum of performing [...]

This Week: Bitch (of Bitch and Animal) Fri. 4/1/05 8 p.m. The Ark, Ann Arbor Blanche Fri. 4/1/05 8 p.m. Magic Bag, Ferndale Jon Stewart Sat. 4/2/05 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Detroit Opera House [...]

Get connected! Non-profit organizations are encouraged to send listings of ongoing events to Community Connections via email at dawnwolfe@pridesource.com, fax at 248-615-7018 or postal mail: 20793 Farmington Rd., Ste. 25, Farmington, MI 48336. FORTY WORD [...]

By John Corvino During a recent family vacation I found myself reading "Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting" by Glenn Stanton and Bill Maier. Stanton is senior analyst for marriage and [...]

Michigan Representative Joel Sheltrown Roll out the red carpet - or, rather, the scarlet letter- for this week's Creep: Rep. Joel Sheltrown (D-West Branch). Inspired by the Terri Schiavo case, Rep. Sheltrown is introducing legislation [...]

Review: 'The Last Yankee' & '74 Georgia Avenue' Depressing themes give way to bright performances at JET I can hear it now. "Wanna go see a play tonight?" someone somewhere in metro Detroit will ask [...]