ANN ARBOR - Mark Doty has been thinking about heaven a lot lately. Heaven, and also death, are recurring themes in the National Book Critics Circle Award winning poet's newest collection of poetry, "School of [...]

By Lisa Keen It's hard to say who's winning, because the marriage war has erupted on so many fronts with such disparate results. But it's easy to see that, once again, the battles have escalated [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman ROYAL OAK - Humor and serious ideas joined to create a spirited discussion at the April 6 diversity event hosted by Oakland Community College's Royal Oak and Southfield campus diversity committee. [...]

DETROIT - Some simply took a nap, some played video games, and some searched for loopholes and spoke in sign language or scribbled notes. But for the most part, about 20 young men and women [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman LANSING - On Wednesday, April 27, Lansing's lawmakers will be hearing from a new contingent in the struggle for equal rights for LGBTs and our families. College students. Students for Gay [...]

DETROIT - New Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was in Detroit April 14-15 as part of HRC's national "On the Road to Equality" tour, a project to help reintroduce gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender [...]

ANN ARBOR - Transgender rights advocates and allies will attend the April 21 Board of Regents meeting to ask the regents to amend the University's non-discrimination clause to protect gender identity and expression. Their attendance [...]

By BTL Staff LOS ANGELES - Music superstar, actress and performer Brandy is celebrating her first decade of hit-making with the release of THE BEST OF BRANDY, a first-of-its-kind, 18-track retrospective drawn from the Los [...]

"Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing. What they don't know - what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know [...]

Professional Theater: AIDA The epic and classic tale of love, loyalty, betrayal and courage has an exhilarating score by Elton John and Tim Rice. Presented at Stranahan Theater, Toledo, April 21 - 24 only. Tickets: [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman LANSING - A bill that would protect children by both allowing unmarried individuals to jointly adopt children from foster care and allowing legal parents to directly consent to adoption of their [...]

LANSING - The Lansing Area AIDS Network is marking its 20th year of service to mid-Michigan by hosting a month-long fundraising event called, "Night of 1000 Stars." To launch the special event an official kickoff [...]

By BTL Staff WARREN - The 20th Annual Pride Banquet and Awards Ceremony will be held Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 6 p.m. at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Warren. Over 400 LGBT community leaders [...]

DETROIT - On April 2, twenty people underwent training for the TransGender Michigan speakers bureau at the ACLU building in downtown Detroit. The training was funded by a grant from the Arcus Foundation. According to [...]

Hotter Than July and Karibu House are looking for talent to audition April 23, 2005. Karibu House is holding a competition for local, amateur comedic talent from the LGBT communities of color (African-American, Latino, Native [...]

By BTL staff So you've always wanted to be on camera? You tried out for American Idol, but Simon wasn't so hip on your singing voice? And Donald didn't think you could add and subtract [...]

By BTL Staff DEARBORN - On Saturday, May 14, at Dearborn's Park Place, Dignity Detroit members will eat, dance and party in celebration of their continuous journey of 31 years. The group will then continue [...]

DETROIT - On May 6, Rev. Monifa Jumanne, Ph.D. will ofer an interactive HIV/AIDS/substance abuse training for individuals who commit to train others at Marygrove College. The training is faith-based and is for clergy, nurse [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman SOUTHFIELD - During an appearance that felt as much like a religious revival as a political event, anti-gay Detroit pastor Keith Butler announced that he will run as a Republican for [...]

By Sharon Gittleman ROYAL OAK - For the past 30 years, Nancy X, has had a nasty habit she dreamed of putting behind her. Last week, she took her first steps in a new direction. [...]

ANN ARBOR - The Ann Arbor Summer Festival will present its 22nd season from June 17 through July 10. The 24-day Festival will present a variety of entertaining events, including music, dance, theater and comedy. [...]

DETROIT - Moby brings his new brand of "aural Xanax" to Detroit's State Theatre on Friday, April 22. Moby's latest album, "Hotel," showcases the softer side of Moby, and features a bonus disc of ambient [...]

By Mubarak Dahir It's a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon on South Beach the first weekend in March. There isn't a single cloud in the azure blue sky. It's the kind of day that reminds residents why [...]

NEW YORK - Andrea Dworkin, a feminist who viewed pornography as a violation of women's civil rights and a direct cause of rape and violence died on April 9. She was 58. Dworkin had been [...]

Martha Wainwright {ITAL Martha Wainwright (Zoe/Rounder)} Martha Wainwright is the daughter of famous folk artists Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and the sister of Rufus. No pressure. Rufus fans are probably already aware of [...]

By Cornelius A. Fortune DETROIT - A roundtable discussion with religious leaders and Human Rights Campaign's new president, Joe Solmonese, on April 14, was one of the first stops of HRC's "On the Road to [...]

Helen A. King, a co-founder of PFLAG Tri-cities, died April 15, 2005. She was 76. King's memorial service will he held Thursday, April 21 at 12:30 p.m. at the Nease Memorial Church of the Nazarene, [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman KALAMAZOO - On April 18 the city of Kalamazoo decided to stop offering benefits to the same-sex partners of its employees beginning Jan. 1, 2006. The decision comes on the heels [...]

This Week: Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings Thurs. 4/21/05 Magic Bag, Ferndale Kathleen Madigan Thurs.-Sat. 4/21-23/05 Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle, Royal Oak Moby Fri. 4/22/05 State Theatre, Detroit Alison Krauss and Union Station Fri. [...]

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

Eric Rudolph Blowing things up is a pretty creepy thing to do, especially if you're doing it to punish folks who don't have the same ideological agenda as you (by the way, that's called terrorism). [...]

Review: 'Savage in Limbo' Shanley's characters are afraid to move on, but to their credit, DET's actors aren't What do you do when you put on a play and nobody comes? That's the decision that [...]

Review: 'Bus Stop' 'That Old Black Magic' works its spell at the Purple Rose "Somehow, deep inside me, I got a funny feeling I'm gonna end up in Montana," a 19-year-old nightclub singer, known only [...]

By Jody Valley Going backwards with the church Q: My partner, "James," and I have been together for three years, actually, almost four. We are very committed to each other, in fact, we are surely [...]

By Dee Dee Sung To enter The Magic Money Makeover Contest for a chance to win 12 months mortgage payments visit http://www.debtfreediva.com. Sponsored by Paramount Bank - You've Never Seen A Bank Like This. Q: [...]

By Romeo San Vicente Gus Van Sant's 'Time' machine Gus Van Sant's film about the early '90s grunge scene, "Last Days," is due to open in the United States this October, and the pioneering queer [...]

By Sean Kosofsky {ITAL The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed." Definition of Bill of Attainder: [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman California: Legislative committees in Sacramento were scheduled to hold hearings on a pair of bills that would ask voters to decide whether to enshrine marriage discrimination in the state's constitution. [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Politics ADL resolution supports equal access to civil marriage for same-sex couples NEW YORK - The Anti-Defamation League passed a resolution in support of equal access to civil marriage for [...]

Just Out Eros A Hong Kong tailor (Chang Chen) silently worships his favorite customer, a prostitute (Gong Li); a Manhattan adman (Robert Downey Jr.) visits a psychiatrist (Alan Arkin) to unlock the meaning behind a [...]

Jasmine is a beautiful eight-month-old German Shepherd mix. She is at the shelter looking for a new home because her previous guardian could no longer care for her. Jasmine loves people and is very affectionate. [...]

Two expressions hop to mind while watching the media circus that strikes up the band around Michael Jackson's moon walk: "it's in the stars" and "it's in the lap of the gods." For PG readers [...]

Honorary Gays Across 1 Tori who sang "I am not from your tribe" 5 Former Oakland bookstore, ___ Bear's 9 Porter's "Where ___ Life That Late I Led?" 14 "Happy, Texas" actor 15 "___ a [...]

By Jack Fertig Relax, Taurus! Mars in Aquarius gets you way ahead of yourself, and that urge can become dangerously obsessive with Mars sextile to Pluto. Remember to look before you leap! ARIES (March 20 [...]

An old advertising campaign for hair products used to say, to paraphrase, "You tell two friends - and they'll tell two friends - and so on, and so on..." Joe Solmonese suggests we tell at [...]

MSU Symphony Orchestra, choral ensembles, and four soloists to perform Verdi's 'Requiem' EAST LANSING- The MSU School of Music will present Verdi's "Requiem" Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m. in Great Hall, Wharton Center on [...]