By Sharon Gittleman The sun is shining, the wind is calm, the margaritas are chilling, only one thing is missing - barbecue. There's nothing like the scent of hickory to turn winter's chill into a [...]

DETROIT - Kick, the agency for LGBT African-Americans, presents a musical of love songs by men for men, called Gentlemen Preferred on June 5. The event will reinterpret love songs that have been traditionally performed [...]

DETROIT - They meet every Monday after classes end, from 3:20 to 4:30 p.m. The Gay Straight Alliance at Cesar Chavez Academy high school - the first GSA in the city of Detroit - is [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Politics Trans-inclusive hate crimes bill to be introduced in U.S. House WASHINGTON - A federal hate crimes bill with explicit protections against crimes based on gender identity and sexual orientation [...]

Superstars: #1 Hits Remixed (SONY BMG Strategic Marketing Group) I'll admit it. I love this album. I dare you to listen to it without smiling and dancing. "Superstars: #1 Hits Remixed" is the ultimate summer [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman HOWELL - Two ninth-grade students who painted an anti-gay message on a rock in Howell High School's courtyard have been suspended for at least 10 days and might face criminal prosecution, [...]

By John Quinn CHICAGO - The Hyatt Regency Chicago will play host to International Mr. Leather 2005, Thursday, May 26 through Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day Weekend). From its founding as an event for "hardcore" [...]

FERNDALE - The event was called Arabian Nights, and it took place Friday night at Club Q in Ferndale. It was the sixth such event -a gay club night for Arab-Americans and their friends - [...]

SAUGATUCK - A recent peek at license plates in the parking lot of the Mason Street Warehouse revealed quite a lot about why this "uptown theater in downtown Saugatuck" is one of the most unique [...]

ST. LOUIS - In his closing address at the National Conference on Media Reform May 15, Bill Moyers, the former host of the PBS program "NOW with Bill Moyers," blasted the Bush administration and Ken [...]

FERNDALE - Young people looking to celebrate a prom where the sight of two boys or two girls dancing together doesn't raise any eyebrows - or any fists - gathered at the Gary Culik Community [...]

DETROIT - The year was 1999; the place Oakland, Calif. Alice McKeage was attending a Creating Change conference and dropped in a session sponsored by The Color Triangle, a Chicago-based group that examined racism in [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Forgotten Harvest gets food to those who need it most The two unwanted bananas from a bunch of ten. The milk, juice, or yogurt a shopper reached around to get the [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman The summer of 2005 will see big changes for three area LGBT organizations. Two groups, Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center and the American Friends Service Committees' LGBT Issues program, are [...]

By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman LANSING - Chris Swope, the current executive director of Michigan Equality and an openly-gay member the Ingham County Commission, will kick off his candidacy for Lansing City Clerk with a fundraiser [...]

By Sharon Gittleman TROY - A poster sharing the message that gay people are everyday people has raised an uproar in Troy. The poster shows a group of youngsters surrounded by typical everyday careers - [...]

By R.J. Beaumia I know with all certainty that if I wake up in the hospital tomorrow in a complete amnesiac haze, among the things I'll have forgotten is that I was an altar boy [...]

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) If there are two things right-wing Republicans know how to do, those things are remain loyal to a bad idea and use religion in every way possible to serve their [...]

Review: 'Spunk' A 'spunky' show at Plowshares Up-and-coming authors are often instructed to "write about what you know" - and that's exactly what novelist, folklorist, playwright and poet Zora Neale Hurston did throughout much of [...]

Preview: 2005 'Michigan Theatre Festival' Nine professional theaters unite to produce historic festival in Ann Arbor Theater will be busting out all over Ann Arbor next month when the 2005 Michigan Theater Festival opens its [...]

By Jody Valley Love by any other name Q: I've been going with "Julie" for over a year. We have really worked at taking it slow. But now, we are looking at having a ceremony, [...]

By Romeo San Vicente Stars line up for Dylan His first film starred Barbie dolls, but these days, when it's time to cast one of his movies, Oscar-nominated gay director Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven") [...]

. After months of headlines and behind the scenes deal making, the filibuster in the United States Senate is safe. For now. Fourteen Senators reached a last minute compromise Monday that allows the minority party [...]

Just Out Kicking & Screaming Klutzy, mild-mannered Phil Weston (Will Ferrell) grew up in the shadow of his athletic, ultra-competitive father, Buck (Robert Duvall), never measuring up to the old man's high expectations. When Phil [...]

Tiger is a charming four-year-old orange and white medium hair cat. He is at the shelter looking for a new home because his previous family moved and could not take him along. Tiger is a [...]

About 130 years before Good Ol' Charlie Brown waited on Halloween Night for the Great Pumpkin to appear, William Miller, a Baptist preacher, convinced his flock that Jesus would be returning October 22, 1844 to [...]

Poorly Endowed Across 1 Skinny bear 6 Some like them hot 10 Like my lady, on Broadway 14 One chased in a Melville novel 15 "Beginning With O" author Broumas 16 Head hunters? 17 Music [...]

By Jack Fertig Know your limits, Leo! Mercury in Taurus sextile to Saturn in Cancer gives us a great chance to scrutinize our emotional limits and to put them into practical perspective. Pluto in Sagittarius, [...]

"I think gay people are profoundly people of faith in the sense that when we come out, that is a leap of faith. Huge. We're risking so much, but we have the faith that in [...]

Professional Theater: Brighton Beach Memoirs Part one of Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical trilogy is a portrait of the writer as a Brooklyn teenager in 1937. Staged Wednesday through Sunday (excluding Friday) by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre [...]

MOUNT PLEASANT - The constitutionality of Michigan's marriage amendment is in question after a marriage amendment in Nebraska was struck down by a federal court May 12. According to Central Michigan University finance and law [...]

Michigan's Stonewall Democrats will have booths at Michigan Pride events throughout the summer and into early fall, beginning with Motor City Pride in Ferndale on June 5. The organization needs volunteers to staff tables, gather [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman WASHINGTON - At the very last possible minute, fourteen moderate Senators banded together to save the filibuster, the procedural move that has kept the worst of George W. Bush's judicial [...]

YPSILANTI - Seventeen month old Meil Bogart swept through the Frenchies reception hall, laughing with delight and charming each person in their turn. She was the happiest, most beautiful child, with everything going her way [...]

Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Arizona: Anti-gay activists filed a proposed amendment to ban equal marriage rights with the Secretary of State's Office May 16. The proposed amendment would also bar state and local governments [...]

This Week: Ducksicle Thurs. 5/26/05 Small's, Hamtramck 89X 14th Birthday Bash featuring The Killers, Keane, Hot Hot Heat, Tegan and Sara, more Mon. 5/30/05 3 p.m. Fox Theatre, State Theatre, Woodward Outdoor Stage, Detroit Stewart [...]

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 Some bad arguments never die. Such is the case with what I call the "PIB" argument: the idea that if homosexuality is morally permissible, then Polygamy, Incest, and Bestiality (hence PIB) are [...]