Barbecue is hot in Birmingham
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 [...]
A musical of love songs by men for men debuts June 5
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’s first gay-straight alliance off to strong start
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 [...]
National News Briefs
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 [...]
Hear Me OUT May, 2005
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 [...]
Students who painted hate message at Howell High School may face prosecution
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, [...]
Get your chaps packed: Chicago hosts 27th annual leather weekend
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" [...]
Middle Eastern gays in Michigan emerging from ‘out of the shadows’
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 - [...]
Curtain’s up by the shore: Mason Street Warehouse opens third season in Saugatuck
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 [...]
Moyers blasts right-wing meddling at PBS
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 [...]
Everyday teens shine at Affirmations prom
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 [...]
Race Matters -If you agree, group needs your help
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 [...]
Prominent LGBT organizations gaining, losing staff members
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 [...]
Swope begins candidacy for Lansing City Clerk
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 [...]
Gay-friendly poster creates controversy in Troy
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 - [...]
No more Mr. Nice Gay
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 [...]
Creep of the Week: U.S. Senator Richard Shelby
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 [...]
Curtain Calls
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 [...]
Curtain Calls XTRA
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 [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
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") [...]
Battle over judges is a battle over democracy
. 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 [...]
Now Playing
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 [...]
Meet Tiger the BTL pet of the week
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 [...]
Parting Glances: Look homeward, pumpkin!
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 [...]
Q Puzzle Clues
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 [...]
Theater Events for the period May 26 – June 4
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 [...]
Scholar questions constitutionality of Michigan’s marriage amendment
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 Stonewall Democrats need Pride volunteers
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 [...]
Senate strikes compromise in filibuster fight
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 [...]
CARE for the children
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 [...]
Marriage News from Around the Country
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 [...]
Concert Connections
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 [...]
Community Connections
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 [...]
The gay moralist: PIB and principles
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 [...]