Ask The Debt Free Diva
By Dee Dee Sung Flying high into the golden years Q: I am a single woman and have three years to retirement. It's overwhelming to think about all the things I have to look at [...]
Parting Glances: Reruns as metaphor (Pt. 1 of 2)
I rented "The Vanishing." My second go-around was still disturbing: a creepy crawler. For those who haven't seen the films -- Dutch (1988) and American (1993) -- both versions are about being buried alive, a [...]
All Politics is Loco: Intelligent Design is just plain stupid
By Sean Kosofsky The myth of "Intelligent Design" is the latest in a series of bizarre fantasies concocted by religious political extremists in order to merge church and state and push a new and improved [...]
Fit to serve God?
By Mubarak Dahir To anyone who has followed the long history of anti-gay edicts out of the Catholic Church, the latest development in its anti-gay campaign will come as no surprise. According to numerous published [...]
Hurricane Katrina and President Bush’s moral indifference
By Jasmyne A. Cannick Those Black Christian pastors that urged their congregations to support President Bush because of his views on abortion and gay civil rights have got to be kicking themselves for their blind [...]
Concert Connections
This Week: Feist Fri. 9/9/05 Magic Bag, Ferndale Portastatic Sat. 9/10/05 Krafthaus Brewery, Kalamazoo Green Day w/ Jimmy Eat World Sun. 9/11/05 Palace of Auburn Hills Sufjan Stevens Sun. 9/11/05 The Majestic, Detroit Sufjan Stevens [...]
Theater Events for the period Sep. 8-17
Professional Theater: Altar Boyz A holy-inspiring musical comedy about five small-town boys trying to save the world one screaming fan at a time. City Theatre, Detroit. Tue.-Sun. through Dec. 18. 313-872-1000. http://www.nederlanderdetroit.com. And The Winner [...]
AIDS Walk Detroit comes to Royal Oak
BY Sharon Gittleman ROYAL OAK - With gasoline skyrocketing above $3 a gallon and the costs of everyday living nearly zooming out of reach, it would be easy to ignore this year's Steppin' Out AIDS [...]
Curtain Calls
The 2005 Wilde Awards It's official: It truly was 'One Wilde Night' More than 200 people from Michigan's professional theater, LGBT and political communities came together Sept. 1 for "One Wilde Night" - and that's [...]
Film chronicles Flight 93’s final moments
By BTL Staff Perhaps one of the most unnerving aspects of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 is that there is still so much unknown. The quest for information has pushed books like "102 [...]
Hear Me Out
Where You Live Tracy Chapman (Elektra/Wea) Seventeen years after "Fast Car" and ten years after "Give Me One Reason" dominated the airwaves, Tracy Chapman continues to make music that is honest, direct, smart and politically [...]
Now Playing
Just Out The Brothers Grimm Wilhelm (Matt Damon) and Jacob Grimm (Heath Ledger) earn good coin as con men, roaming the 19th-century German countryside and pretending to vanquish demons. Their stagecraft is impressive, but useless [...]
Meet Chickadee the BTL pet of the week
Chickadee is a beautiful four-year-old Snowshoe mix cat with gorgeous taupe markings and stunning blue eyes. She is looking for a new home because her previous family moved and left her behind. Chickadee is a [...]
Crueler intentions: ‘Pretty Persuasion’ offers social commentary, raunchy humor
If the entire world were to engage in a Darwin-style mental olympics there's little doubt that Kimberly Joyce would be the last one standing. Sure, if physical strength were factored in she might be at [...]
Q Puzzle Clues
Clang, Clang, Clang ... Across 1 Type of toy 4 "An American in Paris" actress 9 Music man's org. 14 "We ___ everywhere" ('70s slogan) 15 City in the Osmonds' home state 16 Dorothy, to [...]
New documentary series on trans life features MSU student
By Gregg Shapiro "TransGeneration" is the eight episode original documentary series about four college students, including T.J. Jourian from Michigan State University, who are in the process of undergoing gender reassignment. When the series begins, [...]
Winners of the 2004-05 Wilde Awards
WINNERS, READERS' CHOICE AWARDS: Favorite Professional Touring Production: "Hairspray" - Masonic Temple Theatre Favorite Local Professional Production - COMEDY: "Over the Tavern" - BoarsHead Theatre; Jane Page, director Favorite Local Professional Production - DRAMA: "Driving [...]
Detroit’s ‘Oscars’ blends theater, politics
BTL Staff report DETROIT - From the moment the curtain went up on the 2005 Wilde Awards Celebration the best of art and politics came together under the lights of the Gem Theater. The awards [...]
Creativity with a conscience
DETROIT - Socially conscious art collectors have a dream come true event to attend this month. On Saturday, Sept. 24 the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project holds its annual Artworks for Life event, now in its [...]
Ministers to shake tails for WAGS
PONTIAC - On Sept. 24, Pontiac's Club Flamingo will be hosting a first - the first-ever drag performance by Reverend Mark Bidwell and Reverend Deborah Dysert, pastors of Metropolitan Community Churches in Ferndale and Clarkston. [...]
Frittata & Friends breakfast to benefit Alternatives for Girls
CLAWSON - On Thursday, Sept. 15, Clawson's Frittata Restaurant will host a breakfast benefit for Alternatives for Girls, a Detroit program for homeless girls and girls at high risk for teen pregnancy and violence. The [...]
Creep of the Week: Michael Marcavage
Michael Marcavage Since religious fundamentalists have blamed "the gays" for everything from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists attacks to the tsunami in Asia last year, it was only a matter of time before the devastation [...]
Full Truth Ministry celebrates sixteen years
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman DETROIT - On Sunday, Sept. 11, Full Truth Ministry will celebrate sixteen years of service to the LGBT community of Detroit. In the best tradition of the African-American Christian church, Full [...]
UofM welcomes LGBT students back to school
By Sara Holwerda ANN ARBOR - Labor Day meant Gayz Craze for the LGBTA Commission at the University of Michigan. This annual event was held on the northern end of Palmer field under sprawling maize [...]
New Orleans gay community weathers Katrina
By Ed Walsh NEW ORLEANS - CW Stambaugh thought he dodged a bullet. The Owner of the popular Starlight by the Park bar on the outskirts of New Orleans' French Quarter decided to defy Hurricane [...]
Marriage News from Around the Country
Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman California: The state Senate approved legislation Sept. 1 that would legalize equal marriage rights, a vote that makes the chamber the first legislative body in the country to approve an [...]
National News Briefs
Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Family Rights Courts to hear arguments in lesbian custody case MONTPELIER, Vt. - A custody battle over a child born to a lesbian couple has produced dueling court rulings in [...]
Rehnquist leaves behind anti-gay legacy
By Lisa Keen WASHINGTON - No justice has voted against the interests of gays more times than Chief Justice William Rehnquist. And yet, under no Chief Justice have gays seen more significant gains than Rehnquist. [...]
‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’: Bush administration’s Ryan White CARE Act proposal shifts funding, narrows priorities
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman WASHINGTON - The Bush Administration's proposals for reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act could "set HIV prevention and care work back at least 10 years," create "enormous steps backward" in cities, [...]
SHe Said Sept. 8, 2005
"Why is President Bush more concerned with the state of marriage than the state of Louisiana? ThatÕs what the New Orleans City Business paper asked in early February, a couple of weeks after BushÕs State [...]
Calif. confirms petition language for anti-gay marriage amendment
SACRAMENTO - Voters will be given clear information on the devastatingly broad impact of a proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Raymond M. Cadei finalized language for petitions for the measure Sept. [...]
“TransGeneration” to be pre-screened in Ann Arbor Sept. 11
ANN ARBOR - Two Michigan-based groups, the Transgender Advocacy Project and TransGender Michigan, will co-sponsor a specially edited 90-minute feature of Sundance Channel's original series "TransGeneration" on the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor campus on Sept. [...]
Sistrum seeks singers
Open auditions for Sistrum, the Lansing Women's Chorus, will be held Monday, Sept. 12 and 19 from 6-7 p.m. at University Lutheran Church, 1020 South Harrison Road, East Lansing. A full rehearsal will follow from [...]
Editorial: Competing worldviews, indeed
Like the rest of the nation, the staff at Between The Lines has been watching with horror, dismay and anger as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina unfolds. Horror at the devastating wreckage Katrina left in [...]
Community Connections
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 [...]
LGBTs nationwide join hurricane relief efforts
By Ed Walsh NEW ORLEANS - The LGBT liaison for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is sharply critical of the American Red Cross's response to Hurricane Katrina. Larry Bagneris is encouraging the LGBT community to [...]
LGBT community steps up hurricane relief efforts
The LGBT community and allied organizations are actively involved in hurricane relief efforts at local, state and national levels. The full scope of the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina will likely take months to ascertain. [...]