Dear Jody
By Jody Valley Safe family space Q: This has been a long hard year for my family and me. People say that adversity brings people closer, but in my family that hasn't been happening. It [...]
The Gay Moralist: The Church’s Shame
by John Corvino Back in the 1980s, I aspired to the Roman Catholic priesthood. After investigating various orders, I eventually gravitated toward the Franciscans, not so much on theological grounds as for having clicked well [...]
In A Family Way
In June when classes end, students yell "School's Out," but now that school is starting up again, I can't help but wonder who is out in the schools, and how out one can actually be. [...]
Parting Glances: Note: it’s pronounced ‘coom’
I was 23 the year I enrolled at Wayne University, now Wayne State. It took me 14 years to get my B.A. in English, with 12 hours toward an M.A. in teaching Community College Writing. [...]
AIDS Walk Michigan: A unique collaboration
By Barbara Murray, President, AIDS Walk Michigan On Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1 and 2, AIDS Walk Michigan will take place in eight cities throughout the state of Michigan. It will be the eighth year [...]
Concert Connections
This Week: System of a Down Thurs. 9/29/05 Joe Louis Arena, Detroit Beth Nielsen Chapman and Alison Brown Thurs. 9/29/05 The Ark, Ann Arbor Ray LaMontagne Thurs. 9/29/05 Majestic Theatre, Detroit Bob Mould Sat. 10/1/05 [...]
Theater Events for the period Sept. 29-Oct. 8
Professional Theater/Opera: 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. $22.50-$45. 313-872-1000. www.nederlanderdetroit.com. Broadway Bound [...]
Letter: Granholm good for gays?
Dear BTL, I read Sean Kosofsky's All Politics is Loco column often and he rarely holds back, so it was a surprize to see him tread so gently with a governor who was nowhere to [...]
Letter: On religious acceptance
Dear BTL, GLBT and religion. Many would say we are mixing water with oil. I disagree. I will always stand on the side of our constitution and the individual's right to chose a religion, or [...]
Stop religious zealotry
Dear BTL, We are, as humans, caught up in and must find the courage and awareness to fight the lions, tigers and other beasts and ilk of humankind who are in the United States preparing [...]
Dragonchuk deliberates?
Dear BTL, We already know the outcome of the Proposal 2 trial in Kalamazoo. Judge Joyce Dragonchuk's handling of this obscene trial gives this illegal law credibility that the framers of it intended. That she [...]
Castro memories
Dear BTL, Charles Alexander's "Parting Glances: Reruns as metaphor (Pt. 2) https://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=15784" from the Sept. 15 issue of BTL was like boarding the reversible light year train to a time it was just arriving in [...]
Savage vows: Dan Savage talks to BTL about parenting, monogamy, chickenshit politicians and why straight folks better watch their backs
Every week, thousands of people read what Dan Savage has to say about sex. Straights, gays and everyone in between seek out his syndicated Savage Love column for advice that is always honest and direct. [...]
Fall into queer music
DETROIT - October will be a queer music fan's dream come true when some of the hottest LGBT acts head to Detroit and Ann Arbor. Here's a run down of shows you won't want to [...]
Lily Tomlin comes to EMU Oct. 1
YPSILANTI - Award-winning comedian and actress Lily Tomlin will grace the stage at Pease Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University for a performance of "classic" Tomlin on Saturday, Oct. 1. For a minimum $100 donation to [...]
LGBT business owners gather to skill build and schmooze
FERNDALE - Beginning Oct. 5, Metro Detroit LGBT business owners and wannabes will have an opportunity to skill build and schmooze at a series of monthly workshops to be held at Affirmations Lesbian and Gay [...]
Tango Flamenco to bring Latin dance to Detroit’s Music Hall
DETROIT - Sensational Spanish dancers and masterful Argentinean musicians combine for an unforgettable evening of song and dance when Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts presents the critically acclaimed company Tango Flamenco on Friday, [...]
Curtain Calls XTRA
By John Quinn Review: 'Broadway Bound' Simon says: Dying is easy, comedy is hard I've just read a Mark Twain story in which a painter fakes his own death to increase the value of his [...]
Curtain Calls
Review: 'Ice Glen' Icy hearts thaw in season opener "Letting go of anything is painful." And it's never easy, playwright Joan Ackermann's explains in her latest work, "Ice Glen," now playing at Ann Arbor's Performance [...]
Now Playing
Just Out Just Like Heaven Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon) is a young doctor who goes into a coma following a head-on collision with a truck. Stuck between life and death, her spirit decides to inhabit [...]
Praise Fellowship moves location due to fire
MADISON HEIGHTS - Praise Fellowship Christian Church will not be meeting in their usual Madison Heights storefront due to a fire that broke out in an adjacent storefront last week. Praise Fellowship's Rev. Rick Green [...]
Creep of the Week: The Pentagon
The Pentagon Last week it was the Vatican, this week it's the Pentagon. I'm on a roll taking on mega-big institutions. I'm keeping an eye out for black helicopters piloted by Cardinal Maida outside of [...]
SHe Said Sept. 29, 2005
"[Director] Ang [Lee] was very respectful of the love scenes that we shot. It was a very intimate process. We didn't have playbacks, we didn't have any of that. We were really like working organically. [...]
AIDS Walk Michigan to walk farther this year
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman DETROIT - It's that time of year again. The leaves will soon start turning, the breeze will carry an undercurrent of crisp, and dedicated volunteers will put on their best walking [...]
Tri-Cities PFLAG celebrates 15 years
By Dale Merkle MIDLAND - If your son and his best friend were dumped in your front yard beaten and tattered and you had to get them to the hospital to be stitched and bandaged, [...]
OutFest captures the energy of equality
by R.J. Beaumia ANN ARBOR - There was a beautiful blond guy in a tight athletic tee dancing, bounding really, in the middle of Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor last Saturday at OutFest. He kept [...]
LGBTs raise thousands for Stabenow
By BTL Staff SOUTHFIELD - Over 80 LGBT people and a few straight friends came out on a rainy afternoon Sept. 25 to support U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow's reelection campaign. She will be running for [...]
ACLU battles to protect LGBT families’ rights
BY Sharon Gittleman SOUTHFIELD - Last November, one little girl watched Michigan's election results on TV and heard the news she'd dreaded. Voters had approved Proposal 2 - creating a constitutional amendment in the state [...]
10th Annual Art Works for Life brings diversity and helps the fight against AIDS
By Cornelius A. Fortune DETROIT - The 10th annual Art Works for Life, to benefit the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project was held Sept. 24 at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, with Fox 2's Fanchon Stinger [...]
GM employee recognized for advancing workplace equality
DENVER - Leslie Hohman, engineering group manager from General Motors Corporation and chair of GM's LGBT Employee Affinity Group GM PLUS, was awarded the 2005 Trailblazer Award at the annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit [...]
12th Annual LAHR Prism Awards Oct. 12
LANSING - The Lansing Association for Human Rights will present the 12th Annual Prism Awards on Wednesday, Oct. 12. According to LAHR, the awards are a way to honor "incredible community members and allies who [...]
National News Briefs
Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Religion Vatican: document on barring gay priests expected before end of year VATICAN CITY - A Vatican document will be released in the coming weeks that reaffirms the Catholic Church's [...]
Coming out embraces family values
A small child is frightened at night and a loving parent hugs and comforts them through the thunderstorm. A teenager struggles in high school, and a parent provides a tutor and the encouragement to make [...]