The Gay Moralist: Who decides?
By John Corvino Recently I received the following question from a reader: "I have read and thought over some of your comments concerning morality and homosexuality and would like to ask you a question: Where [...]
Parting Glances: Skippy made me gay.
I have a scrapbook my mother put together after I came out to her in '73, a year after my father died. She wrote a note to go with it. Her supportive words are now [...]
Transmissions: A legislative lesson
By Gwendolyn Ann Smith An amazing thing happened in Washington, D.C. lately. Here, in the fifth year of a Republican-controlled congress serving under a Republican President, a piece of LGBT-friendly legislation made it through the [...]
Hairdresser Nation
by R.J. Beaumia My local cable company recently added to its lineup the gay network Logo. All gay, 24 hours a day. When I was notified that I'd be getting the channel I was as [...]
Sen. Goschka’s ‘bedrock principles’
Dear BTL, How is it that a man can become so privileged to serve as a Senator of Saginaw in this Great State and claim to know Jesus, while at the same time making a [...]
Offended by cartoon
Dear BTL, I was reading your paper and was very upset by the comic "Dykes to Watch Out For" in the Oct. 6 issue. In the United States everyone has the right to freedom of [...]
Where are the Dems at?
Dear BTL, Where's my party leadership? I have always been there for my Democratic Party, I haven't always been especially active, but I vote most of the time, and encourage others to vote. I try [...]
In defense of the church
Dear BTL, So, Sean Kosofsky is angry at the Catholic Church again, specifically the Vatican ("Pope BeneDictator" from the Oct. 6 issue of BTL ). Surprise! Now he wants his friends and the rest of [...]
Art & Around for the period Oct. 13-22
Architecture/Gardens/Tours: The Bird Walk Search for and observe the more than 170 species of birds that can be found on the grounds of Ford House. Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores. Daily through [...]
Concert Connections
This Week: Death Cab for Cutie Fri. 10/14/05 Michigan Theatre, Ann Arbor Paul McCartney Fri. 10/14 & Sat. 10/15/05 Palace Of Auburn Hills Healthy White Baby Fri. 10/14/05 Juke's, Grand Rapids Electric Six Sat. 10/15/05 [...]
Curtain Calls
Review: 'The Heidelberg Project' Two Detroit artists, one fascinating challenge Art is a challenge, the audience is told in "The Heidelberg Project: Squatting in the Circle of the Elder Mind." And so is watching - [...]
Curtain Calls XTRA
By John Quinn Review: 'Sylvia' Hilberry opens season with 'shaggy dog' love story If you're unprepared for it, Scene One of "Sylvia" can be startling. A woman clad in nondescript browns bounds onto the stage [...]
Now Playing
Just Out Capote Writer Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) travels to Kansas - accompanied by childhood friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener) - to pen a magazine article about a family's murder. Instead, after befriending killers [...]
Meet Diamond the BTL pet of the week
Diamond is a beautiful 18-month-old brown long hair tabby cat. She is looking for a new home because her previous family moved and could not take her along. Diamond is very friendly and loves to [...]
Theater Events for the period Oct. 13-22
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. http://www.nederlanderdetroit.com. Broadway Bound [...]
A.L.O.R.D.E. Collective hosts Sweetest Day Soiree Oct. 15
DETROIT - On Oct. 15, the A.L.O.R.D.E. Collective will host a Sweetest Day Soiree at Barth Hall from 8 p.m. on. The smoke-and-alcohol-free event will feature an opportunity for singles to mingle, a gift basket [...]
‘Crybaby Butch’ author comes to Ann Arbor to support literacy
ANN ARBOR - Judith Frank, author of "Crybaby Butch" (Firebrand Books), will be in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Oct. 15 for a fundraiser for Washtenaw Literacy. The event will be held at the home of [...]
LCR to screen ‘Gay Republicans’ documentary Oct. 16
FERNDALE - On Sunday, Oct. 16, Michigan's Log Cabin Republicans will meet at SoHo Bar in Ferndale to watch "Gay Republicans," a film that documents the national group's decision to withhold its nomination from George [...]
Monica Bill Barnes gallops onto Wellspring’s stage
KALAMAZOO - Monica Bill Barnes is a perfect fit for Wellspring's fifth year of the ever-popular Alternative Dance Project. Her post-modern dance with a pop culture flavor, "This Ain't No Rodeo!," rides into Wellspring Theater [...]
‘Noah’s Arc’ premiers on Logo Oct. 19
The story of four gay African-American best friends comes to television in the original series "Noah's arc, set to debut Wednesday, Oct. 19 on Logo, the new network for LGBT viewers. This nine-episode comedy/drama follows [...]
Reel Pride film fest begins Oct. 21
ROYAL OAK - With a new fall date and a line up that looks to be the festival's best ever, Triangle Foundation's Reel Pride Michigan's GLBT Film Fest is the place to be as the [...]
Hear Me Out
Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled Melissa Etheridge (Island) Seventeen years after her first self-titled album, Melissa Etheridge has her first greatest hits collection. It's fitting that the record opens with a cover of Tom [...]
Kate Clinton asks ‘What the L?’
Kate Clinton has been carving out a niche for herself as one of America's favorite lesbian comedians for nearly 25 years now. "It's really amazing," Clinton said long distance from her home in New York. [...]
PFLAG Jackson to screen ‘Fish Can’t Fly’ Oct. 13
JACKSON - Parents, Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians will screen the film "Fish Can't Fly" at their October meeting at Immanuel Lutheran Church. The film "explores the lives of Gay men and women [...]
All That May Freely Serve to hold annual dinner Oct. 21
DETROIT - All That May Freely Serve, a group that works for ordination of qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender candidates in the Presbyterian Church (USA) as Elders, Deacons, and Ministers, will hold its annual [...]
Creep of the Week: Sen. Mike Goschka
Sen. Mike Goschka Sticks and stones may break my bones but names, well, it sucks to get called names. But if Sen. Mike Goschka (R-Brant Township) can call my family "perverse" I can call him [...]
PFLAG demands apology from state senator
By The Associated Press SAGINAW - State Sen. Michael J. Goschka brushed off an apology demand from a gay rights group upset by his description of unions between committed homosexual couples as "utter perversity." The [...]
Ypsilanti Township cancels HARC needle exchange program
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP - On Sept. 20, before public comment even began, the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees ended the HIV/AIDS Resource Center's needle exchange program in the township's jurisdiction by a [...]
Bill limiting reproduction assistance for gays and singles dropped
By The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS - A proposed bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child has been dropped by its [...]
Conservatives split over Miers nomination
By The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Harriet Miers' qualifications to be a Supreme Court justice and her views on privacy rights will be a focus of her confirmation hearings, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter [...]
Black Out 2006 initiative announced
WASHINGTON - The International Federation of Black Gay Prides and the National Black Justice Coalition have announced "Black Out 2006," a year-long effort to enlist at least 2,006 Black LGBT and same gender loving people [...]
NBJC submits list of LGB speakers for Million Man March
WASHINGTON - The National Black Justice Coalition announced that the Rev. Louis Farrakhan has agreed to include gay speakers at the 10th anniversary observance of the Million Man March. The group has put forward a [...]
Rainbow Families parenting conference Oct. 16
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman ANN ARBOR - The Lesbian Moms' Network of Washtenaw County will present their second annual parenting conference for LGBT families on Sunday, Oct. 16, beginning at 9 a.m. "Given the challenges [...]
Rainbow Families to have F.U.N. October 29
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman ANN ARBOR - After helping give birth to several lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender family events around the country, the national organization Family Pride Coalition has midwifed a local group, Rainbow [...]
SHe Said Oct. 20, 2005
"[Homophobia is] the last bastion of popular discrimination, sometimes justified by religious scripture that exploits the worst aspects of human nature in order to sometimes feed a political agenda." - Michigan Sen. Gilda Jacobs (D-Huntington [...]
Anti-gay family resolutions pass state Senate, head to House
By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman LANSING - On Oct. 6, the Michigan State Senate passed two resolutions designed to make sure lesbians and gays know that, in the eyes of the state's leaders, their families do [...]
‘Ties Like Me’ a network for the community
By Cornelius A. Fortune ROYAL OAK - When Reid Beyerlein describes why he and business partner Robert Lalicki chose the name "Ties Like Me" for an after-work networking group there's a slight tinge of humor [...]
National News Briefs
Compiled by Dawn Wolfe Gutterman Religion Vatican official: Document does not ban gay priests VATICAN CITY - A Vatican document expected to be made public soon stops short of a sweeping ban on homosexuals entering [...]
Editorial: Respect is the answer
When we were children, our parents would encourage us to respect people - our elders, other family members, friends and neighbors. They would explain to us that even though someone is different, or even if [...]
Community Connections
{ITAL Get connected! Non-profit organizations are encouraged to send listings of ongoing events to Community Connections via email at {URL [email protected]}, fax at 248-615-7018 or postal mail: 20793 Farmington Rd., Ste. 25, Farmington, MI 48336. [...]
Books and CDs available for purchase in this week’s BTL
CDs Read the reviews of these CDs here Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled [Deluxe CD/DVD Combo] Guilty Body of Song Superbeautifulmonster Those Were the Days Dynamite The Politics of Dancing, Vol. 2 Libra Antigua [...]