Dear Jody
Father blames mother for gay children Q: I am a 42-year-old lesbian. I have three children - 16, 18 and 21, two girls and a boy. I have been divorced for 10 years and have [...]
Parting Glances :J. K. can you spare a dime?
It's a Harry Potter kind of day. In the 90 minutes it takes to write, Spell Check, pray over this column 450,000 copies of "Deathly Hollows," the last in J. K. Rowling's enchanted series will [...]
Creep of the Week: Bob Allen
{HEADER} Anti-gay Republicans are dropping their pants - or, in this case, asking others to drop theirs - so fast I can barely keep up. Florida Rep. Bob Allen was arrested on July 11 after [...]
The Gay Moralist: I expected you to be taller
by John Corvino In my last column I reflected on the fifteen-year anniversary of my lecture "What's Morally Wrong With Homosexuality?" This year marks another anniversary for me: five years as a columnist for Between [...]
Down to business with the Dems
By Chris Crain The HRC-Logo forum on gay issues with the Democratic presidential hopefuls is one week away. What questions should they be asked? Only a week before the Democratic presidential candidates gather for a [...]
Politics is Loco: J
by Sean Kosofsky No, this column is not about Wal-Mart and I certainly haven't chosen, as Prince did, to use a symbol to express myself. Actually, this column is about appreciation...and expressing it. Last week [...]
Multimedia art gallery to take over 8,000-square-foot warehouse
'Forth From Its Hinges' 7-10 p.m. Aug. 9. Opening reception with the artists, musical performance and refreshments 4 p.m.-midnight, Aug. 10 with musical performance from 8 p.m. 12 p.m.-midnight, Aug. 11 with musical performance from [...]
Billy Masters
"FoxNews is a bigger threat to America than any terrorist organization - just look at their treatment of Rosie O'Donnell. Scary stuff." - Simon Cowell virtually bites the hand that feeds him. I recently got [...]
Book Marks
by Richard Labonte July 30, 2007 "The Dust of Wonderland," by Lee Thomas. Alyson Books, 320 pages, $24.95 hardcover. Pre-Katrina New Orleans is the setting for this stirring supernatural tale about ghostly queer spirits and [...]
High on life
Lesbians On Ecstasy Hip Hop at High Noon, Aug. 10 Hart, Mich. Yep, they're called Lesbians On Ecstasy. No, they're not a bunch of dykes on drugs. They are four women from Montreal who see [...]
Plymouth celebrates eighth year of Old Village Restaurant Crawl
PLYMOUTH - The Plymouth Community Chamber of Commerce presents the Eighth Annual Old Village Restaurant Crawl. This year's Crawl will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Aug. 8. The Crawl will feature seven participating restaurants, as [...]
‘Simpsons Movie’: Not so d’oh
By Cornelius A. Fortune The Simpsons Movie B In theaters now Eighteen years-plus is a long time to stay somewhat irreverent, especially when so much of your DNA has been spliced off for prime time [...]
Detroit-area theater troupe invited to perform at the Minnesota Fringe Festival
BLOOMFIELD HILLS - Clown wives. Admit it: You read those two simple words - clown wives - and all sorts of crazy images popped into your head. And they're still clamoring to get out. "It's [...]
Womyn’s Festival to feature music, comedy mix
By Holly Pruett For a full Michigan Womyn's Music Festival schedule, visit http://www.michfest.com. Long before "The L Word," there was the M-word. Michigan. To tens of thousands of women around the world, Michigan is more [...]
Art & Around for the period Aug. 2-11
EDITOR'S PICK: "Broken," the micro-budget feature shot for $985 by directors Derek Justice (Farmington) and David DeLeon (Sandusky, Ohio) is off to a big start. After received standing ovations after big premieres in Detroit and [...]
Theater Events for the period Aug. 2-11
EDITOR'S PICK: On Friday, Aug. 3, internationally-acclaimed Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit will revive its wildly successful musical "Now That I Can Dance -- Motown 1962" at the Detroit Film Theatre inside the Detroit Institute [...]
Q Health, Coming out: The end of one process, the beginning of another
By Dr. Jeffrey Chernin Prior to coming out, most of us mistakenly believe that coming out is an event and not a process. It's often viewed as an ending rather than a beginning. It's true [...]
Marico-rny
It (Democratic Candidate Gov. Richardson's use of the word "maricon") was a lapse in judgment by Richardson. He apologized now and last year after it occurred. I think he was set up by Imus, but [...]
Reader responds to Dear Jody
I'm reading the story about the girl who got beat up by her girlfriend (Dear Jody, BTL, July 26, 2007). Maybe she provoked a fight but there is still no reason for having someone else, [...]
Michigan Supreme Court tells religious bigots they have no standing to sue A2 schools over Domestic Partner program
LANSING - The Michigan Supreme Court, in and 8-1 decision, has once again rebuffed religious extremists' bid to force their own brand of morality on the state via court action. For the second time, the [...]
HTJ 2007 – Some like it hot!
The 12th annual Hotter Than July, Detroit's black gay Pride celebration, brought the heat once again. The highlight of the week was, of course, Saturday's picnic in Palmer Park, where several thousand folks came out [...]
International News
by Rex Wockner Buju Banton has joined fellow Jamaican reggae-dancehall singers Beenie Man, Sizzla and Capleton in signing an agreement to stop bashing gays in their music. Banton's huge hit Boom Bye Bye advocates shooting [...]
Keen on the trail
By Lisa Keen Gay related news from the presidential campaign trail... WHO SAID THAT? "I support the right of the Boy Scouts of America to decide what it wants to do on that issue. I [...]
Presidential Forum on LGBT Issues:’08 Dems agree to appear
On Aug. 9, presidential candidates will gather in Los Angeles for a forum on issues affecting the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the United States. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, [...]
Congress votes to continue medical marijuana raids
by Bob Roehr Supporters of medical use of marijuana made little progress in an attempt to rein in federal raids in those states that allow use of that product. On July 25, a vote in [...]
Murder victim was strong opponent of drug dealers
LANSING - Ruth Hallman, 76, was a lot of things. Leader in the embattled Genessee Neighborhood on Lansing's near west side, mother of Lansing city council at-large member Carol Wood, and a staunch no nonsense [...]
Ohio case gives mixed blessing
By Sharon Gittleman A Supreme Court of Ohio ruling gives hope to those fighting for LGBT rights in Michigan. In State v. Carswell, a man charged with domestic abuse claimed he could not be tried [...]
Rabbi Sherwin Wine dies in Africa
By Sharon Gittleman BIRMINGHAM - Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine, founder of the Birmingham Temple and the worldwide Society for Humanistic Judaism, died in an automobile accident on July 21. He was 79. Wine, a Birmingham [...]
Gay beach sold
SAUGATUCK TWP - It's a prime piece of land along the Lake Michigan shore, filled with dunes and forests. Its a unique series of biomes and it is 412 acres. It's crawling with ticks, and [...]
Mentally challenged man and his advocate target of racist and anti-gay vandalism
WATERFORD - A handicap parking sign belonging to residents in a federally subsidized housing unit was vandalized over the weekend with homophobic and ethic slurs. Anthony Williams, who lives in the Whispering Woods housing complex, [...]
Windsor Pride gets ‘Front and Centre’
WINDSOR - Windsor Pride wrapped up a week's worth of celebration Sunday with a rousing parade and festival that drew thousands into the streets of downtown Windsor. The parade wound its way from the St. [...]
Windsor murder suspect still loose
WINSDOR, Ont. - The search continues for suspected killer Jesse Imeson, who is wanted in the murders of a gay Windsor bartender and an elderly couple. On Monday, police found the 2006 silver GMC Sierra [...]
Weighill campaign says Whitney not on payroll
FLINT - Dale Weighill, an openly gay candidate running for mayor of Flint, said in an interview with BTL this week that conservative activist Tyler Whitney is not an employee of his campaign, and has [...]
A Rabbi’s lesson of power, community and hope
In this issue we report on bigots in Waterford terrorizing a mentally disabled gay man, and that a Windsor murderer remains at large. The Ku Klux Klan is set to march in Kalamazoo this weekend, [...]
Old fashioned comedy, old fashioned fun
Neither the threat of storms nor a persnickety sound system stopped Water Works Theatre Company from staging its opening night performance of "Barefoot in the Park" last Thursday, and what a pleasant evening of outdoor [...]
Ancient debate gets modern-day twists
CC2_1531.jpg: Lansing-based Sunsets with Shakespeare gives 'Julius Caesar' a 21st century twist beginning Aug. 9 at the Lou Adado Riverfront Park Sunbowl. Photo: Courtesy, SWS Iraq. Rome. Bush. Caesar. Ask the average American what connection [...]
LOGO TV forum puts six Democratic candidates in spotlight on gay rights
By Lisa Keen There was one drop-jaw moment in Thursday night's presidential forum on gay issues, and several lean-in-close moments. But while there were no major shifts in previously stated positions, the forum served at [...]