Parting Glances: Snowshoes in the bushes
$14.99 is small price to pay for a glamourous trip down memory lane. (The older I get the more trips I take, the intervals growing shorter and shorter, with an occasional rest stop in between.) [...]
Q&A: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – unless you really want to know
Whenever I wanted my mother's opinion on something controversial, she would always preface her response with "Don't ask me if you don't want to hear what I have to say and don't expect me to [...]
Creep of the Week: Yes on Prop. 8 donors
Well, well, well. It looks like being anti-gay isn't exactly something folks want to associate their names with after all - even after they've associated their money. In a righteous reversal of fortune, gays are [...]
Just in time: Color to brighten up Michigan’s February
BIRMINGHAM - Colorful prints can be a great way to start an art collection. And for Michigan eyes weary of whites and grays, they can be a treat to gaze upon. Just in time, two [...]
Q Scopes: Accept flattery, Capricorn!
By Jack Fertig With Venus going into Aries and Mars going into Aquarius, latch on to bold, creative impulses. Take the flirtatious chances that you normally wouldn't dare to. Think of new approaches to artistic [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente Mo'Nique, Mariah team up to 'Push' One of the big hits of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival resulted from a collaboration between gay director Lee Daniels ("Shadowboxer") and lesbian novelist Sapphire [...]
Scared stiff
If Clive Barker's "Hellraiser" got a rise out of you, his nude-male photographs could very well do the same - in the most literal sense. The horror-fantasy virtuoso, popularized by creepy films (he produced "Candyman") [...]
Featured outings this week: College Conference, Mosaic Singers in Concert, Reefer Madness
Get ready for the 17th annual Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Ally College Conference, held Feb. 13-15 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. The weekend will feature workshops and lectures where students, faculty and staff [...]
Q Puzzle: “Terrrrrrrrific!”
Across 1 The number of people who like it hot 5 New York Liberty game officials 9 Pink, for one 14 Retreat for D.H. Lawrence 15 Colorado, to Cocteau 16 Garment with a flared bottom [...]
Between Ourselves: Executive Director Adam Taylor
by Jessica Carreras For over a year, Adam Taylor of Kalamazoo has worked tirelessly as executive director of Project Light, which addresses the issue of LGBT youth suicide in Michigan. While attending school for Public [...]
Freedom to Marry stresses communication, technology as keys to equality
by Jessica Carreras "The marriage battle in Michigan has not yet really begun. People and organizations in Michigan need to claim the vocabulary of marriage as a powerful way of getting attention and introducing people [...]
10,000 Dresses Celebrates Transgender Children
by Dana Rudolph Beginning with the vibrant sunburst and smiling child on its cover, Marcus Ewert's 10,000 Dresses is a joyous book about self-acceptance and identity. It is also the only children's picture book that [...]
UM to host talk by lesbian folk artist Phranc
On Feb. 10 from 4-5:30 p.m., the University of Michigan Institute of Research on Women and Gender is presenting the lecture "Phranc and the Art of the Cardboard Cobbler." The event will feature self-professed "all-American, [...]
HARC pushes forward on HIV testing referral program
by Jessica Carreras The HIV/AIDS Resource Center of Ypsilanti has begun a relatively new program that they hope will address the problem of at-risk groups not coming in for testing - and it really pays [...]
Affirmations to host African American Health Fair
by Jessica Carreras This Saturday, Feb. 7, Affirmations is hosting an African American Health Fair. The event will be held from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at Affirmations in Ferndale. The fair will focus specifically on issues [...]
Michigan Pride promises to soldier on despite debt
LANSING - In a community meeting Saturday, the board of Michigan Pride made it clear to about 30 Lansing area LBGT and ally community members that the annual pride event will happen in June of [...]
Marriage equality most important in states like Michigan
Freedom to Marry Week is upon us, and we seemingly have no reason to celebrate. Why talk about the need for marriage equality in a state like Michigan, where our families can't even have equal [...]
Unlucky in love – or lust
Embarrassing in-love (or lust) moments don't easily get erased. These BTL readers know that all too well. My sophomore year of college, we had a game that we played where we would try to steal [...]
Cupid ain’t stupid: Valentine’s gifts that’ll getcha some
Heart On Love him tender, love him true with seductive new selections from Ginch Gonch. The 2009 Valentine's collection is comprised of three pumped-up picks, available in a trio of colors and cuts guaranteed to [...]
Do it different
by Jessica Carreras And we don't mean just dusting off the ol' Kama Sutra book. Try something new this Valentine's Day that will woo your sweetie more than a tired box of chocolates and a [...]
Viewpoint: Make Affirmations your Valentine
by Nancy Katz I'm not a sentimental person, so I've never been a fan of what I call "Hallmark" holidays like Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day is also close to my partner's and my anniversary, which [...]
Porn star bingo – where everyone wins
by Jessica Carreras Porn Star Bingo Five 15 515 S. Washington, Royal Oak http://www.five15.net Some Valentine's Day fantasies go beyond flowers and chocolate. At Five 15 Media, Mojo and More, this hearts day could be [...]
Catch a ‘Streetcar’ to the Purple Rose
By D. A. Blackburn Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" is, without a doubt, one of the most widely known and critically acclaimed plays of the 20th century. A true classic, it's made its way [...]
Truth, youth and the awkward teen-ager
By Robert Bethune How do you play an awkward teenager without coming off as, well, an awkward teenager? That's the acting problem confronting the young cast of the UDM Theatre Company's production of "Speech & [...]
‘Daisy’ blossoms in BoarsHead revival
By D. A. Blackburn With so much focus on America's progress towards racial equality these days, it's easy to gloss over the progress - and the short-comings - of the past. But the BoarsHead Theater's [...]
TV hunk gets kinged
By Gregg Shapiro 'Spamalot' Through Feb. 15 Fisher Theatre, Detroit Your age might have a lot to do with whether Richard Chamberlain qualified as a heartthrob. As the original McDreamy in the TV medical drama [...]
Why We Need to Push Obama and Congress Harder
by Diane Silver Political IQ We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take this anymore. If there is a clear message to come out of LGBT America's response to the fall election, that [...]
Statement: National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Statement by Dr. Kevin Fenton February 7, 2009 Director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a day to focus [...]