Dear Jody: Help me help her find a job
Q: I am writing you because I am a nervous wreck. My partner of 20 years lost her job recently, about six months ago. We weren't worried because we had a good savings and thought [...]
Book Marks: Union Atlantic, The Wolf at the Door
By Richard Labonte "Union Atlantic," by Adam Haslett. Doubleday, 304 pages, $26 hardcover. The great promise of Haslett's 2002 short story collection, "You Are Not a Stranger Here," is more than realized with this mesmerizing [...]
It Takes Two
What a ride it's been for Nervous But Excited. Not just the one where the folk duo open for Ani DiFranco and become the only local band to play the 2010 Ann Arbor Folk Festival, [...]
Melissa Etheridge: Fierce and ‘Fearless’
If Melissa Etheridge's music has seemed mellow lately, she's about to show you. Back to her rock-out roots, the tough-and-gruff musician/mother/activist makes a roaring return with the uplifting "Fearless Love," her follow-up to 2007's sociopolitical-powered [...]
Sia Gets Into the Groove
The world might just end for those who feed off Sia's sad songs. She's happy! And she knows it! And she's clapping her hands! In fact, she's making everyone do it on her forthcoming CD's [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente Ron Weasley explodes in 'Cherry Bomb' Turn kids into movie stars and soon enough they'll want to start acting in movies about hookers and drugs to show you how grown up [...]
Bebe gives her ‘Best Of’ for the ‘Race’!
By Bebe Zahara Benet Wasn't it great to see me on the special episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race" this week? Well, it was wonderful to sit down with RuPaul and my season one sisters Ongina [...]
Getting older could suit you, Taurus!
By Jack Fertig Q Scopes Saturn is in Virgo aspecting Uranus in Pisces, Neptune in Aquarius - triggering persnickety criticisms that could easily miss the mark - and Venus strong in her own sign, Taurus, [...]
Sliced Fruit
Across 1 Able to bend over 6 Big swallow 10 Poke with a stick 14 Fruit sliced in 55-Across 15 "Hi" to Lorca 16 Round dance 17 Split from between the sheets 19 Fail to [...]
Brian Burke’s legacy
By Dan Woog The OutField Last November, the 21-year-old manager of a college hockey team came out as gay. Two months later, he was killed in an automobile accident. The hockey world may never be [...]
Abreact’s ‘Calypso’ proves elusive
By Jenn McKee One of the best creative writing workshop teachers I ever had used a graphic that looked like car's gas gauge to address a key point in storytelling - namely, that an author [...]
Breathe Art spins a smart, powerful tale
In these financially troubled times, a theater risks its very existence every time it decides to be the first to produce a brand new play. Yet here in Michigan - the state hardest hit by [...]
Race and class: Seeds for thought at JET
I'm not the critic who was supposed to review "Palmer Park" at The Jewish Ensemble Theatre - and to be honest, that was by design. I grew up only a few miles west of that [...]
Cyprus to consider recognizing same-sex partnerships
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs Cyprus' governmental ombudsman has urged the government to legally recognize same-sex partnerships, and Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Lazaros Savvides said April 10 that the government will "seriously" consider doing [...]
Indian professor who was suspended for having gay sex dies
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs An Indian languages professor at Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India, who was driven from his job in mid-February after a TV news crew burst into his house and [...]
Macedonia criticized for failure to protect gays
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs Gay activists and the European Union criticized Macedonia April 9 for failing to include sexual orientation protections in the nation's new anti-discrimination law. An EU representative said Macedonia stands [...]
Gay group can run candidates in Philippines election
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs The Philippines' Supreme Court on April 8 overruled the nation's Elections Commission and ordered that the gay group Ang Ladlad can register as a political party and run candidates [...]
Poland’s National Museum to mount homoerotic exhibit
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs Poland's National Museum will mount an exhibition of gay erotica from June 10 to Sept. 5. "Ars Homo Erotica" will include more than 200 works dating from antiquity to [...]
Uzbek AIDS activist jailed
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs An AIDS activist in Uzbekistan, psychologist Maksim Popov, reportedly has been sentenced to seven years in prison because a brochure he was distributing allegedly encouraged immoral behavior and drug [...]
Linda Tillery to play at local church
As part of their year-long bicentennial celebration, the Central United Methodist Church of Detroit is bringing Grammy-nominated artist Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir to the church at 7 p.m. April 25. The church [...]
Mimi Gonzalez coming to Affirmations
Detroit Latin@s, southeastern Michigan's only community-based LGBTQ organization for and by the Latino community, is hosting an early Cinco de Mayo celebration at Affirmations with comedian Mimi Gonzalez at 7:30 p.m. May 1. Mimi Gonzalez [...]
Rights vs. acceptance
Unbeknownst to many Americans, some areas in the Middle East actually enjoy more LGBT rights than we do in the U.S. Israel is one of those countries. However, although rights are more common, acceptance is [...]
Breaking the borders
by Jessica Carreras "Jerusalem is really a city of borders ... between east and west, between Jews and Palestinians, between secular and ultra-Orthodox, between straight and gay." These words, spoken by Sa'ar Netanel, owner of [...]
Kuipers: Bullying legislation stalled by lack of definition
LANSING - The chair of the Senate Education Committee says efforts to pass anti-bullying legislation in the state are stalled because lawmakers can't define what bullying is - yet he expects local school districts to [...]
Between Ourselves: John Sutton
by Jessica Carreras John Sutton, 29, and his boyfriend Jorge, 31 had an unexpected surprise in 2009: the Ann Arbor couple began taking care of Jorge's niece, who was sent to them to have a [...]
‘Life is too short to drink bad coffee’
FERNDALE - When Chazzano Coffee Roasters opened last November, it was one of the largest ribbon-cutting ceremonies in Ferndale Area Chamber of Commerce history. Over two dozen supporters crammed into the quaint coffee shop to [...]
Open Arms joins Michigan AIDS Coalition
FERNDALE - The Michigan AIDS Coalition has embraced the offer of local HIV/AIDS support group Open Arms to become a permanent part of MAC's programs. While MAC has an array of programs that serve those [...]
Out of the Closet, Into the Light
Have you ever wondered how religion and LGBT communities can support one another? Have you ever wanted to learn more about what LGBT-affirming faith leaders in your community are saying today? Do you want to [...]
Dining Out for Life
Several Lansing-area restaurants are participating in Dining Out for Life on April 29, a fundraiser for the Lansing Area AIDS Network. As a condition of participation, several restaurants have agreed to give a generous portion [...]
Obama orders visitation rights for same-sex couples
WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Obama on the evening of April 15 called on the Department of Health and Human Services to order all hospitals that participate in Medicaid and Medicare to allow patients to designate [...]
White House releases report on AIDS meetings
by Bob Roehr The Office of National AIDS Policy released a 76-page report on April 9 but it was not the long-awaited national strategic plan on HIV/AIDS. The report, Community Ideas for Improving the Response [...]
A look at Supreme possibilities
By Lisa Keen The White House has begun floating trial balloons for candidates President Obama might appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. It's a well-known ritual, played by [...]
DADT protests continue
by Lisa Keen Tension in Washington continues to mount as protesters - namely from recently formed activist group GetEQUAL - have grown increasingly demanding of the president and Congress in regard to repealing "Don't Ask, [...]
The chicken or the egg?
What's more desirable: to have full equality in our laws but be hated by our neighbors, or to have social acceptance but no rights? Moreover, what comes first? "There has to be both," AL GAMEA [...]
Creep of the Week: Bryan Fischer
With Supreme Court Justice John Stevens announcing his retirement, speculation about whom President Obama will nominate to replace him is running rampant. Some have even speculated that Obama's nominee could be a homo. Sen. John [...]
Parting Glances: And sign it with a kiss?
There's a guy named Eric Sprague, age 37, whom you're not likely - thankfully - to meet up with in a bar, restaurant, or church. To begin with he's straight. (Don't get me wrong: some [...]
S/he said: Politics, Day of Silence and pets
compiled by Howard Israel "Two years ago, on the way to school, I noticed a piece of duct tape stuck to one child's shirt. I dropped them off at their school and said goodbye and [...]
Viewpoint: Federal legislation will combat discrimination against LGBT students
by Rep. Gary Peters The April 8 issue of Between The Lines contained poignant and timely coverage on the problem of bullying in our schools. Bullying is a very real and very serious threat to [...]
Dr. Kathryn Wright, Horizons Project founder, dies
LATHRUP VILLAGE - Dr. Kathryn Wright died at home April 26. An adolescent pediatrician, Wright was committed to the treatment of HIV/AIDS in teenagers in Detroit, and was the founder of The Horizons Project, a [...]