Dating Diet: Love Game
By Anthony Paull The backdrop beckons with a most brilliant set-up. You see, tonight, there's to be a festival - full of sparkles, magic, and music - embodying equality with the spirit and spunk of [...]
Dear Jody: E-mail war!
Q: My cousin sends me all these e-mails that have to do with religion; her religion, I might add. She thinks, somehow, that I want this e-mail crap, even though she believes that I'm a [...]
Wright-ing History
Chely Wright is sitting in the sun on the backyard patio of her New York home while her two Chihuahuas run wild. Since making national headlines for being the first major country artist to come [...]
Soul Sista
By Thomas Matich The real winner of "American Idol" this year wasn't Lee DeWyze or even runner-up Crystal Bowersox, but Detroit's nomadic folk-soul songstress Sista Otis. Otis, who has a syrupy down-home Janis Joplin warble [...]
Milty Moves Michigan
Over in Chicago, DJ Milty Evans makes old drag queens and club kids move their butts to his soul-house beats. He's lugging them over to Lansing for Michigan Pride, where he'll close out the festival [...]
Hear Me Out: Sia’s sweet new pop-dance disc. Plus: Cyndi Lauper has the blues
Sia, 'We Are Born' Sia's sound on her breakout fourth album is more sun than shade. The out, anti-fame Aussie known for lassoing us into a web of doom and gloom with LPs like "Healing [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood: Pee Wee Returns
By Romeo San Vicente Drew Barrymore is off to see the wizard Once upon a time in a land called Hollywood, all the way back in the olden days of 2002, Drew Barrymore was set [...]
Q Scopes: Get out of town, Libra!
By Jack Fertig With Mercury entering Gemini, you could get some rational insight into current epochal shifts to articulate the necessary changes. As arguments heat up, try to keep calm with an open mind and [...]
Hard Act to Follow
Across 1 Risk rust, for the Tin Man 5 Use it to stroke your head 10 "As Is" subject 14 As to 15 "The closet" opening? 16 "Boys in the Band" author Crowley 17 At [...]
The OutField: Team Oregon takes on Cologne
By Dan Woog In his late 60s, Arde Johnson still competes as a bodybuilder. When he and his partner moved to Portland, Ore. a few years ago, he left behind an important part of his [...]
A timely tale of war at the Detroit Rep
War is indeed hell - not only for the active combatants and the civilians whose lives are shattered as a result of falling bombs and gunfire, but also the returning military personnel who have observed [...]
This club is jumpin’ and smokin’, baby!
Storm clouds gathered as I approached Club Morocco on a recent Friday night. The handsome, slick-haired doorman looked me in the eye and greeted me as I entered. (He didn't scare me.) A sexy cocktail [...]
‘Patty Hearst’ out of captivity, on stage
By D. A. Blackburn The revolution will not be televised, but if you're anywhere in Southeast Michigan, it will unfold on a stage near you. "Patty Hearst: The New Musical," the latest offering of the [...]
British treasury secretary resigns in gay housing scandal
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs British Treasury Chief Secretary David Laws, 44, resigned his job May 29 after it was revealed that he had been giving his second-home allowance to his secret male partner. [...]
Euro Parliament to look at Polish anti-gay policy
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs The European Parliament's Committee on Petitions has OK'd an investigation into Poland's alleged refusal to issue certificates of marital status to Poles who wish to enter into same-sex unions [...]
Malawian couple pardoned
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs The Malawian couple recently sentenced to 14 years in prison with hard labor after they held an engagement ceremony at a hotel were pardoned by President Bingu wa Mutharika [...]
Small pride marches staged in Moscow despite ban
by Rex Wockner International News Briefs LGBT people managed to stage two small, brief pride marches in Moscow on May 29 despite another ban from Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who says gay marches are "satanic." In [...]
A day for dykes
by Jessica Carreras FERNDALE - You make the decision with someone close to you and begin to get excited. You plan and take great care and tell all of your friends. You painstakingly map out [...]
Bioterrorism charges dropped against HIV-positive man
A bioterrorism charge has been dropped against an HIV-positive man who allegedly bit his neighbor last year in a physical altercation. A Macomb County Circuit Court judge dropped the charge on June 2 after the [...]
Michigan Pride Calendar
Friday, June 11 White Party, 9 p.m. The second annual bar crawl, taking place at the Chrome Cat, Spiral Dance Bar, Grand Cafe and Esquire Club. Admission: $10. Hosted by Michigan Pride. Old Town, Lansing. [...]
Striving for the perfect Pride
by Jessica Carreras Michigan's LGBT community is buzzing about freshly out country music singer Chely Wright's upcoming appearance at Michigan Pride this Saturday, June 12, where she'll serve as grand marshal and perform a few [...]
‘Love is a gift’
by Lucy Hough FERNDALE - As a part of Motor City Pride weekend, eight couples were given the chance to show their love in front of Ferndale City Hall during the Commitment Ceremony that was [...]
Rain, sun and Pride fun!
FERNDALE - Tens of thousands of LGBT and allied people descended upon downtown Ferndale on June 6 for the annual Motor City Pride festival. Despite intermittent rain, attendees danced, drank and partied on. Throughout the [...]
Between Ourselves: Sherry Duquet
by Jessica Carreras Sherry Duquet of Dearborn is a multi-tasking activist. Through her and her partner's jewelry company Solstice Designs, their non-profit Project Mother's Day and now, Duquet's blog, she promotes sustainable living, giving back [...]
Speak Out: Endorsements speak loudly
by Eric Rader As the election season heats up, it's important that all of us in the LGBT community pay close attention to which individuals and groups are supporting the candidates for various public offices. [...]
Deloitte to help Affirmations for annual Day of Impact
For a second year in a row, accounting firm Deloitte is giving back to metro Detroit's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by designating Affirmations as one of their volunteer sites for their annual Day [...]
DADT activist Eric Alva to speak at Kalamazoo Pride
Now in its third year, Kalamazoo Pride is set to take over the Arcadia Creek Festival Site from 2-11 p.m. June 12. A free event hosted by the Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center, the day [...]
Presidential Pride Proclamations
by Dana Rudolph President Barack Obama has, for the second time, issued a proclamation in honor of Pride Month. Only one other president - Bill Clinton - has ever done so. A comparison of their [...]
Dyke March deserves praise
Hundreds of queer women taking to the streets of Ferndale with pride - it's a beautiful thing. With no underwear-clad boys, bears or leather men in sight, June 5 truly was a day for Michigan's [...]
Creep of the Week: Family Research Council
On May 28, President Obama declared June 2010 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month. Such a declaration was, according to the Family Research Council, an outspoken foe of LGBT people and rights, tantamount [...]
Letter to the Editor: More on Affirmations’ plan
Thank you for your coverage of Affirmations' annual meeting on May 26 (Affirmations begins new plan, campaign; June 3, 2010). I am writing to clarify some of the details of that article regarding phase two [...]
Parting Glances: Who’s behind the Times?
Time magazine's cover a week ago must have fascinated Bible fundamentalist readers of the "Left Behind," $60 million grossing, "end times" religious sci-fi series. (Indeed, how gross.) These biblical fundygelicals are convinced the pope is [...]
S/he said: Proclamations, homophobia and Jane Lynch
Compiled by Howard Israel "If a disgust response can be evoked, it will tend to stay around. Think about the ramifications for gay marriage. If children are taught that homosexuality is disgusting, they will want [...]
The Gay Moralist: My Daddy’s Name is Donor
by John Corvino In our public debates over marriage equality, Glenn Stanton often holds up a picture, taken from a lesbian parenting website, of a small child wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "My [...]
Have a happy Pride, but be aware of your surroundings
Written in consultation with Capt. Ray Hall, Lansing Police Department North Precinct Commander. It's fantastic to have another incredible Pride season before us. It has become a fixture of the Lansing community, helping our economy, [...]