Dear Jody: Terrified of trucks!
Q: I'm a 62-year-old woman and live in a small town in eastern Michigan. I have recently been having panic attacks while driving on the highway. I am OK when I drive around town where [...]
Queeries: I’m not stalking him, but…
By Steven Petrow Q: I connected with this really nice guy on Facebook and have been perusing his profile ever since. We're actually going to meet for coffee - as our first date. So am [...]
Book Marks: Books by Emma Donoghue, Lee Houck, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, and more
by Richard Labonte "Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature," by Emma Donoghue. Alfred A. Knopf, 271 pages, $27.95 hardcover. There's more to lesbian lit than Radclyffe Hall's "The Well of Loneliness" or Patricia Highsmith's "The [...]
Deborah Cox: Absolutely, Yes!
Deborah Cox 11:55 p.m. Aug. 28 Menjo's, Detroit 928 W. McNichols Road Advance: $25/Door: $35 http://www.menjoscomplex.com Deborah Cox knows what she wants out of life - and last week, it was Twizzlers. "I could eat [...]
Filthy Gorgeous
Lady Gaga with Semi Precious Weapons 8 p.m. Sept. 4 The Palace of Auburn Hills 6 Championship Drive Sold out Semi Precious Weapons miss when sex - the dirty come-ons, reckless rebellion and, of course, [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente Rosie's TV alliance with Oprah Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. OK, maybe that's not what Oprah Winfrey's upstart cable network, OWN, has in mind by teaming with Rosie [...]
Q Scopes: Think carefully, Cancer!
By Jack Fertig Saturn squaring Pluto is a long-term aspect dragging us through cathartic transformations both social and personal. While the Sun entering Virgo aspects both, take a critical look at social institutions and your [...]
Not Your Average Joe
Across 1 Auntie disestablishmentarian? 5 "Sweet ___ " (1998 film with a boy with AIDS) 9 Haul ass 13 Aid's partner 14 Lot measurement 15 Holiday season 16 2004 film with a gay hustler 19 [...]
Steve Solomon: a real stand-up guy
By D. A. Blackburn "My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm In Therapy" is quite possibly the shortest plot synopsis in the history of theater. It's also the title of Steve Solomon's acclaimed one-man [...]
Coming Sept 1: The 2010 Wilde Awards
By BTL Staff Professional theaters from throughout Southeast and Mid Michigan will share the spotlight September 1 when the 2010 Wilde Awards are presented at Detroit's Gem Theatre. Sponsored by Between The Lines, Michigan's weekly [...]
Serving a vital need
by Jessica Carreras FERNDALE - It's 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 21. Many Michiganders are still asleep after a long workweek, or just beginning to leisurely sip their morning coffee. But already, Ferndale's Kulick Community [...]
Up in the air
by Jessica Carreras When Chantal Dixon was a teenager growing up in southeast Michigan, Affirmations LGBT community center was her home away from home. So now, she gives back to the center - but not [...]
Sifting through the smoke
by Lucy Hough Michigan is one of 14 states, plus Washington, D.C., that permits the use of medical marijuana in some capacity. At the forefront of what appears to be a progressive push, Michigan city [...]
Viewpoint: Chef Stef’s Culinary Corner
by Executive Chef Stef Summer's not over yet, so grab some sunblock, a straw hat and your protective clothing, then also think about the food you eat to help guard against skin cancer. That's my [...]
Project Healthy Living returns to metro Detroit
Project Health Living Fall 2010 Schedule 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 14, Southfield Civic Center., 26000 Evergreen, Southfield 12-6 p.m. Sept. 15, Southfield Civic Center., 26000 Evergreen, Southfield 12-6 p.m. Sept. 16, Macomb Mall, 32233 Gratiot [...]
New spa opens in Birmingham
A duo of small business entrepreneurs known as the Truth sisters - soul coach and esthetician Sandra Finkelstein and spa director Suzanne Briggs - are bringing a feeling of wellness and beauty to Birmingham's Rail [...]
Viewpoint: The Gentle Art of Vitamin Supplements
I haven't had a cold in over 15 years. For my age (I could be somebody's grandfather or gay great, great uncle), my muscles, joints, heart, lungs are ship-shape. I walk everywhere. In warm weather [...]
Mexican Supreme Court OKs gay adoption
by Rex Wockner In a 9-2 vote Aug. 16, Mexico's Supreme Court upheld the portion of Mexico City's same-sex marriage law that lets married gay and lesbian couples adopt. In two other August rulings, the [...]
Mexico City mayor sues Guadalajara bishop for defamation
The mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, has sued the Roman Catholic bishop of Guadalajara, Juan Sandoval Iniguez, for saying that the Mexican Supreme Court was bribed by Ebrard and others to approve Mexico City's [...]
German gay couples get equal inheritance rights
Gay couples in registered partnerships have the same inheritance rights as married couples, Germany's Federal Constitutional Court ruled Aug. 17. The decision reduces the maximum inheritance tax rate for a surviving gay partner from 50 [...]
Discriminatory Catholic adoption service slapped down in England
A Roman Catholic adoption service in Leeds, England, was denied an exemption to the United Kingdom's ban on discrimination against gay people Aug. 18. In a final determination, the Charities Commission said that Catholic Care [...]
U.N. tells Cameroon to legalize gays
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has told Cameroon to decriminalize gay sex, end anti-LGBT prejudice and stigmatization, and assure that HIV-positive people receive adequate care. The July 29 move followed a presentation to the [...]
Gay divorce up in Britain
Dissolution of civil partnerships in England, Scotland and Wales almost doubled in 2009 compared with 2008, The Independent reported Aug. 20. The figure jumped from 180 to 351. At the same time, the number of [...]
A new Gateway for gay mid-Michigan youth
by Jessica Carreras LANSING - In a field of LGBT support where it seems that all the efforts are still never enough to meet the demand, another group, resource, grant or volunteer effort is always [...]
Aging coalition grapples with next feat: nursing homes
by Jessica Carreras Ideas are flying and opportunities for education and involvement are extensive when it comes to addressing the needs of Michigan's LGBT aging population. At the Aug. 11 meeting for the informal but [...]
Transgender expert to speak at Calif. gender conference
When Dr. Antonia Caretto, Ph.D, was just a teenage tomboy, she met a lesbian who transitioned to becoming a male. Recalls Caretto: "This sparked my interest in the similarities and differences between gender non-conformity and [...]
MDOC ends HIV-positive prisoner food service ban
This article ran in full on http://www.MichiganMessenger.com. Since July 19, the Michigan Department of Corrections no longer bars HIV-positive inmates from working in food service positions. HIV-positive prisoners had been barred from such jobs, considered [...]
Between Ourselves: Benjamin Jenkins
by Jessica Carreras Benjamin Jenkins is gearing up to begin running the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Gender & Sexuality Alliance. The 20-year-old college junior and Garden City resident hopes to carry the relatively new student organization [...]
River cruise to benefit two area non-profits
by BTL staff A riverboat cruise on the Detroit River will soon provide 175 guests with a panoramic view of Detroit and Windsor while supporting two local organizations. The Motown Moonlight River Cruise sets sail [...]
Fire destroys center for young gay men
DETROIT - For many young, gay black men there are few places they can call home, and it just got a little worse for them last week when the R.E.C. Boyz Center, a home-away-from-home for [...]
Name changing for gay couples not a straight line
By LEANNE ITALIE In October 2008, racing against California's gay marriage ban, Chloe and Frankie Frankeny wed legally in San Francisco with one chore already done: Chloe had taken her wife's name two years before. [...]
GetEQUAL launches ENDA Summer campaign
WASHINGTON - National direct-action LGBT civil rights organization GetEQUAL on Aug. 20 announced the launch of its grassroots "ENDA Summer" campaign. Designed to target representatives and senators from several key states, the campaign will focus [...]
Alternative health
Holistic medicine. Massage therapy. Chiropractic care. Acupuncture. Herbs and supplements. They may not be just what the doctor ordered, but that doesn't mean they should be disregarded. When we are sick, we go to see [...]
Creep of the Week: Jeremy Walters
Dear Internet Citizens: Facebook is not private. I don't care how many privacy-setting loops you jump through. The more "friends" you have, the more public your page. Facebook is not a lockbox for your most [...]
Still off Target
Here we go again! A large business contributing to the conservative agenda - one that discriminates against a group of people ("Target struggles with donation backlash, BTL Issue 1833). As a homosexual who promotes equality [...]
Parting Glances: My name’s Spud, buster!
"... and I'm a gay basher ..." PG Friends: I'm sitting in on a meeting of Gay Basher's Anonymous with - unknown to the bashers gathered - my pocket-size recording device surreptitiously "taking notes." I'm [...]
S/he said: LGBT Arabs, APA support and the big gay sandwich
Compiled by Howard Israel "The No. 1 thing that I find from my experience is that there's no set way to be a transman. Identity is pretty fluid." - Amos Mac, freelance photographer and co-founder [...]
The Gay Moralist: Different Challenges?
by John Corvino Ross Douthat's recent New York Times op-ed (http://nyti.ms/cp6K5O) against marriage equality is notable for many things, not least its frank rejection of some standard bad arguments against same-sex marriage. Douthat denies that [...]
Voices from an Urban Bush Sistah: Loving me some me!
By C. Imani Williams Hello, Queens and Kings. I greet you with love in the midst of everythaaang! This more-than-totally-amazing and life-changing graduate program I keep going on about is kicking my butt. Know that [...]
Covey to leave Michigan AIDS Coalition
By Jessica Carreras Ferndale Mayor and MAC COO Craig Covey at the June 5 Southeast Michigan Dyke March. BTL photo by Andrew Potter After over 22 years in the field of HIV/AIDS work, Michigan [...]