Dear Jody: Finding friends
Finding friends Q: Jody, I am having a problem and don't know what to do about it. I can't talk to friends because I don't have any. That's my problem - no friends. I moved [...]
Cocktail Chatter: The Pimm’s Cup
by Ed Sikov "I put down $250 on Billy Joe oh everybody's up I'll call you back is there coffee I smell it yeah! Bye! Great!" Phil Levine bounded down the stairs dressed only in [...]
Book Marks: Josie Gordon’s fun comic caper ‘Ditched’
by Richard Labonte "Progress," by Michael V. Smith. Cormorant Books, 262 pages, $21 paper. Fifteen years and a haunting secret separate siblings Robert and Helen when he lands on her doorstep one day - the [...]
Diamond Rings
By Andrea Poteet The first thing most people notice about Diamond Rings is the eye makeup. Often streaked across his pale face in a glittering rainbow stripe, it's an integral part of the look Canadian-born [...]
Erika Jayne: ‘Gay People are a Good Time’
Erika Jayne's never performed in Michigan before, so naturally when she does - at 6:30 p.m. June 5 at Hart Plaza (Main Stage) for Pride - the dance-pop vixen will make her Detroit-area debut in [...]
DJ Jace: Turning tables
By Samantha White Motor City Pride is celebrating a milestone this year as it returns to Detroit, where it all began 25 years ago. The festival is spreading its wings not only with a new [...]
Kerli: Love Warrior
Kerli doesn't like to talk about gay people. She prefers seeing everyone as simply human beings, where there is no straight or gay, no black or white. "It really divides humans," the 24-year-old singer says. [...]
Pierre Fitch
Porn got Pierre Fitch's career rolling, but he didn't stop there - the Canadian cutie's been DJing for nearly three years. "I've always had a passion for music," he told us recently. And his sonic [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente 'Paperboy' delivering McConaughey and Efron Two high-profile gay filmmakers collaborating on a sexy thriller? That's the news with "The Paperboy," a feature being produced by Pedro Almodovar and directed by the [...]
Q Scopes: Sing out, Pisces!
By Jack Fertig Mercury squaring Neptune in Pisces while entering Gemini inflates wonderfully imaginative notions. Jupiter entering Taurus could ground them and find profitable applications. Jupiter in Taurus for the next year "should" be good [...]
Getting in Gear for Dick
Across 1 "You are all a ___ generation" (Stein) 5 Family name of Boy George 10 Online auction site 14 Piece of Aaron Copland 15 Sal of _Rebel Without a Cause_ 16 High flat area [...]
The Wilde Awards get even wilder (and wider) for 2011
By BTL Staff Although Michigan's 2010-11 professional theater season opened amidst a still-sputtering economy, thespians statewide didn't let skyrocketing gasoline prices, an unusually snowy winter and the rainiest (and coolest) spring in recent memory deter [...]
Boy meets girl, with an Edge
By Carolyn Hayes The Encore Musical Theatre Company is once again flexing a different set of musical muscles. Its Encore on the Edge series provides a home for more unconventional, contemporary fare, encouraging devotees of [...]
Tony-nominated play premieres in Michigan
By Bridgette M. Redman ANN ARBOR - In-law issues are challenging enough without life-threatening illnesses or the fact that the in-laws don't know their religious son/brother has a spouse. When the spouse is actually a [...]
Gay Play Series returns to Ringwald
FERNDALE - Who Wants Cake? and The Ringwald Theatre recently announced the return of its wildly popular Gay Play Series (GPS). Last year's inaugural outing was attended by hundreds of people over a single weekend. [...]
Local fun, flair marks Kalamzoo Pride’s fourth year
By Jeremy Martin Attendees celebrate at last year's Kalamazoo Pride festival. photo supplied by the Kalamazoo Gay and Lesbian Resource center. Adam Carter is gearing up to co-MC Kalamazoo Pride 2011 and he has [...]
Jay Kaplan’s 10-year journey fighting for LGBT rights
By Tara Cavanaugh and Ruchi Naresh The American Civil Liberties Union has long been an advocate for LGBT equality. Michigan's ACLU chapter has a special tool in its belt for fighting for LGBT rights: the [...]
Charles Alexander: Always an artist
By Alexa Stanard Charles Alexander, a longtime Detroiter and contributor to BTL, now enjoys life as a writer and artist. He recently celebrated his 75th birthday. BTL photo: Andrew Potter. When artist, writer and [...]
Giving voice to the voiceless
By Andrea Poteet Laura Hughes is the executive director of the Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park. The center is one of three shelters for homeless and runaway LGBT youth in the country. BTL photo: [...]
A kick-start to the heart
By Tara Cavanaugh and Ruchi Naresh Curtis Lipscomb, the new executive director of KICK, shows off KICK's new space in Detroit's Tech Town. BTL photo: Andrew Potter. "It's really tough reaching the African American [...]
Family matters
By Tara Cavanaugh During the last 25 years, PFLAG-Detroit has clearly marked its support by attending pride marches across the state and even by posting a billboard on I-75. The billboard was paid for by [...]
A cookbook for LGBT gourmets
Too many cooks spoil the broth, so the well known saying goes. Believe it or not, Julia Child was one. In addition to being a sometime World War II spy recruit, Julia was - tell [...]
32 arrests at Moscow Pride, city flouts Euro Court ruling
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS Undeterred by the April ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that banning Moscow Pride is illegal in multiple ways, the city banned the May 28 gay pride parade [...]
LGBTs march in Turkey
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS LGBT people marched in Ankara, Turkey, May 22 at the conclusion of the 6th International Meeting Against Homophobia. A group of Iranian LGBT refugees joined the procession, proclaiming: "Ahmadinejad! We [...]
Between All of Us
By Tara Cavanaugh Between Ourselves Here are some of the inspiring volunteers and organizers featured during the past year in BTL's Between Ourselves. The biweekly column showcases people who are doing good work for the [...]
Support local GLSEN at June fundraiser
GLSEN of Southeast Michigan is planning a fundraising event on June 18 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Detroit Yacht Club. The evening will include appetizers, a cash bar, and a raffle along with a [...]
The history of Pride
1972 - The Michigan Gay Confederation organized Detroit's very first gay pride march. It was known as "Christopher Street Detroit '72," named after [...]
Metro Health Foundation supports Ruth Ellis Center
HIGHLAND PARK- Metro Health Foundation is continuing its support for the Ruth Ellis Center for a second year with a $10,000 grant to help fund the center's Health Care Navigation Program. Ruth Ellis Center is [...]
How are we going to provide a roadmap?
A wise man once said, "I think we owe a duty, and by we I mean LGBT organizations and programs, to set forth a road map: How are we going to get there, what's it [...]
How excited are you for Motor City Pride?
I am super-stoked for Motor City Pride finally being celebrated in Downtown Detroit! Funny that my family used to feel "unsafe" watching the Freedom Festival fireworks in Detroit, so we crossed over to Canada. (I [...]
Hart arrhythmias recalled
Parting Glances I have a scrapbook my mother put together sometime after I came out to her in 1973, a year after my father died. She wrote a note to go with it. Her supportive [...]
Marriage rights, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Compiled by Howard Israel S/he Said "On matters of freedom and equality, history has not remembered obstructionists kindly. Not on abolition. Not on women's suffrage. Not on workers' rights. Not on civil rights. And it [...]
Happy 25th! Time to plan for our 40th
By Tim Retzloff Responding several months ago to Equality Michigan's decision to move Motor City Pride from Ferndale to Hart Plaza, Oakland County Commissioner and former Ferndale Mayor Craig Covey noted in his Covey's Corner [...]
We’re all in this movement together
By Curtis Lipscomb Welcome, Motor City Pride, to Detroit! Whether you cross the city of Detroit boundaries via M-10 from Oakland County or you cross over 8 Mile Road from Macomb County, you will see [...]