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Dear Jody: All alone
All alone Q: Before I get into my problem, first of all let me tell you a little about myself: I'm a 32-year-old woman. I have been teaching second grade for eight years; I am [...]
Matthew Morrison: As Gay As He Gets
Matthew Morrison doesn't mind being the gayest straight man you know. The 32-year-old actor recently called being a member of a gay boy band in the 2003 film "Marci X" the "gayest thing" he's done [...]
k.d. lang: ‘I don’t know who Chely Wright is’
k.d. lang is manning up, and here's why: Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and all the other sexpots of pop who shoot whipped cream from their chests and ride disco sticks. In our recent interview with [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente Chloe Sevigny summons her killer instinct With "Big Love" behind her, Chloe Sevigny seems to be ready to let the bodies pile up. She's been talking about producing and starring in [...]
Q Scopes: Be clear, Libra!
By Jack Fertig For the next few months we get a taste of the Uranus-Pluto square that will dominate the next five years. Recent political turmoil has just been the set-up for major crises and [...]
Hear Me Out: Best of 2011 (So Far)
Divas dominated the first half of this year, but the Adele-Britney-Gaga train wasn't the only one rolling through. All three ladies, though, made our mid-year review, a look back at the last six months of [...]
Alas, Poor Doric
Across 1 Sally portrayer of "Cabaret" 5 Puts the finger on 10 Blows away 14 Lysol target 15 Eat away at 16 To ___ (unanimously) 17 Ginsberg's "Gay Adult Coloring ___ " 18 Big splash [...]
The OutField: The president comes out
By Dan Woog The president has come out. No, not the president of the United States. (Though Barack Obama does have a better bod than, say, Newt Gingrich.) It's the president of the Phoenix Suns. [...]
Pleasant as a summer night’s dream
By John Quinn An astute professor once told our class, "One does not go the theater to 'see' Shakespeare. One goes to 'hear' Shakespeare!" I've never seen that demonstrated so ably as in the adventuresome [...]
By Zeus! Program thy GPS to The Ringwald
New play, one-act and staged reading festivals have been springing up all over the place in recent years - beginning in earnest, if memory serves me correctly, with the Heartland Theatre Company's much lauded efforts [...]
Barn’s back with Yooper love story
By Sue Merrell Hallo! Is dis da Soady deer camp? It sure is. After closing for a year of fundraising, Augusta's Barn Theatre is back in full swing, and what better way to welcome returning [...]
More human father reigns in ‘Children of Eden’
By Sue Merrell There's a certain calm, confidence of experience that comes with opening your 40th season. That confidence is apparent as Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland celebrated Father's Day weekend with the ultimate [...]
‘Gay Play Series,’ Block B: Better than its collective title
By Michael Margolin The second half of the Gay Play Series (or GPS for short) got underway Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. sharpish at The Ringwald Theatre in Ferndale. The Series seems to be developing [...]
Argentine gays sue over blood-donation ban
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS Buenos Aires' Comunidad Homosexual Argentina filed suit June 14 to overturn a national ban on blood donation by gays, calling it discriminatory. The group lodged its claim in the Buenos [...]
Brazilian activists meet defense minister
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS The Brazilian LGBT Association (ABGLT) met with Defense Minister Nelson Jobim on June 14 to lobby him on gay and HIV issues. ABGLT President Toni Reis said Jobim committed to [...]
French Parliament rejects same-sex marriage
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS France's National Assembly voted 293-222 against legalizing same-sex marriage June 14. President Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling Union for a People's Movement party opposed the measure. In January, France's Constitutional Court upheld [...]
Gay people to picket Russian Embassy in London
by Rex Wockner INTERNATIONAL NEWS LGBT people plan to protest at the Russian Embassy in London on July 1. They will demand that Russia's voting rights at the Council of Europe be revoked. Despite a [...]
Holland City Council votes no on anti-discrimination ordinance
By Jeremy Martin Wednesday night the Holland City Council voted 5-4 against drafting an amendment that would have included the terms "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the city's code of ordinances. The language would [...]
Saugatuck votes against showing coming out video in sex ed class
By Jeremy Martin SAUGATUCK- On Monday night, following two months of deliberation, the seven member Saugatuck school board voted 5-2 against adding a video titled "Coming Out: What Every Teen (Gay or Straight) Needs to [...]
West Michigan Pride bigger than ever
By Jim Sullivan GRAND RAPIDS- With a new location, the 23rd annual West Michigan Pride festival attracted more attendees and vendors than ever before. Last year roughly 6,000 attended, said organizer Linda Stuba. But this [...]
Police investigate hate crime in Ferndale
By Tara Cavanaugh FERNDALE- Ferndale Police are investigating a hate crime that occurred around 1 a.m. on June 13. Ferndale Police Sergeant Patrick Jones said on June 13, two men were in a house on [...]
Dynamo Di Donato
By Tara Cavanaugh John Di Donato is retired in name only. "I didn't retire to sit and die," said the 66-year-old former teacher who officially retired in 2003. "I retired to have the time to [...]
MDOC allows officer to wear uniform in Grand Rapids gay pride
The Michigan Department of Corrections reversed its earlier decision and allowed Officer James Sims to wear his uniform while attending the gay pride events on Saturday, June 18 in Grand Rapids, Mich. Sims was denied [...]
Appeals court says ‘gay panic’ is not self-defense
A Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that a man who attacked another man for unwanted sexual advances was rightly denied the use of "gay panic" as a defense strategy. In the case People of [...]
GOP not the family values party
By Eric Rader Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-NY, resigned last week from Congress after he admitted to sending racy electronic messages to various women who were not his wife. It was probably inevitable in this age [...]
Schools have right to form GSAs, reminds Dept. of Ed.
By Dana Rudolph Schools receiving federal funds must provide equal access to school resources for all student groups, including gay-straight alliances, said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a "Dear Colleague" letter to educators on [...]
Tennessee sued over anti-gay law
By Rex Wockner Gays, LGBT groups and elected officials sued Tennessee in state court June 13 over a new law that prohibits cities, counties and school districts from having laws or policies that protect LGBT [...]
How to stop history from repeating
There's been disappointing news from the west side this week, and it doesn't just affect those who live along the lakeshore - it affects all of us. Last week in Holland, a measure to protect [...]
Kim Haynes
Creep of the Week Remember back in the day when black people couldn't swim in public pools because white people didn't want to catch being black? Luckily that doesn't happen any more. Well, save a [...]
Tim Pawlenty is another 2012 Republican hopeful who gets ‘glitter bombed’ – in the name of gay rights and women’s reproductive rights. Is this a good tactic?
That was very entertaining, although not very professional. -Kevin Johnson LOVE IT! -Johnny Rheaume What's the point? It's funny and frivolous, but is anyone going to take it seriously? -Alex Hardesty The only problem I [...]
One picture, 1000 words
Parting Glances I was ten when my grandmother took me to see "The Picture of Dorian Gray." It was the only time she ever took me to the movies. The film, based on Oscar Wilde's [...]
Schools and politics
Compiled by Howard Israel S/he Said "I encourage every school district to make sure that its administrators, faculty members, staff, students, and parents are familiar with these principles in order to protect the rights of [...]
Let my people kiss
By Leslie Robinson General Gayety Among the security guards at Target Field in Minneapolis, one stands out for his overriding moral concerns. The fellow is a little tin Moses, and the stadium is his Mount [...]
Students lobby for anti-bullying bill
By Tara Cavanaugh More than three dozen students from area high schools lobbied lawmakers in Lansing to pass an anti-bullying bill that would protect all students. Michigan is one of six states without any anti-bullying [...]
VIDEO: Gutsy teens lobby lawmakers to pass anti-bullying law
LANSING- On Wednesday, students lobbied lawmakers to pass anti-bullying legislation that protects all students, including LGBTs. Michigan is one of only six states without any anti-bullying law. Before the teens met with their elected officials, [...]
New York legalizes same-sex marriage
By Rex Wockner New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, seated, signs a bill legalizing same-sex marriage at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Friday, June 24, 2011. AP Photo by Mike Groll. New York state [...]
Thousands boycott Holland businesses over failed anti-discrimination ordinance
By Jeremy Martin HOLLAND- A group calling itself "Until Love Is =" has been making a social networking stir in West Michigan. Armed with a Facebook following of more than 2,400 people, the group founded [...]
EXCLUSIVE: The (Gay) Gaga Interview
Lady Gaga is one of the biggest superstars in the world. But speaking to her only briefly during this rare interview, she evades her larger-than-life image with affable charm, self-deprecating humor (take that, so-called penis) [...]
Pride ralliers arrested in St. Petersburg, Russia
by Rex Wockner Police in St. Petersburg, Russia, broke up the second gay pride parade on June 25 and arrested the participants, who took this cell-phone photo in their jail cell. Photo courtesy of Nikolai [...]
Affirmations hires executive director
FERNDALE- Affirmations community center has chosen a new exective director. Dave Garcia will take over the post as executive director on Aug. 15. Affirmations' community-based search committee, consisting of Metro Detroit area LGBT and allied [...]