As the world continues to learn more about coronavirus and its spread, it's vital to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. However, it's also important to make sure that the information being distributed is from credible sources. To that end, Between The Lines has compiled, [...]
Gay rodeo promotes animal abuse, not community
RodeoFest 2011 (presented by the Michigan International Gay Rodeo Association) is promising a fun-filled weekend of entertainment later this month. However, for the animals involved in these shows, rodeos are anything but fun. In fact, [...]
Holland City Council feels the pressure of failed vote
By Jeremy Martin HOLLAND- Last month, the Holland City Council turned down an anti-discrimination amendment that would have offered protections to LGBT citizens in housing and employment. But two groups of concerned citizens are refusing [...]
AmeriCorps team celebrates year of service
DETROIT- Terry Ryan from the Michigan AIDS Coalition has organized the year-long AmeriCorps service programs for the past six years. At the July 6 end-of-service awards ceremony, he was full of gratitude and pride as [...]
The Dating Diet: It (Kind of) Gets Better
By Anthony Paull I want to talk to Dan Savage. I'd like to tell him, yes, it does get better, but it also gets complicated. I'm acting a little crazy lately. I can't help it. [...]
Dear Jody: Freaked out on the Fourth
Q: This Fourth of July was horrible for me, and I am so embarrassed: A group of my friends planned a Fourth of July get-together for me with about 30 of my friends. This is [...]
Book Marks: Joan Opyr’s ‘Shaken and Stirred’ mixes light and dark
by Richard Labonte "Shaken and Stirred," by Joan Opyr. Bywater Books, 398 pages, $14.95 paper. Opyr is a master (mistress?) of mixing light and dark - of telling a story about family dysfunction, alcoholic rage [...]
What the folk?
Abigail Stauffer and Chris Bathgate 8 p.m. July 15 The Ark ($15) 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor http://www.theark.org It felt like I'd known Abigail Stauffer for years. She greeted me with her friendly good-to-see-you [...]
Orchard Lake Fine Art Show enters ninth year
In its ninth year, the Orchard Lake Fine Art Show runs July 29-31 on Powers and Daly roads in downtown West Bloomfield. This award-winning art show consists of approximately 220 artists, using media such as [...]
Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San Vicente Goldie Hawn sneaks a peak at 'The Viagra Diaries' Who sits down to watch TV instead of getting online or playing a video game? Baby boomers, that's who, and their sitcom [...]
Q Scopes: Stay clear, Cancer!
By Jack Fertig The sun in Cancer deepens our sense of identity with family and tribe. (And did you have a nice Pride celebration?) Sun squaring Eris, however, can increase tribalism and factionalism. Being with [...]
Brutus and Julius
Across 1 Acknowledge a queen 4 Choreographer Bob 9 Just out 12 Forget about 14 LuPone Broadway role 15 Jodie Foster's " ___ Driver" 16 Nathan of "The Producers" 17 Furnishings 18 River near Dunkirk [...]
‘The Full Monty’ leaves the glass half full
By Bridgette M. Redman "The Full Monty" continues through July 16. Photo: Tibbits Summer Theatre For a musical about going all the way, "The Full Monty" fell just short of the goal. Oh, the [...]
Blast off to ‘Forbidden Planet’ with Hope Rep
By Sue Merrell Sarah Vogt, Brian Patrick Williams and Hayley Galbraith in "Return to the Forbidden Planet." Photo: Hope Summer Repertory Theatre Great Balls of Fire! The small cast of Hope Summer Repertory Theatre's [...]
Out of Town: The French Riviera: Nice and Cannes
by Andrew Collins View from Fort Royal of Ile Sainte-Marguerite and, across the harbor, the hills above Cannes and the French Riviera. Photo by Andrew Collins The French Riviera, or Cote d'Azur, ranks among Europe's [...]
Indian health minister: Gay sex is ‘totally unnatural’
Gay sex is "totally unnatural," Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said July 4. Speaking in the Hindi language at a national HIV/AIDS conference, Azad said: "Unfortunately, in the world and in our country also, [...]
Gays arrested at Russian Embassy in Paris
Five gay people were arrested outside Russia's embassy in Paris on July 8. They were attempting to present a petition from AllOut.org, signed by some 14,000 people, opposing Moscow's years-long ban on gay pride and [...]
LGBTs picket Russian Embassy in London
LGBT people picketed the Russian Embassy in London on July 1, urging that Russia's voting rights at the Council of Europe be suspended. Despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling this year that Moscow's [...]
Same-sex marriage campaign launches in Uruguay
Uruguay's Colectivo Ovejas Negras (Black Sheep Collective) has launched a TV-ad campaign featuring 34 Uruguayan celebrities saying they support legalization of same-sex marriage. A marriage-equality bill was introduced in Parliament three months ago. "The bill [...]
Hugs and drugs
By Tara Cavanaugh The generic liquor store along Plymouth Road in Redford looks like many others in the area. When you walk in, you see a wall of refrigerated alcohol beneath Bud Light plaques and [...]
Between Ourselves: Erin Wilson
Erin Wilson is a Grand Rapids resident who formed Until Love Is = after Holland's City Council voted against housing and hiring protections for LGBT residents. The group has received an outpouring of support, and [...]
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell dies again
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 6 lifted its stay of a federal District Court ruling that found the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military gay ban unconstitutional. As a result, DADT no [...]
LGBT teaching bill passes California Legislature, governor’s position unknown
The California Legislature passed a bill July 5 that amends the state Education Code to require that schools teach about LGBT people's contributions to the economic, political and social development of California and the U.S. [...]
Rhode Island civil-union law takes effect
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed a civil-union bill July 2 and it took effect immediately. Although it extends the rights of marriage to civil-union same-sex couples, gay activist groups opposed the law because of [...]
Justice Dept. files groundbreaking pro-gay brief
The Obama administration broke new ground July 1 in a legal brief filed in the case of a San Francisco federal-court employee, Karen Golinski, who has been trying to put her wife on her work [...]
Stop listening to Gary Glenn
Last week, Gary Glenn went on Linda Harvey's radio show and proclaimed that gays aren't the "best or the brightest" employees. The earned Glenn, the head of Michigan's chapter of the American Family Association, coverage [...]
Linda Harvey
If there's anything I love it's a good ol' Nazi allusion. It's the ultimate argument winner. All you have to do is link your opponent and Nazis in your audience's mind and you're golden. You [...]
Constructive criticism for BTL
I very much appreciate Between The Lines and its coverage of LGBT issues in Michigan. I think that the juxtaposition of the social, cultural and political is very important for our community, and I look [...]
What do you think about Michele Bachmann and her husband – who ‘rehabilitates’ gays in his clinic?
How about we put him in a room with a bunch of drags for an hour? I bet he will come out a new man ...so to speak. -Gar Peterson He's a whacko. Cut his [...]
No harm in gay rodeo
Kate Brindle wrote about the Michigan International Gay Rodeo Association's upcoming RodeoFest 2011 and her concern about the animals involved. It's great to be in a free country that allows for questions and the freedom [...]
Mamacitas! Mujeronas!
I've returned after a heavenly week, all expenses paid, from Porta Bloomers, Texas, for the first international convention of Bilingual Drag Queens for Jesus. Hola-la-la! I flew first class with 50 lovelies, including Senorita Sinsational, [...]
Politics and rights
Compiled by Howard Israel "While being lesbian or gay may not be a choice, being ignorant is. Pawlenty has either chosen to be ignorant of the reality or he has chosen to present himself in [...]
A model pronoun
By Gwendolyn Ann Smith Newsweek magazine, in its June 12 issue, ran a profile on Brazilian model Lea T. Good in places and bad in others, the piece tells of her early years growing up [...]
Ye gods! An entertaining night at The Encore
Zachary Barnes is delightful as the charming con man Harold Hill in "The Music Man." Photo: The Encore Musical Theatre Company The first musical I remember attending was "The Music Man" at the local [...]
Planet Ant’s ‘Cop Block’ unarresting
By John Quinn Perhaps that canny Scot, Robert Burns, put it best: {ITAL The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!} [...]
Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis talk gay stereotypes, sex scenes
Photo: Screen Gems Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis hook up in the new romantic-comedy "Friends With Benefits." And not just as the movie's stars - but literally, as their characters have detached, just-for-fun sex [...]
Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis talk gay stereotypes, awkward sex scenes
Photo: Screen Gems When Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis stroll into a hotel suite in Santa Monica, it's clear why they're in a movie about having emotionless, just-for-fun sex - they're both ridiculously hot. [...]
California Gov. signs LGBT education bill
By BTL staff SACRAMENTO- Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that makes teaching about LGBT individuals in social science lessons mandatory. The California Legislature passed the bill last week, but many were unsure if [...]
Active-duty military march in San Diego Pride parade
By Rex Wockner BTL photo: Rex Wockner. Some 300 active-duty troops (the majority of the contingent) and veterans marched in San Diego's LGBT Pride parade July 16. As far as can be determined, it [...]
Obama supports Respect for Marriage Act
By BTL staff U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced the Respect for Marriage Act. President Obama announced yesterday he supports the Respect for Marriage Act. The act, introduced by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein from [...]
DOMA repeal hearing shows heated debate
By Lisa Keen U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a legendary civil rights activist, led off Wednesday's hearing to discuss repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, likening it to laws decades ago that required separate water [...]