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House eliminates domestic partner benefits
By Tara Cavanaugh LANSING- The state House voted to eliminate health insurance benefits for the domestic partners of state employees on Thursday, Sept. 15. This renders the benefits, which were set to take effect Oct. [...]
Closeted service member: DADT repeal makes no difference
By Tara Cavanaugh Talking to Kris S. - the name he prefers to be printed - is like talking in code. He's serving in the National Guard, but he can't say where, just that he's [...]
Dear Jody: He sees something in me that I don’t
Q: I think I have a question that I've never seen before in your column. I've been bothered by this since early summer, and I can't seem to get over it. My boyfriend "Sam" and [...]
Cocktail Chatter: Pernod and Roses
by Ed Sikov "I went out with Jennifer and the gals last night," Ramona said just before she dug into her salad Niceoise. A little bistro had opened on West 18th Street - Le Quai [...]
Book Marks: ‘Stealing Angel’ juggles hot-button issues
by Richard Labonte "Stealing Angel," by Terry Wolverton. Spinsters Ink, 288 pages, $14.95 paper. Estranged lovers, custody fights, child abuse, kidnapping, spiritual beliefs, the shadowy boundary between religion and cult - Wolverton's fourth novel juggles [...]
Lady Bunny: And I Am Telling You…
By Andrea Poteet What does a drag queen do for Labor Day? If you're New York City drag icon Lady Bunny, not much. "New York really shuts down over Labor Day," she says in her [...]
MSU extracts poetry from ashes of 9/11
By Bridgette M. Redman EAST LANSING - Ask any adult today what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001 and the stories will start to flow. Everyone has one the way everyone in the previous [...]
Time capsule burial at Royal Oak Public Library
The longstanding tradition of time capsule burials is alive and well as Royal Oak citizens begin to collect what will eventually be artifacts of the city. Royal Oak community members are planning to mark the [...]
Q Scopes: You can relax, Leo!
By Jack Fertig Mars entering Leo inflates energy and egos, and trine to Uranus in Aries, will lead to unexpected results. Stubborn assertion will lead to wacky disasters. Be bold, but adaptive and humble for [...]
Funny Girl
Across 1 Junior Vasquez is this kind of jockey 5 Stick your nose in 10 ___-tat 14 From the top 15 Old Mercury 16 Neighbor of Pakistan 17 64th album of 59-Across 20 Chef Traci [...]
‘Love Song’ poses interesting questions
By John Quinn John Kolvenbach's comedy, "Love Song," is a deceptive little work. Superficially it appears a run-of-the mill, boy-meets-girl retread. Yet under a layer of outrageous characters and an overreliance on obscenity and repetition [...]
‘Daddy Long Legs’ strides into the Gem
By Martin F. Kohn Who doesn't love a tale about a plucky orphan prevailing? Oliver Twist, Anne of Green Gables, Homer Wells (John Irving's "The Cider House Rules") - each the hero of a popular [...]
‘Come Fly Away’ his way, her way
By Martin F. Kohn It should come as no surprise that Twyla Tharp has an affinity for Frank Sinatra; the director-choreographer has always done things her way, whether creating a ballet for pregnant women or [...]
European masterpiece opens the season for Magenta Giraffe
By John Quinn The scenic design for productions in Detroit's storefront, "black box" theaters - like 1515 Broadway - are representational rather that realistic. A critic, wrapped in a stream of unconsciousness, can find his [...]
Extraordinary performances narrate the ordinary
By Bridgette M. Redman Those things in our life which are the most ordinary and every day are, when we step back to look at them or when we run the risk of losing them, [...]
Planet Ant makes flawed ‘Love Song’ sing
By Jenn McKee The world can be an overwhelming place, and in John Kolvenbach's comic drama, "Love Song," now playing at Planet Ant Theatre, a brother and sister adopt starkly different strategies for dealing with [...]
Design to live by
By Tara Cavanaugh Award-winning interior designer Jimmy Angell should be more than a little full of himself. He has a booming firm and clients clamoring for his [...]
Won’t you be my neighbor?
By Tara Cavanaugh DETROIT- The Oct. 9 East English Village Home Tour is offering a glimpse of more than just pretty homes at bargain prices. The tour also offers visitors a chance to become part [...]
What we can do now
By Jay Kaplan This past week the Michigan House passed, along partisan lines, bills HB 4770 and 4771, which would prohibit public employers from providing health insurance coverage for unmarried domestic partners whether they are [...]
Create jobs or destroy families? A Republican dilemma
By Denise Brogan-Kator For many of my 30 years in business, I was one of those "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" type Republicans. Although my politics have changed, I still believe that government has a role [...]
Transgender Health Fair focuses on treatment, guidance
FERNDALE- The audience at Affirmations on Saturday, Sept. 17 was a diverse one. There were confidently smiling transwomen, well-dressed and softened by years of estrogen. Others sat anxiously, taking notes for themselves or for the [...]
Exhibit showcases local LGBT talent
DETROIT- There's more to David Wysocki than being a gay man. He loves wine, travel, sewing and interior decorating. He also installs roofs, works as a landscaper, and has been a graphic designer for 17 [...]
PAC seeks nominations for pro-equality candidates
Gay and transgender political organizers throughout Michigan are gearing up for November's election by offering financial support to pro-equality candidates. The Equality Michigan Pride Political Action Committee is looking for candidates to endorse and is [...]
Michigan AIDS Coalition receives $14K grant
FERNDALE- The Michigan AIDS Coalition, in partnership with the Southeastern Michigan Health Association, is departing from their standard work of providing HIV testing and is entering a new arena: syphilis intervention services. This pilot grant, [...]
Angel Carrion
by Tara Cavanaugh Between Ourselves Angel Carrion won this year's Rising Star Award at the annual Pride Banquet in June. Carrion, 22, recently started a new job at AIDS Partnership Michigan. He has also worked [...]
Statement by President Obama on the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
"Today, the discriminatory law known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is finally and formally repealed. As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to [...]
Ask Lamdba Legal: Can we be foster parents?
Dear Ask Lambda Legal, My partner and I live in Illinois and are in a civil union. We are thinking about becoming foster parents, but have heard about problems with certain child welfare agencies. Should [...]
Gov. Snyder must veto discriminatory health care bill
The United States is moving forward. Michigan is moving back. As of Tuesday, the U.S. officially got rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the ban on openly gay and lesbian service members in the military. [...]
Dave Agema
Creep of the Week There's one thing you can say about the state of Michigan: it's too friendly to gays. I mean, yes, it's still legal in Michigan to be fired for being gay. And [...]
Domestic partner benefits for state employees look like they’re dead – even before they went into effect. What are your thoughts?
Heard on Facebook I loathe witless, self-centered, mean-spirited pissant Republicans. -Donna Fisher I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. -Michael Suitts Douches ...every one of them! -Scotty James Benefits provided by employers are earned compensation [...]
With Bruce and Dickie at home
Parting Glances I'm not one to indiscriminately name drop, but I had dinner with the Wayne-Graysons, celebrating their 75-plus years together. I flew Delta to Gotham City for the gala event, staying at the Crusader [...]
DADT repeal, ETC
Compiled by Howard Israel S/he Said "The US military is making changes of its own, although they aren't really being publicized either. Along with the sensitivity training that's been required of all servicemembers to acclimate [...]
Find me a find
By Leslie Robinson Viewpoint Yente would plotz. The matchmaker in "Fiddler on the Roof" would have a coronary over the kind of matchmaking being practiced these days. And by a rabbi, no less. The shmendrik. [...]
Kerry legislation would outlaw LGBT discrimination in housing, credit
By BTL staff Photo by Theodore Littleton WASHINGTON, D.C.- Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., introduced legislation on Sept. 23 to outlaw discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered Americans in the housing and credit markets. [...]
Anti-gay-slur video to be shown at U-M game Saturday
By BTL Staff A PSA urging people not to use gay slurs will be shown to more than 110,000 fans who show up for the Michigan vs. San Diego State football game Saturday. The video [...]
AIDS Walk Michigan raises more than $100K
By Tara Cavanaugh and Zach Childree The AIDS Walk crowd warms up to disco music before starting Sunday's 3-mile walk in downtown Ann Arbor. BTL photo: Tara Cavanaugh Dressed head to toe in a [...]