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, [...]
Community struggles to heal after pastor resigns
By Tara Cavanaugh FERNDALE- The community is reeling after it was discovered last week that a popular gay pastor was involved in a drug-and-sex party that left one man dead of a drug overdose. The [...]
‘Our youth need us’
By Zach Childree and Tara Cavanaugh DETROIT- A dozen young Detroiters staged a protest Monday after an effective and popular program of AIDS Partnership Michigan was forced to close its doors. The program, REC Boyz [...]
Dear Jody: Stop with the drunk texts
Q: "Kristen" and I have been together for one-and-a-half years. We have a really great relationship, and I want to keep it that way. My problem is my ex. First, I need to give you [...]
Cocktail Chatter: Irene
by Ed Sikov "Jack Fogg started it," I whined. "You sound like a 6-year-old," Dan replied. "But he did! It wasn't my fault." "Oh yes it was," Dan said with finality. "He held out the [...]
Book Marks: Talking My Life, The Fog, Nocturnal Omissions: The Tale of Two Poets
by Richard Labonte "Taking My Life," by Jane Rule. Talonbooks, 284 pages, $19.95 paper. It's good to go through all the boxes. That's how scholar Linda M. Morra came across an astonishing, never-catalogued find: a [...]
Not-So-Nervous But Excited
Nervous But Excited's Sarah Cleaver started a song while she was coming out, and then let it sit for nine years. A banjo she received as a birthday gift helped her turn those long-lost lyrics [...]
Spectrum Center to celebrate 40th anniversary
The Spectrum Center of the University of Michigan celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with a weekend of commemorative events. Founded in 1971 by Radical Lesbians leader Cindy Gair and longtime LGBT rights activist Jim [...]
Why ‘Weekend’ isn’t just another gay movie
Gay films once overlooked how much we're actually like everybody else. We live, we hurt, we love. And we don't all know people who look ready-made for the runway. But director Andrew Haigh's "Weekend," opening [...]
Q Scopes: Care for yourself, Pisces!
By Jack Fertig Mercury conjoins Saturn in Libra raising knowledge and articulation of what our relationships are about and where they're going. Feeling limited can create arguments or healthy productive discussions. Stay focused on what [...]
Project Mercury
Across 1 Sprint at the Gay Games 5 Marlon Brando's hometown 10 Fruit ___ (gay district) 14 Really a fan of 15 Significant others 16 Cube designer Rubik 17 With 25-Across, Freddie Mercury song 19 [...]
‘Jersey Boys’ lights up Wharton stage
By Bridgette M. Redman "Jersey Boys" was so on fire Friday evening at the Wharton Center that they almost got a standing ovation midway through the second act. Joseph Leo Bwarie was electrifying in his [...]
MSU students go ‘bare’ for first production
By Bridgette M. Redman There are many reasons to do theater. Dennis Corsi put his reasoning into the name of his new theater company, Touch Your Soul Productions. It's a name pulled directly from a [...]
U-M celebrates birthday of Tennessee Williams
ANN ARBOR - The U-M Department of Theatre & Drama opens the 2011-12 season with a celebration of Tennessee Williams' 100th birthday with a production of his one-act play "Suddenly Last Summer" and a four-day [...]
‘Escanaba in da Moonlight’ comes home
By John Quinn I approached this assignment with some trepidation, since I knew the actors would all be armed and it's always open season on theater critics. The fact that The Purple Rose Theatre has [...]
Charity begins at U of D Mercy
By Michael Margolin Robert Anderson wrote a play some 40 years ago that was made into a distinguished film with Melvyn Douglas and Gene Hackman. Called "I Never Sang for My Father," it was a [...]
Flash: Season opener is a winner at Performance Network
Magic happens on stage whenever a team of skilled and like-minded theater artists come together and put forth their best work. The script doesn't have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner - or even noteworthy; [...]
GVSU offers gender neutral housing
By Tara Cavanaugh ALLENDALE- After a student-led push, Grand Valley State University now offers gender neutral housing in its campus dorms. A group of students formed a group called the Gender Neutral Housing Coalition and [...]
Ruth Ellis Center appoints Mark Erwin as director of programs
HIGHLAND PARK- The Ruth Ellis Center has appointed Mark Erwin as director of programs. In this position, Erwin is responsible for the planning, operation, coordination and refinement of all programs in the integrated spectrum of [...]
Show your pride this fall
By Guy Barast Eye on Equality Can you believe it's already October? As I sit here and contemplate the changing weather that is just outside the door, several thoughts run consecutively through my mind: Summer [...]
Motown Invitational Classic returns Oct. 7 – 9
By BTL Staff CANTON- The Motor City will pay homage to Hollywood this weekend with the start of the 26th annual Motown Invitational Classic, Michigan's largest LGBT bowling tournament. The series of competitive bowling events, [...]
Learn about foster care and adoption Oct. 12
Family Service & Children's Aid invites prospective parents to learn about foster care and adoption at an informational session on Oct. 12. Two sessions are available from 9 a.m. to noon and from 5 p.m. [...]
James Buchanan: America’s first gay president?
By Timothy Cwiek More than 150 years before America elected its first black president, it most likely had its first gay president: James Buchanan. Buchanan, a Democrat from Lancaster County, Pa., was the 15th president [...]
A lesson in forgiveness
Last week, stories about local pastor Mark Bidwell could be found all over the Internet and on the nightly news. As we already know, the story is the textbook definition of scandalous. It has sex. [...]
Keith Ablow
Creep of the Week Full disclosure: I do not watch "Dancing With the Stars." In fact, I can't even say I've ever intentionally viewed it unless you count a YouTube clip of Bristol Palin dancing [...]
The Rev. Mark Bidwell has resigned from the Metropolitan Community Church following a sex-and-drug scandal. What are your thoughts?
Heard on Facebook Just goes to show that religious hypocrisy is not limited to hetero churches. -Mark Sartor We as humans fall prey to error daily! How about let's pray for him. I know somebody [...]
An open letter to Mark
Parting Glances I have known you for 20 years, as friend, pastor, activist, lately a troubled person dealing with serious health issues, who turned to alcohol and drugs for release from nonstop pain to body, [...]
Gender issues, Republicans
Compiled by Howard Israel S/he Said "You have to understand, this has nothing to do with your sexuality and everything to do with who you feel like inside. At the start of every LGBTQQA meeting, [...]
Uncovering America’s gay history
By Mark Segal Viewpoint October is Gay History Month, and we're celebrating it with the largest gay history project ever. The Philadelphia Gay News is partnering with 28 newspapers across the country (including BTL) to [...]
School principal’s alleged anti-gay assault demands full investigation
WASHINGTON, DC - More than 80,000 people have joined a campaign on Change.org created by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network's Make It Better Project and the Tennessee Equality Project, calling for the principal of Sequoyah High [...]
PAC announces 2011 pro-equality friendly endorsements
Equality Michigan Pride PAC announced Oct. 5 the public endorsement of 16 pro-equality candidates who are running for office in local municipal elections this year. Equality Michigan Pride PAC is Michigan's premiere funding source that [...]
Joss Stone: ‘I’ve Snogged Girls But I’m Not a Lesbian’
"Yell at me like I pissed you off," Joss Stone insists, trying to hear me over the poor reception. And then it's just downhill from there: Her dog is eating her clothes, and an incessant [...]
DontChangeYourself.com comes out
LANSING- In honor of National Coming Out Day, local advocacy groups launched the "Don't Change Yourself. Change the Law" campaign Oct. 11 to raise awareness that in Michigan you can still be fired if your [...]
Supreme Court refuses couples appeal
By Lisa Keen The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a case that challenged a sort of "back door discrimination" against a gay couple by a Louisiana state official. The case, Adar v. [...]