VATICAN CITY — Men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be admitted to the Catholic clergy, and priests who are gay should be celibate or leave rather than lead a double life, Pope Francis said in a new book.
The last several years have seen a dramatic shift in the HIV landscape in the country and specifically in Michigan. In September, San Francisco, long a bastion for those affected by the epidemic, reported just 221 new cases in 2017. The San Francisco Chronicle reported this was an historic low in new cases, but it also found that there were significant disparities in age, race and gender of those newly diagnosed. Of those new diagnoses in San Francisco, 60 percent were among people under age 40 — that’s despite the vast majority of those living with HIV in the city being over age 50.
Women living with HIV account for roughly 20 percent all individuals who have contracted the disease in the United States. As a minority group within an already marginalized community, women with HIV navigate a unique [...]
Friday, Nov. 30 8:30 a.m. U=U Community Committee 30th Anniversary Commemoration Appreciation Breakfast and Luncheon at Corktown Health Center, 1726 Howard St., Detroit. corktownhealth.org/ 11 a.m. Unite in the global fight with The Wellness [...]
Corktown Health Center and its community partners invite southeast Michigan residents who identify as part of the LGBTQ community to participate in a new online survey. The purpose of the survey, known as the Corktown [...]
PQ: As long as Michigan continues to criminalize people living with HIV for engaging in sexual behavior that may not even transmit the virus, the genetic clustering work could be abused by zealous prosecutors. Perhaps those prosecutors believe they are working to stop HIV transmissions. Perhaps they are driven by animus against certain at risk populations.
Jennyfer Crawford Provides Opportunity for Shoppers to Buy Local : Six years ago Jennyfer Crawford set out to build a community of entrepreneurs and makers. From her one-bedroom apartment the self-taught entrepreneur began hosting tiny events for friends with small businesses. In 2012, Crawford founded the Detroit-based firm, Ask Jennyfer, which helps promote and brand Michigan-based retailers.
Keep it in the “family” this year by giving these gifts from LGBTQ-led businesses designed with our queer brothers and sisters in mind.
Christmas Market at the Anton Art Center 125 Macomb Place, Mount Clemens Friday, Nov. 16 - Saturday, Dec. 22 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays and Fridays-Saturdays; 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. Thursdays; 12-4 p.m. [...]
Planning a wedding can be difficult and it's a cause of significant stress for many couples, and perhaps even more so for same-sex partnerships because of the potential for discrimination. However, the following apps can [...]
After 15 years of serving transgender and non-binary patients, staff at the University Health Center in the University of Michigan understood there was still a big gap in the community’s healthcare: hormone initiation.
Metro Detroit has a wide and wonderful selection of food opportunities — unless you have allergies and diet restrictions, in which case you might be out of luck. I was diagnosed with a gluten intolerance in July of 2017. It was one of the worst and most confusing bits of news my whole life — gluten intolerance? I didn’t even believe in non-celiac gluten allergies! I didn’t want to stop eating cake. What about garlic bread? Oh no.
Oct. 5, 2010 started off just like any other day for Brandon La Forest. He woke up a little early, had a meeting at the office and was on his way to an appointment in Lansing. But just outside the city, while La Forest stopped to avoid an accident that had just happened in front of him, his life changed forever.
Work and identity are often strongly intertwined. For Steven Del Gaizo, he gets to be his authentic self while working on what he loves. In his current position at General Motors, he focuses on developing [...]
Lynn Keiser’s transition from male to female in her job at Ford Motor Company could’ve been a nightmare. After grappling with gender confusion and its toll on her mental health for close to two decades, she was unsure what life as a trans woman in the professional workplace would resemble.
Dr. Truman Hudson is a lecturer of multiculturalism at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. Hudson, who won the 2018 Ford Fund Community Corps award, is currently conducting a class, EDA 515 – Communities and Schools: Building and Sustaining Partnerships, that will require students to work with LGBT Detroit and Ford GLOBE to co-design a leadership development supplementary educational curriculum. The effort is called the Blank Canvas Project.
The LGBTQ community is not only concerned about how they are being treated in their general lives, but in their places of work, too. And more and more companies are embracing the LGBTQ community beyond [...]
For one day only this month, Ford Motor Company will turn Michigan Central Station into a haunted house. Plans are underway for the event put on by Ford Motor Company Fund. Shawn Wilson, the fund's [...]
If Alexander Weyer had to put a postmark on when he decided to build a tiny home, he’d guess it started about three years ago just as most of his thoughts begin: under the stars. Weyer, an openly gay practicing astrologer and herbalist, was visiting a friend one night in Detroit, thinking about life’s grand design and how freeing it would be to downsize.
The group is called Phoemale and, for anyone wondering, is pronounced just like the word "female." The unique spelling represents the words “phoenix” and “female” combined and the group celebrates women rising from the ashes. More specifically, Phoemale is a non-profit organization that enables women to empower fellow women in Metro Detroit who are rebuilding their lives after overcoming domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking or homelessness.
It has been more than three years since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, paving the way for the continued increase of LGBTQ married couples purchasing homes, according to the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals’ second annual LGBT Real Estate Report. NAGLREP, with more than 2,000 members, is one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ trade associations.
Ron Danta says that to "truly do rescue really well, you cannot at all be selfish." And, to show how selfless they are, he and his partner Danny Robertshaw have opened their 4,400-square-foot home to over 80 dogs in need of adoption.
No bans on pit bulls allowed, Michigan’s Senate said on April 12.
As the end of September nears, winter draws closer and with it comes cold weather. That's why animal welfare organizations are reminding pet lovers early that hot cars aren't the only culprits for unwanted pet death; cold cars are guilty, too.
BY AMY GARABEDIAN Here’s something you probably haven’t thought about when it comes to training your dog. Training is just a game you play. In the beginning, we teach our puppies all kinds of things. [...]
Over the past few months, news outlets, veterinarians and vaccine manufacturers have all been warning the public about the canine influenza epidemic that has hit nearly 100 dogs in New York City and elsewhere. However, Dr. Glynes D. Graham — owner and primary veterinarian of Patterson Dog & Cat Hospital in Detroit — says that there is "no need to panic." She said that although vaccination is always a personal decision for the pet owner, "there are many precautions" available for those who are concerned.
Lynelle Osborne (left) and Monica Givens of Linden. BTL Photo: Andrew Cohen. Well, Facebook may be considered a bit passe by today’s social media standards, but as Monica Givens and Lynelle Osborne [...]
Christ Church Cranbook, Michigan’s largest Episcopal church, will be getting a new associate rector – and he happens to be gay. From San Diego, his name is Rev. Chris Harris and he stepped into the post Sept. 1. Harris said he is relocating to Michigan to give his twin daughters a familial connection.
If you’re a longtime theater fan – especially an LGBTQ theater fan – one thing you may have noticed over the years is that what’s popular one season may not be the next. Or that trends disappear as quickly as they arrive. That’s especially true of plays with LGBTQ themes and characters, which rise and fall and ebb and flow from one year to the next for no apparent reason.
What is it like being the executive director of the Detroit Actor's Theatre Company? Well, it is a lot of work, but it is work I am very passionate about. My job is to foster [...]
What is it like being artistic director with the Matrix Theatre Company? Serving as Matrix Theatre Company’s Artistic Director is both exciting and challenging. Matrix’s staff is quite small, so we’ve all become accustomed to [...]
What is one of your greatest challenges as the managing and artistic director at Monster box Theatre? One of the greatest challenges of directing a live performance theater is always funding. Finding funds to support [...]
FERNDALE — In honor of Matthew Shepard, 20 years after his murder, The Ringwald presents a four-show engagement of "The Laramie Project," a landmark play by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. [...]
LOS ANGELES — Emma González is famous now. She’d rather be enjoying the summer before college hanging out with friends. But the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, stole [...]
Khiana Gaffney was living in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2016 when she made a quick trip home to Detroit to celebrate her grandmother’s 90th birthday. While back in the Motor City, Khiana spent a little time on social media to learn a bit about the local girls. One of those girls, one of those who caught her eye, was the woman who is now her wife, Aleeya Gaffney.
Thousands attended Grand Rapids Pride this weekend in celebration of its 30th anniversary, a significant mark of progress within the conservative-leaning community as evidenced by a lone protestor standing guard at the event’s entrance.
LGBTQ and allied Flint Residents are gearing up for a day in the sun on Saturday, June 23, for the eighth annual Flint Pride. The festival will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. in [...]
Thousands attended Grand Rapids Pride this weekend in celebration of its 30th anniversary, a significant mark of progress within the conservative-leaning community as evidenced by a lone protestor standing guard at the event’s entrance. Shielded [...]
For those in the center and west sides of the state who missed the pride gatherings in Metro Detroit, they're in luck. This weekend, both Lansing and Grand Rapids will be hosting their own versions of pride. Here is BTL's breakdown of events for the two event for those who are interested in going.
Erica Spitzfaden Among Eight to Be Honored as Friends and Allies of the LGBT Community The third annual City Pulse LGBT Inclusion Awards will take place Thursday, June 14, at Spiral nightclub in Lansing. As [...]
1994 Click to View. Requires Chrome or Adobe PDF Reader Alternate Link December - The Black Press 1 - KICK! magazine, published by Kick Publishing Company, hit newsstands on Dec. 1. As the [...]
On a warm, partly cloudy Saturday in Ferndale, thousands of people donned their best rainbow gear and gathered on W 9 Mile road to show their Ferndale pride June 2. But, instead of a casual [...]
Known by many for being the face of the Midwestern LGBTQ movement for years, Jeffrey Montgomery was a highly-lauded individual. He won the the Spirit of Detroit award several times, The Advocate named him "Best and Brightest" LGBT activist in 1999 and he even received a Michiganian of the Year award from the Detroit News — among many others. Now, posthumously, it's as if the deceased Triangle Foundation founder is set to receive another. A documentary project called "America You Kill Me" that has been in process since 2013 is finally closing in on its finishing stages and its director Daniel Land is hopeful that there will be a release in early 2019 that lines up with the Creating Change LGBTQ conference.
Drawing more than 40,000 people over its two-day stretch, dozens of vendors and performers and hundreds of volunteers, Motor City Pride is a massive undertaking that takes place annually in Detroit's Philip A. Hart Plaza [...]
For anyone who was a teen during the late '80s, the name Tiffany is probably instantly recognizable. Seemingly out of the blue, the pop star sprung onto the airwaves with pop hits like "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Could've Been" that — let's face it — still slap today. The former teen icon is still busy as ever in the studio, having just released a 2017 single "Can't Stop Falling" and her 2016 album "A Million Miles." She'll likely be playing her new single and songs from that album as well her multiple chart-topping '80s hits when she headlines this year's Motor City Pride at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 9. But, before rushing out to Hart Plaza to hear her perform, check out these highlights from her 30-year career.
Everyone has heard of drag, but drag queens and kings are not all the same. Drag is so much more than gay men dressing up as women for entertainment purposes. The art form is practiced by people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and styles vary.
Some would say the digital age has brought about new ways for LGBT people to “connect” — often literally. Yet, at the same time, there is something to be said for the lack of common public spaces for meeting without ulterior motives.
A lot can happen over 150 years, and in honor of a timeline that spans over half of modern U.S. history, Wayne State University is presenting several panels throughout the year in honor of its sesquicentennial. And, coming up on Tuesday, June 12, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the David Adamany Undergraduate Library is the "Our History at Wayne: LGBTQ Life at Wayne State University panel." WSU Archivist Alison Stankrauff has been the main organizer of these events, and she said she's excited to provide a platform for several LGBTQ activists and historians to speak to WSU's successes and failures in the fight for LGBTQ equality.
MADISON HEIGHTS - On Tuesday, May 29, Madison Heights read into record a proclamation declaring June 2018 as Pride Month for the city. About 15 members of the LGBTQ community were on hand to rally and show their support at city hall. Before the meeting, Mayor Brian Hartwell shared a prepared statement.
Like so many in the LGBTQ+ community, Ann Arbor-based artist John Gutoskey didn’t need a personal connection to the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting to validate his profound sense of loss in the [...]
