The 2022 summer music scene will seem practically normal this year after a long, lonely, pandemic-induced drought. You’ll find plenty of opportunities to enjoy some live tunes close to home this year, but why not [...]
Dancing on our own. Listening to "Chromatica" on repeat. Watching "Drag Race." Who doesn't love those gay days? But riding on all the biggest roller coasters under a flurry of colored light with all queers [...]
Small acts of resistance and community building are what have made LGBTQ+ history, and while that history may not be as well documented as we would like, you can still get out your map and [...]
For Marissa Klee-Peregon, 27, Nimblewill Cooperative in Kalamazoo is a space where she can practice interdependence, instead of independence. A cooperative home, or “co-op,” which centers the experiences of queer and trans people, Nimblewill, Klee-Peregon [...]
You’ve heard of a bed-and-breakfast. But have you ever heard of a bud-and-breakfast? Copper House is, holistically speaking, an oasis in the middle of northwest Detroit for the conscious cannabis consumer. And if you need [...]
There’s no beating around the bush with competitive race car driver Dustin Sprouse: He’s out, he’s proud, and he’s an unrepentant Trump supporter. Before you crumple up this page or close the browser window — [...]
For queer audiences, the rich symbology of cars and road films — along with their enduring outsider associations — has made them tantalizing objects to re-interpret through a queer lens. Evoking ideas of mobility, rebellion [...]
There’s just something about a road trip. You might be venturing out in the same car you use for your daily commute and boring errands, but on a road trip, your whip transforms into a [...]
Chaya Milchtein, aka Mechanic Shop Femme, is just as comfortable talking about lubricating cars as she is talking about lubricating sex toys. The automotive educator, journalist and empowerment speaker uses her platform to teach folks [...]
It’s easy to assume COVID has wrecked your honeymoon plans. With new strains popping up every other week (it seems) and mask mandates coming, going and coming again, the traditional honeymoon to some place exotic [...]
Finding the right officiant for your wedding, one who understands and respects your beliefs and traditions can be difficult — even more so for queer couples. Whether it’s a religious leader, a family member or [...]
When my (then) 12-year-old son told me he was gay, I was shocked by my reaction. As someone who has always claimed to be a staunch ally to countless LGBTQ+ friends and a fierce, lifelong [...]
Human actors are great and all, but as any animal lover will attest, a well-placed puppy or a noble equine can elevate a good show to must-see status. If you watch reruns of old “Frasier” [...]
For 30-year-old Jarell Wilson from Detroit, COVID-19 isolation only intensified their struggles with depression. Self-isolation and working from home would’ve been worse, too, if it weren’t for their two pets, a cat and a dog. [...]
Peter Staley’s “Never Silent” isn’t the only outstanding memoir or biography by those who endured the worst years of the AIDS crisis (Sarah Schulman’s mammoth 736-page “Let The Record Show,” also released this year, is [...]
A key member of AIDS activist group ACT UP and a named plaintiff in the ongoing lawsuit against Gilead and other pharma companies for illegally extending the patent of PrEP and HIV medication tenofovir, Peter [...]
Corporations pulled out all the stops during this year’s Pride Month, elevating and profiting from the rainbow mafia through witty slogans, gleeful commercials and social media campaigns. They outdid themselves, from Lil Nas X’s UGG [...]
Let’s face it, two things are true: most of us don’t need more stuff, and it’s fun to give and receive presents. So shop smart and support local artists, small businesses, LGBTQ+ non-profits and LGBTQ-supportive [...]
You might be surprised to learn that the LGBTQ+ community is advancing the auto industry — yep, queers are engineering, too. And in addition to owning Backstreet at Large Multiplex, the LGBTQ+ bar in Detroit, [...]
"It all started with a Beetle." This could be the beginning of a story about someone who went on to become a "car nut" engineer or somebody who went on to become an entomologist. In [...]
For L.A.-based queer photographer Sorrell Scrutton, their dog Frankie really is their best friend. When COVID struck, Frankie helped them counter the isolation. Given their bond, Scrutton decided to reach out to other queer friends [...]
Finding LGBTQ+ books used to be a challenge. You couldn’t just Google “lesbian romance novels” or “books with trans characters.” But now, luckily, that’s no longer the case. Especially with Pride season in full swing. [...]
Editor's Note: This list will be updated as more dates are finalized. Last updated June 15, 2021. Looking for 2022's guide? Right here. By now it's understood that COVID-19 has thrown off long-term planning and [...]
As travel rebounds and some international borders open to US residents — especially, or exclusively, if you’re fully vaccinated — you’ll need to pack more than a suitcase to ensure safe trips during the pandemic’s [...]
Raccoons get called many things: nuisance animals, bandits, trash pandas. But one raccoon in University Heights, Ohio made it clear that what they want to be called is “Fabulous.” But without a way to communicate [...]
A 35-year-old working in film production, Geoff Moore had a pretty good sex life with his boyfriend. In fact, you could call it vigorous. Sometimes even exhausting. So when they both noticed fleshy bumps around [...]
It’s the newest show on the HGTV network and it’s filmed right here in Detroit. “Bargain Block” stars personal and professional partners Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas, transplants from Colorado, and follows the couple as [...]
After living in Atlanta for 30 years, Calvin Thompson decided to make a change at age 55. He took a new job in New Orleans and began settling into his new routine. “I had moved [...]
Motor City Pride has announced it has for the moment decided to postpone its June Pride festival until September. The new dates for Motor City Pride will be Sept. 18 and 19 in Hart Plaza [...]
Home is where the heart is, but sadly too many people are heartless when it comes to those who are homeless. Especially when those people are trans women of color. Ten years ago when Kayla [...]
[Editor’s note: Some of the subjects interviewed for this story preferred to use only their first names to maintain anonymity.] While living in pre-pandemic New York City in early 2020, Brandon didn’t even think twice [...]
A couple of blocks east from Manhattan’s Empire State Building in the neighborhood known as Murray Hill, 25-year-old Taiwan-born photographer Hsiang-Hsi Lu fires off a Grindr message. “He’s Taiwanese!” Lu remarks with a tinge of [...]
As the weather gets warmer and summer months draw nearer, it won't be long before road trip season is in full swing. And since it will coincide with all U.S. adults becoming eligible for COVID-19 [...]
There's no doubt that keeping safe during the COVID-19 pandemic is a must, and science points to being quarantined at home as the safest way of doing so. However, now that Michiganders have been living [...]
When Garnet Lewis and her business partners decided to name their gourmet food shop in Douglas Isabel’s Market & Eatery, they had a clear choice in mind. Their namesake was an area school teacher and [...]
Perhaps as a side effect of her time as the Ferndale Pride event chair, Julia Music got used to a regular question: "Will you marry us?" Not qualified to do so, she'd politely decline. But [...]
On Saturday, Feb. 13, LGBT Detroit presented its second-annual Cold As Hell Winter Pride. A ticketed event highlighting LGBTQ sexual expression in the leather, kink and fetish communities, Cold as Hell was entirely prerecorded. Viewers [...]
A traditional wine pairing dinner at a favorite restaurant may seem out of bounds right now due to the constraints brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic, but Royal Oak’s Café Muse has found a [...]
Ferndale Pride is partnering with four local businesses this Valentine's season to raise funds for its 2021 festival, which was canceled last year due to concerns surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic. The businesses, Blumz by [...]
The Ferndale Community Foundation and Ferndale Pride are distributing $21,971 in grants to 11 community organizations this year. The grants come despite the fact that the popular Ferndale Pride event in June was canceled due [...]
Motor City Pride has announced its participation in the first-ever National Pride Stride, a virtual 5K created by LA Pride to help Pride organizations across the country offset this year’s novel coronavirus pandemic-related losses and [...]
Sometimes it takes a person years to find their passion, but for Adam Bernard, he was only 3 years old when he first took a shine to toy cars, and that interest eventually developed into [...]
By Tom Nelson and Linda Karle-Nelson A response to Archdiocese of Detroit throws out 2 LGBTQ Catholic groups When we discovered our calling in life was to minister to others through our Catholic faith, it [...]
As animal owners already know, pets can provide companionship and often times a much-needed mood boost. And beside them being cuddly companions, the National Institutes of Health report that pets may also "decrease stress, improve [...]
Hattie Alexander-Key, Karen Dillaman and Roland Smith, all longtime deacons at Metropolitan Community Church – Detroit, were ordained as local pastors by MCC-D senior pastor and teacher the Rev. Dr. Roland Stringfellow. The ordination took [...]
Denied Communion, Part 2 When Between The Lines last spoke with Chief Judge Sara Smolenski in December, the 62-year-old resident of Grand Rapids had recently been informed she could no longer receive Communion at St. [...]
Though far from ideal, it's clear that the perception of LGBTQ people and their right to marry in the U.S. has changed for the better. In fact, a 2019 Pew Research Center poll shows that 60 percent of Americans favor LGBTQ marriage equality, compared to 30 percent who oppose it. What makes this statistic even more promising is that in 2004, those numbers were flipped. Still, despite this positive push forward and the fact that the legal right for LGBTQ couples to marry has been secured, it's vital to stay aware of legal pushes and organizations working to dismantle those protections across the country.
When Ross Owens went on vacation to Provincetown, Cape Cod, he was looking forward to a few days of sleeping in. So when his boyfriend, Rob, begged him to wake up at 4:30 a.m. on [...]
They say love comes at unexpected moments; it certainly did for Savanna Wojtanowski and Amy Balich. Though they were both Division I athletes in college, each played a different sport — soccer and softball respectively [...]
Planning a wedding at any stage can be tricky, and one of the most difficult parts is creating a ceremony that's uniquely one's own. To help with that struggle, Between The Lines has collected a list of 20 popular trends this year that might make planning easier.
