Having only lived in their new home for a matter of weeks, Ed Ploegar and Rick Hahn decided to make their way to their community's biweekly movie night for some entertainment and maybe to meet some of their new neighbors. To their pleasant surprise, the film shown was GLAAD Media Award-nominated.
It was 2004 and Deb Gustafson and her wife, Sue Weston, were planning on having a great time. The Flint couple was about to go on long-planned vacation when Gustafson started to feel unwell. Her family had a history of urinary tract and bladder infections and she suspected that her discomfort might be related. Eventually, when her symptoms didn't pass, she asked to go home and was rushed to the hospital.
A SAGE Table is a program of SAGE Metro Detroit, an agency dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ older adults, and is an intergenerational dinner event designed to start conversations with those of varying generations. The latest SAGE Table took place at the Ferndale Affirmations LGBTQ community center on April 4, and I was invited as a reporter to attend and experience the evening firsthand. Upon arrival, I was greeted at the door by Judy Lewis, SAGE Metro Detroit’s training and education manager.
Corktown Health Center is offering a six-session weekly support group for trans and non-binary clients to come together and process their experiences relating to gender identity. The group meets every Wednesday now through May 8 [...]
The Community Health Awareness Group, the largest minority AIDS service organization in Michigan, has been providing prevention and care services for some of Detroit's most vulnerable citizens for many years. To support the agency's mission [...]
I am often asked from clients and friends if I believe there is a healthy amount of alcohol that may be consumed on a regular basis. Of course, no one likes my response: actually no, there is not. However, I also like to reframe the question: How do you define healthy? More specifically, is there a use for alcohol?
When she's not busy championing causes instrumental in securing things like U.S. marriage equality or busy taking care of her adoptive children with her spouse, April DeBoer-Rowse fills her time as an animal activist at Garden City's POET animal rescue.
By Dawn Klingensmith Thanks to advances in veterinary medicine, pets can undergo the same types of lifesaving procedures as people, including pacemaker insertion and kidney transplants. But these procedures are expensive. Pet owners who [...]
By Teresa Odle It’s great to take Fido or Fluffy along on your next driving vacation as long as you carefully plan the trip with an eye toward keeping your pet healthy and safe. [...]
The "Howie Bill," signed by former Gov. Rick Snyder late last year, will increase the maximum penalty for killing or torturing an animal from four years to 10 years in prison. State Rep. Tommy Brann, [...]
The Michigan Pet Fund Alliance and the Humane Society of Macomb Foundation are soliciting applications for Outside the Box award-winning programs, projects, or documents that Michigan shelters or non-profit home-based rescue organizations are successfully using. [...]
LGBTQ and Pagan ConVocation, an annual event that brings together people from a wide variety of mystical paths and faiths for knowledge sharing, networking and having fun, will take place this year from Feb. 21 [...]
BY THE WEDDING SHOPPE Planning a wedding is often a long process, with many decisions to make along the way. And according to The Wedding Shoppe in Berkley , finding the perfect wedding dress is [...]
In an effort to promote its Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons program, Disney's official Instagram page shared a post this week featuring two men getting married at Orlando's Walt Disney World resort. The vacation package [...]
LGBTQ couples will have the opportunity to get married during Ferndale Pride on June 1 at The Rust Belt Market, Ferndale's premier wedding venue.
Alysse Dalessandro and her bridesmaids trekked from three different states by plane, train and automobile on Saturday, Jan. 19 to Bombshell Bridal Boutique in St. Clair Shores during Michigan's worst snowstorm of the year. But [...]
As much as everyone loves Valentine's Day, let's face it - trying to find the perfect gift for your loved one after the holidays can be tough. Whether it's for a new partner, a long-term [...]
For the first time ever, David's Bridal has featured a same-sex couple in a new ad. The Pennsylvania-based company is taking a more diverse marketing approach after filing bankruptcy late last year, according to Ad [...]
The White Collection Bridal Boutique in Portishead, England, has taken some much-needed steps toward inclusivity. The boutique put up a window display featuring a mannequin in a wheelchair wearing a wedding gown, which isn't seen [...]
DETROIT– Rent has taken up residence in Detroit’s Fisher Theatre as part of its 20th Anniversary Tour. Written by Jonathan Larson, Rent originally debuted on Broadway in 1996, although Larson died suddenly before it opened [...]
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 [...]
