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.
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 [...]
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.
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 [...]
While Grosse Pointe Pride is scheduled to end on Sunday at 5 p.m., festival-goers are invited to keep the party going over at 1303 Beaconsfield Avenue where local “Gay-bors” Ashley and Dante will host a community open house mixer for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies.
ICYMI or want to experience it again, here are some photos from Ferndale Pride on Saturday, June 2. […]
Local Leaders, T/GNC Community Praise Findings, Cultivation of a Safe Space FERNDALE - On the eve of the city of Ferndale's annual Pride weekend, Transcend the Binary debuted its "Finding Our Strength" survey results in [...]
With a larger festival footprint, 40 percent more booths, as well as new initiatives to support the asexual and intersex communities, Ferndale Pride 2018 is looking to be an even bigger celebration than years past.
Longtime Ferndale Pride ‘Mascot’ Gordon Matson on Living Long, Proud and Out Loud Whenever someone references “standing on the shoulders” of those who came before them in the fight for equality, they are talking about people like Gordon Matson. Today, it's simply part of local tradition to witness him, ever-changing rainbow costume and all, out and proud as Ferndale's pride mascot. However, before he could become the rainbow headdress-wearing, acceptance-spreading, veritable pope of pride, like most in his position, the Ferndale native spent a large portion of his formative years in the closet.
MAY 31-JUNE 11 "Company" 8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays & Mondays; 5 p.m. on June 3 & 10 The Ringwald Theatre 22742 Woodward Ave., Ferndale Tickets: $25 on Fridays & Saturdays; $20 on Sundays; [...]
DJ CoolkidSue calls herself a "rebel," a "blast" and a "party animal." All of which make her a perfect fit to perform at this year's Ferndale Pride at 4:15 p.m. on June 2 on the Genisys Credit Union DJ Dance Stage.
Mainstream newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, the Lansing State Journal, the Traverse City Record-Eagle, the Flint Journal, and the Grand Rapids Press, have documented queer lives for decades, in both [...]
Ypsi Pride is set to host their second annual block party in Downtown Ypsilanti on Friday, June 1. Ypsi Pride, a program of First Fridays Ypsilanti, brings two stages of lively, family-friendly local entertainment, a children’s area, outdoor beer gardens, food trucks, vendors and organizations to the North and Sout Washington Street blocks in Ypsilanti.
A plethora of performers will keep people entertained during Ferndale Pride on June 2, but no one will be hotter than Alexa Rae.
West Bloomfield's Jewish Ensemble Theatre will be putting on a production of Harvey Fierstein's Tony Award-Winning 'Casa Valentina'. The play opens on May 24 and runs through June 17. It follows the lives of women named Miranda, Bessie, Valentina, Charlotte, Gloria, Terry and Amy who meet regularly at their favorite vacation spot in the Catskills.
For many LGBTQ southeast Michiganders, Ferndale pride is a must-see when celebrating throughout the month of June. This year, the Affirmations LGBTQ community center is hosting its own miniature Ferndale pride in-house to provide Affirmations [...]
This week’s special Pride Issue installment for the BTL series, Michigan Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination, features Ferndale’s own openly gay mayor, Dave Coulter. Coulter has been mayor of Ferndale since 2011.
A diverse group of artists will come together in support of each other during Hotter Than July's Fine Arts Reception from 6-8 p.m. on July 27 at the Wayne State University Integrative Biosciences Center on [...]
In 1987, a group of black, gay men decided to form an upscale social club that has come to be known as the Billionaire Boys Club. Robert Tate, a founding member, said Byron Combs was [...]
Photo courtesy of Gerald Terrell, OneFour3 Entertainment. When Walter Cooper started going out at the age of 17, he would frequent Inuendo Nightclub in Detroit. "As a young person coming out, going to the [...]
Rico Pruitt is new on the adult entertainment scene and is making quite an impression. His debut scene on BlackBoyAddictionz.com broke records in March with the most downloads on the six-year-old website. Pruitt's internet fame [...]
The 22nd annual Hotter Than July's theme is "I Am Because We Are." The theme for this year's black LGBTQ Pride event in Detroit comes from the ancient African word Ubuntu, according to Curtis Lipscomb, [...]
BTL Photo: Andrew Potter The 22nd annual Hotter Than July's theme is "I Am Because We Are." The theme for this year's black LGBTQ Pride event in Detroit comes from the ancient African word [...]
The seventh annual LGBT Older Adult Summit will be held from 8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. on June 24 at MSU Detroit Campus located at 3408 Woodward Ave. in Detroit. The event, organized by SAGE [...]
Motor City Pride is Michigan's largest Pride celebration with more than 40,000 participants in its Pride events. Dave Wait, event chair, said he is feeling "really good" about the festival this year June 10-11 at [...]
PRISM Chorus rehearses weekly in Madison Heights. BTL Photo: Jason A. Michael Randall Wrisinger has always loved playing the piano. "My grandmother bought me a cord organ when I was four and I really [...]
Photo courtesy of David Graff AUGUST 12 Transgender Pride in the Park 12-6 p.m. Donald Red Geary Park, Earle Boulevard at Pinecrest, Ferndale http://www.transgendermichigan.org Celebrate the 51st anniversary of the Compton's Cafeteria Riot AUGUST [...]
photo: S2_PrideCallout1_2523.jpg Sing out Detroit, established in 2008, performed at Motor City Pride for the first time in 2009 and have performed there each year ever since. The mixed soprano, alto, tenor and bass chorus [...]
photo: The LGBTQ women's motorcycle club, Dykes on Bikes Detroit, began in 2008 with Heather O'Brian as president, Marianne Waugh as vice president, Tracy Brown as treasurer and Ronda Wright as secretary. Since then, the [...]
Now thru JULY 28 "Summer of Pride" Exhibit Pittman-Puckett Gallery Hours: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. Affirmations, 290 W. Nine Mile Road, Ferndale http://www.goaffirmations.org Honors the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community through activism during Ferndale [...]
Slipstream Theatre Initiative proudly presents an all-male version of Aristophanes' classic "Lysistrata" June 17-July 9 at 460 Hilton Road in Ferndale. In this fresh version of the raunchy comedy, "Lysistrata" is a washed up drag [...]
UNIFIED HIV Health & Beyond began over a decade ago engaging individuals with the otherwise closed ballroom communities. For generations, ball culture has been a place of escape and defiance for young black and Latino [...]
In August 1966, a group of transgender women fought back against a police raid at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco. The riot that ensued marks what many believe was the beginning of the transgender equality [...]
In 2017, LGBTQ America is looking to find a balance between being political and celebratory during the month of June. As LGBTQ people and their allies defy the hatred and violence that targets them, they [...]
Tunde Olaniran built his audience in Michigan through great shows at places like Loving Touch and the DIY Street Fair in Ferndale. The majority of "Yung Archetype" and "Transgressor" (his first full-length album released in [...]
Like many 501(c)3 non-profit organizations, Michigan Pride operates on the kindness of volunteers. If volunteers are lacking or there is a decline in participation for a particular event, as a result, the organization chooses not [...]
It's an age old story: Alise King got her start singing in church. "When I was about 12, I discovered that I had a voice," said King, who grew up on Detroit's east side and [...]
Johnathan Celestin loves performing at Pride festivals. "It's always big energy and lots of love," said the Washington, D.C.-based singer. "I think a lot of time people come to Prides to celebrate. It's a celebration [...]
Sam Tolson is an oddity. A native of Toledo, Ohio, she didn't grow up singing. Never sang in church. Never really sang anywhere in fact. Until, that is, the beginning of 2012 when she suddenly [...]
Photo:Andrew Potter DETROIT - It's that time of year again. The rainbow flag will be waving high over Hart Plaza when Motor City Pride comes to downtown Detroit June 11-12. The festival will be [...]
BY AJ TRAGER FERNDALE - Over the past four years city employees in over 400 municipalities nationwide have gone through and reported their list of policies and regulations that extend discrimination protections for LGBT individuals [...]
Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles said they are "hilarious and wild" with a charisma and chemistry she found to be "utterly charming," and Nancy Wilson of the legendary rock band Heart called them "the real [...]
