BY AJ TRAGER "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once [...]

BY AJ TRAGER LANSING - Just before 11 a.m. on June 26, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision on Obergefell v. Hodges and extended marriage equality to the entire country. Since that moment [...]

Over the past year since marriage equality became the law of the land, LGBT couples are spending a lot more on weddings, and family acceptance of same-sex marriages is up dramatically, according to a recent [...]

BY AJ TRAGER Wedit is running a special discount code for BTL readers, in honor of the one-year anniversary of marriage equality. When purchasing a pay-in-full package, the team at Wedit will deduct $24 from [...]

BY AJ TRAGER Betty Olding and Jenny Schumacher met in 1972 and have been together for 43 years. They were finally married on Sept. 26 by Detroit Reverend Deb Dysert of the Metropolitan Community Church [...]

BY AJ Trager LANSING - A lesbian power couple who have worked hard to improve LGBT equality in the state, Gina Calcagno and Nicolette Siragusa, have finally tied the knot. "We are thrilled that we [...]

After almost 19 years together, Donald Chisholm and Steven Moore of Pontiac were married on Wednesday, July 1. They would like to enthusiastically thank Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, who officiated the ceremony, and her [...]

#decisionday Tweets

Same-sex marriage may soon become the law of the land, so couples now need to learn about the financial realities of marriage and plan accordingly. Marriage creates new pooled resources and obligations. Questions inevitably arise [...]

Come hear one of the area's most respected legal experts discuss the legal status of same-sex couples in Michigan, and how the current cases working through the courts will impact couples in Michigan and across [...]

BY AJ TRAGER ACLU attorneys and plaintiffs in the Caspar v Snyder case in April 2014. In April 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, on behalf of eight couples that were married [...]

BY AJ TRAGER AND BTL STAFF Oakland County Clerk notarizes one of the over 140 couples that she married March 22, 2014. BTL file photo: Andrew Potter One year ago, four out of 83 [...]

By Christopher Treacy Kevin Dombrow of Sheraton Detroit Novi. BTL Photo: Andrew Potter It's difficult to believe that anyone can afford to say no. Our economy may be wobbling toward some semblance of stability, [...]

While not the "famous photo" Paul Mattson and Roland Smith pose at the Oakland County Courthouse March 22, 2014. BTL photo: Andrew Potter It all happened in a rush. On March 21 of last [...]

Erin Trame And Carrie Turner, Married In Washtenaw County Carrie Turner and Erin Trame, married in Washtenaw County on March 22, 2014. "My wife and I were one of the lucky couples to get [...]

By Lisa Keen File photo of demonstrators in front of the US Supreme Court in March 2013 as SCOTUS took up two same-sex marriage cases. The eventual victories in June 2013 would lead the way [...]

AJ Trager DETROIT - Federal Judge Mark A. Goldsmith, of the Eastern District of Michigan, heard testimony on Aug. 21 from ACLU of Michigan Cooperating Attorney and University of Michigan Constitutional law professor, Julian Mortenson, [...]

The Michigan attorney general filed a petition with the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Friday, asking the court to bypass the usual three-judge panel hearing and go straight to a full appeals court review. [...]

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder Jr. at the 50th Anniversary of the march on Washington and Martin Luther King's Speech, August 24, 2013, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. On March 28 Holder announced that the federal government [...]

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court's issuance of a stay in the federal district court ruling striking Utah's ban on same-sex couples marrying, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel issued an order Tuesday it [...]

The Deboer/Rowse Decision The emergency stay Barb Byrum letter to AG Eric Holder Plaintiff's Conclusion Document Proposed Conclusions of Law Response to the Stay Lisa Brown's response to the emergency stay State of Michigan's response [...]

From left to right, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett, Emily Dievendorf, executive director of Equality Michigan, Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar, Michigan's first same-sex couple to receive their marriage license, [...]

by RJ Wolcott From left to right, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum, East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett, Emily Dievendorf, executive director of Equality Michigan, Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar, Michigan's first same-sex couple to receive [...]

UPDATE: By 8:30 there was expected to be as many as 200 Baptist ministers outside protesting at the DeBoer trial. Instead, only a handful of protesters against marriage equality came out. There were also about [...]

Outside the courthouse. DETROIT -The mood was serious as Judge Bernard Friedman, dozens of lawyers and law clerks and stenographers began the trial that will decide two legal issues; whether LGBT people should be [...]