As the world continues to learn more about coronavirus and its spread, it's vital to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. However, it's also important to make sure that the information being distributed is from credible sources. To that end, Between The Lines has compiled, [...]
Larry Kramer, Gay Rights Pioneer During AIDS Crisis, Dies at 84: report
Larry Kramer, a gay rights pioneer who led the way as an activist and author during the AIDS crisis, has died at age 84, according to a report in the New York Times. David Webster, [...]
COVID-19 Crisis Care: Michigan Nurse Weighs In
In a seemingly positive trend overall, Michigan headed into Memorial Day 2020 with the fewest reported novel coronavirus deaths since March. And while Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been called "cautiously optimistic" about those results, she's [...]
Supreme Court Refuses to Block Transgender Surgery for Idaho Inmate
In a surprise order on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to grant the state of Idaho’s request to block gender reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate, which lower courts affirmed is her right to [...]
Costa Rica Becomes First Central America Country with Marriage Equality
Costa Rica on Tuesday became the first country in Central America to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Two women became the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Costa Rica when they tied the [...]
Be Queer Be Counted: LGBT Detroit’s Census Project Airs June 16
DETROIT — LGBT Detroit is a nonprofit organization that serves Detroit's LGBTQ community. It has announced the rollout of a series of “Get Out The Census 2020” during COVID-19, and the inaugural Be Queer Be [...]
Campaign to End Michigan LGBTQ Discrimination Falls Short on Signature Collection, Changes Course
Far short of the 340,000-plus signatures required to put its ballot initiative before the voters in November, Fair and Equal Michigan, the campaign to secure equal rights for LGBTQ Michiganders by expanding the Elliott-Larsen Civil [...]
LGBT Detroit Addresses Intimate Partner Violence and Healthy Relationships Amid Pandemic
Increased Risk Stay-at-home orders designed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus have had some unintended victims: namely, those at risk of intimate partner violence who are forced to isolate with their abuser. And [...]
Barefoot Wine Creates Pride-Themed Packaging to Benefit Free Mom Hugs
As June draws closer, the LGBTQ community is still anticipating Pride month, but it's clear that novel coronavirus concerns have drastically altered what celebrations are going to look like across the globe. Still, that's not [...]
Donating Blood in the Time of Coronavirus: Activists Say Gay Men Still Face Discrimination
The Need is Great Only about 38 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood. That’s because of various restrictions like age and physical health of the potential donor plus factors intended to [...]
EQMI, Secretary of State Town Hall Reminds Voters of Pro-Equality Actions, How to Prepare for Upcoming Elections
Last week Equality Michigan, a statewide nonprofit LGBTQ-advocacy organization, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson co-hosted a Tele-Town Hall event to remind voters how to prepare for upcoming elections and to highlight pro-equality moves [...]
Stagecrafters Community Theater Virtually Covers ‘RENT’
In light of the isolation brought upon by the new coronavirus, members of the Royal Oak-based nonprofit community theater Stagecrafters presented a song from the popular LGBTQ musical "RENT." The featured singers include Justin Noroyan, [...]
Black LGBTQ Community Innovates Black Pride in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
LGBT Detroit, the city’s premier black LGBTQ service provider and producer of Hotter Than July, the world’s now longest-running, uninterrupted Black LGBTQ Pride celebration for the last 25 years, is taking its 2020 festivities digital. [...]
Detroit Gallery Hosts Virtual Exhibit to Benefit Ruth Ellis Center
In a blend of the virtual and tangible, the Detroit-based gallery Library Street Collective has created a new digital exhibition platform called SITE: Art and Architecture in the Digital Space. Set in Detroit’s historic State [...]
Motor City Pride to Host June 6 Virtual Pride Celebration
While summer Pride festivals are a great opportunity for celebration, they're also annual reminders of LGBTQ history and the important strides that activists have made in the fight for full equality. In that spirit, Motor [...]
Family of Transgender Woman Who Died in ICE Custody Files Federal Lawsuit
The family of a transgender woman with HIV who died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in 2018 has filed a federal lawsuit against five private companies that were responsible for her care. The Transgender Law [...]
South Korea Activists Form Task Force to Fight Coronavirus-Fueled Discrimination
A group of activists in South Korea have formed a task force to fight anti-LGBTQ discrimination related to the coronavirus pandemic. Sung-Uk So on Thursday told the Washington Blade in an email that seven LGBTQ [...]
Obituary: Aimee Stephens
Aimee Stephens did not start out wanting to be a warrior for transgender rights. She simply wanted to be Aimee Stephens. When she announced she was transgender and would be presenting as her true, female [...]
Affirmations LGBTQ Community Center Offers Free Food Box Pick-Up and Delivery Service
The Affirmations LGBTQ community center has teamed up with Gleaners Food Bank and Wayne State University to offer free food box pickup every Friday for any LGBTQ person in need. From 10 a.m. to 2 [...]
Melissa Etheridge’s 21-Year-Old Son Dead
By Washington Blade Staff Melissa Etheridge’s 21-year-old son Beckett Cypher died Wednesday. Etheridge tweeted that it was related to opioid addiction. “Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid [...]
LGBT Detroit Executive Director Appointed to Statewide COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force
LGBT Detroit’s Executive Director Curtis Lipscomb said that when he learned that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was putting together a Task Force on Racial Disparities to help fight the novel coronavirus pandemic he was thrilled. But he was honored [...]
Planned Parenthood: ‘Care. No Matter What’ — Even During a Global Pandemic
Tried and True It’s more than a slogan. “Care. No Matter What” is Planned Parenthood’s guiding principle and a mandate now more than ever as the organization faces its latest external threat: the novel coronavirus. [...]
BTL Awarded $100,000 From Facebook
LIVONIA - On May 8, Between The Lines received a $100,000 grant from Facebook to support the paper’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on Michigan’s LGBTQ community. “We are thrilled to receive this support [...]
Michigan Transgender Activist Aimee Stephens, 59, Dies, ACLU Mourns Loss
Aimee Stephens, whose landmark case was the first case about the civil rights of transgender people to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, died today at her home in Metro Detroit with her wife, [...]
Over 300,000 Transgender People at Heightened Risk for COVID-19
It's no secret that the health impacts of the new coronavirus are not yet fully understood. In fact, it's still uncertain what makes different populations more susceptible to the virus than others, but scientists do [...]
NOGLSTP Seeks LGBTQ Scholarship Applicants
The National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals is seeking applicants for the 2020/2021 school year to receive its Out to Innovate Scholarship. Any two undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a career [...]
How the COVID-19 Outbreak and Quarantine is Affecting Local Queer Entertainment
The novel coronavirus has swept the nation clean of any summer 2020 plans, and with 2020 Pride events being canceled, too, many local queer entertainment groups in Southeast Michigan are now out of work and [...]
Stonewall Riots Historian, Author David Carter Dies at 67
David Carter, an author and historian on LGBTQ civil rights who is credited with writing the definitive book about the 1969 Stonewall riots that he said triggered a worldwide “mass movement” for LGBTQ rights, died [...]
CDC Now has Data on HIV Infections for Trans People — and They’re Going Up
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention is including data on transgender people in its reports on HIV infections — and the results show a gradual increase in new cases of [...]
Corktown Health Center to Host May 9 Condom Distribution Event for Safer Sex Practices During COVID-19
DETROIT – Corktown Health Center, Michigan’s first LGBTQ-focused medical home, announced it will host a contactless condom distribution event called “Safer Sex in the Time of COVID” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, [...]
LGBT Detroit’s Guiding Board on LGBTQ Intimate Partner Health and Wellness Airs on Friday, May 15
DETROIT — LGBT Detroit announces the rollout of a series of conversations on healthy relationships and healing during COVID-19. The inaugural event “Meet The Council” airs virtually on Zoom and Facebook Live platforms on Friday, [...]
Indigo Girls to Perform at PFLAG Virtual Mother’s Day Brunch Celebration
WASHINGTON — On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10, PFLAG National will air a celebration of motherly love, the “PFLAG Virtual Mother’s Day Brunch." This free, online special event raises awareness and funds for PFLAG National, [...]
‘Stay Home, Stay Well’ Initiative Aims to Address Mental Health Challenges During Pandemic
Stress from the stay-at-home order, growing fears of the unknown about one’s livelihood or life itself — those are just some of the reasons the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on the emotional well-being [...]
Transgender Michigan Helpline Continues to Take Calls Amid Pandemic
Rachel Crandall-Crocker is a licensed master social worker and the executive director of Transgender Michigan. In addition, she's the primary volunteer for the Transgender Michigan Helpline. She explained its function and that it serves a [...]
Supreme Court Focuses in on Religion
While LGBTQ people nervously await the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions regarding two big employment discrimination cases, the court this month heard arguments in other cases that could have significant impact. On Wednesday, May 6, the [...]
Michigan Trans Rights Activist Aimee Stephens Enters Hospice Care
Nearly seven years after being fired for coming out as transgender at R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes in Garden City, Aimee Stephens has stayed strong in a legal battle for LGBTQ rights that has [...]
Kalamazoo Pride 2020 Canceled
The organizers of Kalamazoo Pride, OutFront Kalamazoo, recently announced that the annual summer event would be canceled this year. While it was initially expected that the June celebration would be merely postponed till April, OutFront [...]
Nat’l Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund Endorses Biden
Joseph Biden has obtained the official support from a leading transgender rights group, which has endorsed him in his bid to unseat President Trump from the White House. The National Center for Transgender Equality Action [...]
Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault Activists Call for Stricter Prison Release Guidelines During COVID-19
As the novel coronavirus pandemic has spread across the world, the respiratory illness' hit to dense population areas has been especially devastating. And while rural areas are impacted, too, it's clear that maintaining ideal social [...]
HRC Rolls Out Support for Biden on Anniversary of Marriage Endorsement
The nation’s leading LGBTQ group has officially thrown its support behind Joseph Biden in the presidential election, drawing on the anniversary of his famous words in support of same-sex marriage on “Meet the Press” to [...]
Strengthening Visibility for Women of Color Digital Event May 14
Had the novel coronavirus pandemic not come to pass, this March five female Detroit activists would have attended the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women to talk about women's equality. Their event was to [...]
Nina West Hosts COVID-19-Inspired Broadway Week on ‘DragCast’
"RuPaul’s Drag Race" alum and all-around humanitarian Nina West is hosting a series of online interviews with famous Broadway stars this week via "DragCast with Nina West." Available from dragcast.net or Spotify, this podcast will [...]
Puerto Rico Government Sharply Criticized Over Response to LGBTQ Murders
Dozens of activists and advocacy groups have sharply criticized the government of Puerto Rico over its response to the murders of several LGBTQ people on the island. Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of Puerto Rico Para [...]
HRC Lays Off 22 Employees Due to Coronavirus
The Human Rights Campaign on Tuesday laid off 22 employees because of the coronavirus pandemic. HRC told the Washington Blade that Alphonso David, the organization’s president, “personally reached out to every single person affected to [...]
Temporarily Shuttered, Menjo’s Serves Community as Food Pantry
Community Mainstay Menjo’s is perhaps the best-known gay bar in Detroit and has been a mainstay in the community for more than 40 years. Now, temporarily shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic, the adjoining theater [...]
Corktown, Unified, 170+ Organizations Call on Legislators to Address LGBTQ COVID-19 Concerns
Along with over 170 state, local and national organizations across the U.S., Corktown Health Center and Unified HIV Health and Beyond have signed two open letters to policymakers to address LGBTQ-specific new coronavirus concerns. These [...]
In the Age of COVID-19, Where are Our Leaders?
Over the last couple of months, we have seen the coronavirus rapidly transform from a small outbreak halfway across the world into a full-fledged global pandemic. What was once a news story in a different [...]
Stand with Trans to Hold Online ‘Ask the Expert’ Event with Dr. Toni Caretto
On Friday, May 1, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., Stand with Trans will hold a Facebook Live “Ask the Expert” event featuring Dr. Toni Caretto, a local authority on gender. Caretto is a fully licensed [...]
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Signs Executive Order Ensuring Equitable Access to Health Care Resources During COVID-19 Pandemic
LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer today signed Executive Order 2020-64, which reaffirms the state’s commitment to equitable access to health care, and requires health care facilities to develop protocols that ensure non-discrimination in the event [...]
As Sex Toy Sales Spike Globally, LGBTQ-Friendly Retailer Offers #StayHome Sale
A Rising Need Almost everyone's staying home. People are bored. And they're getting intimate. Or at least, that's what global sex toy sales show. Around the world, sex toy sales are rising sky high as [...]
LGBTQ Groups Seek Safeguards Against COVID-19 Discrimination
At least 170 national, state, and local LGBTQ and allied organizations on April 21 released a joint open letter to health care and public policy leaders calling for measures to prohibit discrimination in the treatment [...]