The Black Bear Brotherhood is a Detroit social collective aimed at connecting black LGBTQ men of size and their allies. Part of the group's mission is furthering the wellbeing of its members and on Feb. [...]
President Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in order to secure funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He made the announcement in the White House Rose Garden before he signed a spending [...]
As legislative sessions continue across the country, South Dakota is leading the way with anti-LGBT bills through its recent advancement of a ‘Don’t Say Trans’ bill — but at least 78 anti-LGBT measures have been [...]
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week confirmed to the Washington Blade that it is currently housing 45 transgender women at a privately-run detention center in Texas. Danielle Bennett on Tuesday said the trans women [...]
When John Young came out in his late 50s, he never imagined that just four years later he would have been instrumental in launching Traverse City’s first LGBTQ community center.
Alanna Maguire unveiled her priorities as president of Fair Michigan recently. "I am honored and eager to continue the extraordinary work of Fair Michigan, and I look forward to expanding our services and programs to [...]
DETROIT — On Sunday, Feb. 24, Detroit's Tangent Gallery is presenting its first annual Hug Detroit Day Black History Family Festival. Organizers of the event said that this day will be a celebration of Black History Month and a special way of honoring "cultural trailblazers of the past" as they explore the impact they've had on the present.
WASHINGTON — Last week The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, reacted to the advance text of Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union with the facts of his administration’s dangerous [...]
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday delivered her first State of the State speech that called for an amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to provide protections to LGBTQ Michiganders. "Now Michigan government is [...]
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been a proven advocate for the LGBTQ community. She will use her inaugural State of the State speech tonight to urge lawmakers to support her in tackling a list of long-standing [...]
NEWS ANALYSIS Jan. 28, 2019, Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.: Four self-defined feminists present on a panel entitled “The Inequality of the Equality Act: Concerns from the Left.” Featured speakers: Jennifer Chavez, lawyer and board member [...]
BY MARIN HEINRITZ CHELSEA — It is a rare experience, indeed, to witness live theater so moving it renders faces wet with tears both on stage and throughout the audience. Opening night of "Never Not [...]
A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Thursday introduced bills that would allow openly transgender people to enlist in the military and protect trans servicemembers who are already serving. U.S. Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Joseph Kennedy [...]
Top officials in the Department of Health & Human Services laid out details on Wednesday of President Trump’s plan to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030, asserting “significant new resources” would be in the upcoming [...]
As the Trump administration pursues a transgender military ban, at least four lawmakers have invited transgender people with records of military service to attend to President Trump’s State of the Union address in the House [...]
MEXICALI, Mexico — Cindy Campos was washing clothes on a concrete washboard in the courtyard of Cobina Posada del Migrante, a migrant shelter in the Mexican border city of Mexicali, shortly after 4 p.m. on Jan. 27.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is facing growing calls to resign from the Human Rights Campaign and others after his medical school yearbook page with a picture of two men in blackface and a Ku Klux [...]
One day after the state emerged from a record-breaking cold snap, nearly 3,000 Democratic Michiganders gathered for the Michigan Democratic Party Spring Convention at Cobo Center in Detroit. There, credentialed delegates were tasked with electing MDP leadership as well as leadership for constituency caucuses and congressional districts.
Known as an incubator for small businesses, the lesbian-owned Lansing Eastside Gateway was ravaged by a fire last weekend that resulted in the death of 43-year-old openly gay employee John Bolan. He was discovered dead inside Sunday morning. In an article by reporter Kara Berg, The Lansing State Journal reported that Bolan had been sleeping inside the building when the fire broke out.
Oakland County saw its first ever openly gay circuit court judge join the bench this week at the swearing-in ceremony of Jake Cunningham last month.
Hanging at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Emanuel Leutze's 12-by-21-foot "Washington Crossing the Delaware" is a proud, imposing painting, framed in a brilliant gold. Famous for not only its size but its portrayal of [...]
Out On The Lakeshore continues to expand its services at the OOTL Community Center, offering new hours and programs for LGBTQ residents and allies in the Holland area. The center, at 451 Columbia Ave. in [...]
Several members of Congress invited actively-serving and veteran transgender service members as their honored guests to President Trump's State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Feb. 5. For many of the legislators, the Supreme Court’s [...]
Barbra “Babs” Siperstein, a transgender Democratic activist in New Jersey who’s credited with taking a lead role in pushing a pro-trans state birth certificate law for her state, died over the weekend at age 76, [...]
While standing in front of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission at Cadillac Place in Detroit on Friday, Feb. 1, Attorney General Dana Nessel made it clear that discrimination against the LGBTQ community does occur on [...]
The White House remains silent on President Trump’s reported meeting with anti-LGBT activist Ginni Thomas, the spouse of conservative U.S. Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, despite objections from LGBT rights advocates who say the meeting was [...]
Houston, TX police are searching for a suspect after a black, trans woman was shot five times on Thursday, Jan. 24 in the parking lot of a Chevron station shortly after 11 a.m. by a [...]
Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union took action against two major companies that their clients allege have participated in sex discrimination: McDonald's and Chili's. Additionally, the ACLU is awaiting news from the Supreme Court about cases that consider whether or not federal workplace discrimination law protects LGBTQ people from discrimination on the basis of sex.
Last Sunday marked the end of The National LGBTQ Task Force's 2019 Creating Change Conference — an annual event attended by thousands, put on to demonstrates advancements in the LGBTQ movement and to facilitate discussions and awareness of marginalized communities.
Dedicating one's time and energy to being an activist, particularly to a cause like LGBTQ civil rights, is never something undertaken lightly. Perhaps even rarer is a person who is willing to dedicate their life to such a cause. In the case of wives and Between The Lines Co-Publishers Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz, their decades-long commitment to enhancing the lives of the LGBTQ community in Michigan and beyond via their work in publishing and through the National LGBTQ Task Force has not been lost on their peers. Recognized last week at the Taskforce-sponsored 2019 Creating Change Conference, the couple received the Susan J. Hyde Award dedicated to their longevity in the movement.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib addressed the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change conference on Saturday, Jan. 26. Tlaib kicked off her remarks by stating, "Welcome to the most beautiful, blackest city in the country, the city of Detroit.
Jason A. Michael has a long history with Between The Lines. In fact, he started writing for the paper in 1999, less than 10 years into its history. But if 20 years seems like a long time, consider this: Michael wrote the bulk of his novel, "Easier Said," released this month on his own JAM Books imprint, even before he started writing for the paper. Now, Michael is gearing up for a book release party to be held on Saturday, Feb. 9 at The Charlevoix Gallery in Detroit. BTL caught up with him to get details on his newly released work and upcoming projects.
Last June, Jackson Mayor Derek Dobies appointed local activist Julia Josling to the volunteer position of LGBTQ liaison to the mayor’s office. Now, after seven months on the job, Josling chatted with BTL to reflect on her new position and her plans for the future.
He had, friends say, warm eyes and a nice smile and always a kind word for everyone. Community activist Nathan D. Strickland Jr., widely recognized as an up and coming leader in the LGBTQ community, succumbed to his lengthy battle with cancer Jan. 24. He passed just two weeks before what would have been his 28th birthday.
A federal district court judge has granted more time to reach a settlement in a case challenging state taxpayer funding for faith-based foster care and adoption agencies that refuse to work with same-sex couples.
A trans woman in Detroit got justice with help from the Fair Michigan Justice Project. Special Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz prosecuted and secured a conviction against Antoine Simmons in the Wayne County Circuit Court. Judge Mark Slavens sentenced Simmons to 18-45 years in prison on Thursday, Jan. 24, for armed robbery and use of a firearm in connection with a felony.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission will consider asking Attorney General Dana Nessel to review Attorney General Opinion 7305 during its meeting on Friday, Feb. 1, in Detroit.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's new executive directive barring LGBTQ discrimination may be challenged by the head of the State Bar's Religious Liberty section, according to the Michigan Advance . The publication obtained an email from Tracy Lee, a [...]
By hosting a QTPOC Speaker Series at Wayne State University, Cara Mitrano hopes to recognize and showcase the incredible leadership, activism, and service of the community's LGBTQ siblings of color in Detroit.
Reggie Bullock, a small forward and shooting guard for the Detroit Pistons, said he didn't know how many transgender lives were lost to violence until his sister, Mia Henderson, was murdered in July 2014 in [...]
Various news outlets report that openly gay "Empire" star Jussie Smollett was attacked in a hate crime while exiting a Chicago Subway sandwich shop. According to a TMZ report, sources said two men yelled homophobic slurs at [...]
The American Bar Association, the nation’s top voluntary bar association for lawyers, has adopted a resolution taking a stand for LGBT parents in the aftermath of states enacting laws enabling anti-LGBT discrimination in adoption. According to the LGBT [...]
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in City Pulse. A board member at Williamston Community Schools could face fines from the Michigan Bureau of Elections after she was anonymously exposed for a string of alleged [...]
Despite temperatures topping out in the teens, a crowd of more than 200 came out Saturday to support the Drag Queen Story Time program at the Huntington Woods Public Library. After right wing fringe groups [...]
A trans woman in Detroit got justice with help from the Fair Michigan Justice Project. Special Prosecutor Jaimie Powell Horowitz prosecuted and secured a conviction against Antoine Simmons in the Wayne County Circuit Court. Judge [...]
Pete Buttigieg, a combat veteran and mayor of South Bend, Ind., has signaled he plans to throw his name into the pool of 2020 presidential candidates, raising the possibility of a Millennial and an openly [...]
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib addressed the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change conference on Saturday, Jan. 26 at the Renaissance Center in Detroit. Tlaib kicked off her remarks by stating, "Welcome to the most beautiful, blackest [...]
Update: The Michigan Civil Rights Commission meeting for Monday, Jan. 28 at the Macomb Community College has been postponed due to the location being closed on account of expected inclement weather. The meeting has been rescheduled [...]
Detroit Police Department LGBT Liaison Cpl. Dani Woods has agreed to participate in the National LGBT Task Force's Creating Change conference following a lengthy meeting on Thursday, Jan. 24 with Director Andy Garcia and other [...]
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's new executive directive barring LGBTQ discrimination may be challenged by the head of the State Bar's Religious Liberty section, according to the Michigan Advance. The publication obtained an email from Tracy Lee, a [...]
