Around dawn on Wednesday, March 13, Comedian Mimi Gonzalez was taking a familiar drive near her Michigan home. Under normal circumstances on this road, her speed of 60 mph would have been a safe traveling [...]

Announced officially last month, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the LGBTQ civil rights advocacy organization HRC, and SAGE, the world's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ older adults, joined forces in a partnership aimed at helping LGBTQ elders across the country. The inaugural project taken on by these groups is the Long-Term Care Equality Index: a nationwide assessment intended to rate the quality of life LGBTQ people have in long-term elder care facilities.

What do you do when you’re the Human Rights Campaign’s state political director who just oversaw Michigan’s blue wave and your old friend calls and asks you to manage his historic run for U.S. Congress? For Amritha Venkataraman, making the choice to leave a fulfilling job was tough, but the Bloomfield Hills native said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to pack up, relocate to Kalamazoo and join Team Hoadley.

Bridget, better-known as LaKyra, Butts has faced violence and discrimination in every aspect of her life as a transgender woman of color. For her, it’s a harsh reality that women who make up her demographic get killed at disproportionately higher rates than any other group within the LGBTQ community — a fact that’s not lost on her."It's a scary feeling knowing you could die tomorrow," she said.

Now in his third and final term as a state representative in Michigan's 60th House District, Jon Hoadley announced last week his intentions to represent Southwest Michigan nationally. In 2020, Hoadley plans to run against [...]

On Saturday, March 23, LGBTQ bar and nightclub Backstreet, a staple in the Metro Detroit queer community with a history that dates back to 1979, held a soft opening despite still being under construction. “We [...]

DETROIT – Publishers of the 12 largest LGBT newspapers in America met in Detroit on April 10 and 11 for the annual meeting of the National LGBTQ Media Association. Jan Stevenson and Susan Horowitz, co-publishers [...]

Oakland County Commissioner William Miller (D-Farmington) is proposing a resolution to designate Oakland County as a Welcoming County and that it join the Welcoming Michigan initiative. The resolution asserts that a community and its leadership [...]

An Unlikely Scenario Why would Between The Lines request an interview with a Republican justice on the Michigan Supreme Court? To begin with, Justice Elizabeth Clement, like many in the judiciary, would bristle at labeling [...]

DEARBORN – Twenty-five years ago a group of dedicated LGBTQ employees of the Ford Motor Company came together to form Ford GLOBE, the automaker’s LGBTQ employee resource group, to unite and network LGBTQ employees, to [...]

Clergy across Michigan released a joint statement this week in honor of Holy Week, seeking unity and support for protective policies for all — including LGBTQ people: As Christian faith leaders across denominations, we are [...]

Obama’s Influence It’s not every 17-year-old who gets to attend a dinner party at the White House with his mom. That was the fortune of Connor Berdy, currently a candidate for Warren City Council, after [...]

This week openly gay State Rep. Jon Hoadley of Kalamazoo announced that he will run for Congress via press release. His message stated that he is running because he believes "that we should put people [...]

DETROIT — Following a nationwide search, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan is excited to welcome new Executive Director Dave Noble, who has been fighting for peoples’ rights for nearly two decades.

LANSING – The Michigan Supreme Court announced this month that it will consider issuing an opinion about the constitutionality of a lame duck period proposal for higher minimum wage that was struck down during that [...]

LANSING – Raising public awareness about sexual assault and educating communities about how to prevent it are the center of the national campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proclaimed April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Michigan, joining advocates and communities across our state in playing an active role to prevent sexual assault.

The O'Neill Institute is releasing a new policy brief titled, "Bolstering Latinx Gay and Bisexual Men to Promote Health and Reduce HIV Transmission." This follows the release of President Trump's budget request for fiscal year 2020 calling for a $291 million increase in funding for his plan to end the HIV epidemic over the next decade.

A United Methodist Church minister in Lansing has declared he will perform same-sex weddings despite a recent denominational decision continuing the prohibition of gay marriage. At the church’s annual conference, which took place last month in St. Louis, delegates voted 438-384 in favor of what was called the Traditional Plan. The Plan continues the church’s ban on the ordination of LGBTQ clergy and the performing of same-sex weddings.

Rachel Crandall-Crocker, co-founder of Transgender Michigan, said 10 years ago she had an idea. "Why can't there be a day that we can be proud of what we are? Why can't there be a day [...]

Hundreds of guests filled one of MGM Grand Detroit's largest ballrooms Saturday to commemorate the Affirmations Spring Bash. As planned, the annual event served as a spotlight for the LGBTQ community center's achievements and as a key fundraiser. However, 2019's event is unique for the organization in several ways.

More than 300 members of the LGBTQ community and its allies cheered on the Detroit Pistons as they defeated the Orlando Magic, 115-98, during Pride Night on Thursday, March 28, at Little Caesars Arena in [...]

FERNDALE — Though the Transgender Day of Visibility has ended, two trans-led organizations, Transcend the Binary and Gender Identity Network Alliance, are celebrating a successful “Trans Day of Artivism” event and beginning plans for another event in 2020 due to an overwhelming response from the community this year.

There’s no doubt the LGBTQ community can celebrate the political gains made in 2018, but the Trump administration's attacks on the LGBTQ community have escalated since then — particularly toward transgender people. And last year's midterm election results, while encouraging, do not reduce the imminent threats the LGBTQ community faces; there is a lot of work yet to do.

On a national scale, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that new HIV diagnoses have remained relatively stable in recent years — as of 2017, new diagnoses hovered roughly around 39,000.

we’re not closing, we’re not going away. There’s no danger to anyone’s care at this moment and at the moment that there is, we will do everything in our power to make sure that everyone who needs care will still get it. - Angela Vasquez-Giroux

On Friday, April 5, therapist Dr. Joe Kort will host an event at the Royal Oak Center for Relationship and Sexual Health to learn more about suicide and how to help loved ones who may [...]

Equality Michigan is a statewide political advocacy organization that works to ensure LGBTQ Michiganders not only achieve equality in all aspects of life but have the resources they need if they fall victim to discrimination.  [...]

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today announced a settlement with the plaintiffs in Dumont et al. v Gordon et al. (Case No. 2:17-cv-13080), a case centering on some state-contracted foster care and adoption agencies’ [...]

GRAND RAPIDS – The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has scheduled two fact-finding hearings in Grand Rapids on March 28 in response to allegations of discriminatory conduct against people of color. The hearings will be [...]

An annual spring fundraiser for the Affirmations LGBTQ community center, Spring Bash has long been a mainstay on the 501(C)(3)'s calendar. However, this year is special in two ways: it's a celebration of the organization [...]

A part of its Annual Gun Law Scorecard, the California-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence ranks all 50 states on a multi-point gun safety rubric and issues both a ranking and letter grade to each.

Along with three other awardees, Dr. Arianna T. Morales was highlighted for exemplary work by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals Inc. As a result of her recognition, Michigan-based Morales received a 2019 LGBTQ+ Engineer of the Year Award for her work as a staff research scientist with General Motors.

Now celebrated across the U.S. and in countries all around the world, the International Transgender Day of Visibility got its start 10 years ago when Michigan-based activist Rachel Crandall-Crocker felt the need to not only mourn the loss of members of the transgender community via the Day of Remembrance but to honor the living members of the community. Now, as she gears up for the 10th consecutive March 31 of celebrating the transgender community, Crandall-Crocker said she has two primary feelings: pride and disbelief.

A group of six members of the youth advisory board of the Ruth Ellis Center traveled to New York from Feb. 21 through 24 to take part in the 2019 U.N. Global Engagement Summit at the United Nation’s headquarters. The opportunity came about as part of a collaboration between attorney London Bell and the Bell Global Justice Institute and the Ruth Ellis Center. Bell, a member of the United Nations Association of Greater Detroit, had been preparing the youth for the trip since last June.

Spurred to Action Fifteen years ago, when John Kerry ran for president against George W. Bush, Kerry came to Michigan for a rally at Macomb University. For Jody LaMacchia, today a candidate for state representative, [...]

Receiving an HIV diagnosis is unquestionably life-altering, and not always only because of the direct effects of the virus itself. Cara Mitrano is an undergraduate student at Wayne State University and was recently selected by [...]