DETROIT – The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan announced that five key LGBTQ organizations have received grants totaling $200,000 from the Community Foundation’s HOPE — Helping Others through Partnerships and Education ‚ Fund. Each organization [...]
More than 40 people were arrested in Moscow on June 27 for protesting against the arrest of an LGBTQ activist who is accused of spreading “gay propaganda” on her social media page and distributing pornography. Yulia Tsvetkova, [...]
In apparent defiance of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against anti-LGBTQ discrimination, the Trump administration has announced plans to change Obama-era regulations to allow homeless shelters to refuse to house transgender people consistent with [...]
Coleen Hulling, 29, and Melissa Williamson, 25, were on an afternoon bike ride in London Township in Monroe County on Friday, June 26, when a driver swerved and killed the two women. GoFundMe campaigns have [...]
Henry Ford Health System has acknowledged Pride month and took it to social media to share its open support for the LGBTQ community. All across the Detroit Metropolitan area, Pride flags stand tall at five [...]
On Saturday, June 27, approximately 150 individuals, mostly parishioners of St. John Fisher Chapel in Auburn Hills, gathered outside after mass to rally in support Terry Gonda. Days earlier, Gonda had been officially fired from [...]
A bill that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to Virginia’s nondiscrimination law took effect on Wednesday. The Democrat-controlled General Assembly earlier this year approved the Virginia Values Act. Governor Ralph Northam signed it into [...]
Yesterday the Ferndale Affirmations LGBTQ community center received a message from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and openly gay state Sen. Jeremy Moss. "I wanted to take time to say thank you to our frontline workers, especially [...]
LANSING — Today, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-139 to rename the state-owned Lewis Cass Building in downtown Lansing to the “Elliott-Larsen Building,” honoring the legislators who sponsored Michigan’s landmark civil rights act. The legislation [...]
Internationally known for global humanitarian work, Doctors Without Borders has for decades provided first responder health care to thousands of people around the world with the greatest immediate need. And while it might seem standard [...]
As many in the LGBTQ community have realized, seeking out affirming health care can be a challenge. One organization that has been trying to remove that unnecessary obstacle is Detroit's Corktown Health Center, which focuses [...]
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday approved a bill that would designate the Pulse nightclub as a national memorial. A press release that U.S. Reps. Darren Soto, Val Demings, and Stephanie Murphy released notes [...]
Celebrities, politicians and activists on Saturday united with Global Pride 2020, a 24-hour virtual event created in light of widespread cancellations of Pride events and festivals due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event celebrated LGBTQ [...]
Representatives of the Office of the Mayor as well as the Director of the D.C. Department of Transportation looked on as a rainbow crosswalk was installed at 17th and P Streets, NW on Thursday. The [...]
Even if you know in your heart of rainbow hearts that the president of the United States and the cretins who work for him hate you, you might not realize that this administration is always [...]
Turning Out the Absentee Vote The Human Rights Campaign is wrapping up its Pride Week of Action this weekend with phone banks to contact all potential equality voters in Michigan. The banks, going on through [...]
Origin Sometimes it takes moving from one house to another to realize how much excess “stuff” one has. That’s what happened to Tim Kniaz when he and his husband moved from Warren to Eastpointe last [...]
As June 28 approaches, the LGBTQ community around the world prepares to commemorate the Stonewall riots that happened on that date in 1969. But as significant as the date is, it's undeniable that social distancing [...]
July 27, 1944 - June 21, 2020 Joy Geng, one of the first out employees at Ford and a longtime supporter and board member of Equality Michigan — and its predecessor the Triangle Foundation — [...]
The city of Royal Oak has adopted an ordinance to ban conversion therapy during its meeting on Monday, June 22. When officially put into law, Royal Oak will become just the fifth city in Michigan [...]
Today Ferndale Pride organizers announced via Facebook that due to an "abundance of caution," the previously rescheduled event will be canceled for 2020. "With pride in our hearts, we sadly announce the cancellation of Ferndale [...]
Though it regularly hosts a Shabbat every fourth Friday of the month, this coming June 26 at 6:30 p.m., the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation is adding rainbow into the mix with a Pride Shabbat celebration. [...]
Effective as of 9 a.m. this morning, Ypsilanti Mayor Beth Bashert announced that she is resigning from her position after she made racist comments in a June 16 city council meeting via Zoom. She released [...]
With the Trump administration refusing to take back its rule permitting anti-transgender discrimination in health care following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights effectively countermanding it, LGBTQ legal advocates are returning to the [...]
On June 16, during a public Zoom meeting, the Ypsilanti City Council was discussing whether to reappoint Ka'Ron Gaines to the Human Relations Commission. When the discussion reached Ypsilanti Mayor Beth Bashert, she said, "Since [...]
Sept. 12, 1952 – June 14, 2020 Kenneth Jacob, known simply to friends as Kenny, died Sunday, June 14, after suffering a fatal stroke. Jacob was well-known and much beloved in Metro Detroit’s LGBTQ community [...]
Now in its 20th year, World Refugee Day is an internationally recognized observance designed to call attention to the status of refugees and people seeking asylum across the planet. And as difficult as the process [...]
A day of celebration originally in 1865, June 19, or Juneteenth as it came to be called, commemorates the day when Union Army General Gordon Granger read General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, stating [...]
While Pride month is halfway over, the Detroit Pistons are not slowing down with their message of LGBTQ inclusion. This week, the Detroit Pistons held their third virtual Pride celebration, an Athletes for Equality Panel [...]
This Friday is the American holiday known as Juneteenth, although this holiday is largely unknown to many Americans — as it commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger announced federal orders in Galveston, [...]
Motor City Pride might be rescheduled this year, but that doesn't mean that the city is letting Pride season slip away unnoticed. The Detroit Pistons are hosting a series of virtual Pride events throughout the [...]
Last Thursday was a normal evening for Southeast Michigan resident Ian Peters when he received a notification on his phone. At first, it seemed regular enough. But a closer look revealed that Adam Edward, the [...]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling this week in terms of the immediate protections it granted LGBTQ people in the workplace, but the decision may soon provide more victories by forcing President Trump [...]
FERNDALE – In celebration of Pride Month, the Affirmations LGBTQ Community Center will host a six-hour livestreaming event called the Pride Telethon 2020 on Saturday, June 27, starting at noon. It will feature interviews with [...]
An LGBTQ rights activist from Egypt who was arrested for raising a rainbow flag during a 2017 concert died by suicide on Sunday. Al-Jazeera reports Sara Hegazy, 30, died at her home in Canada. Egyptian authorities in [...]
Unexpected Ruling On Thursday, June 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. a virtual rally will be held to celebrate and explain Monday’s Supreme Court decision that workplace sex discrimination extends to sexual orientation and gender [...]
By the Numbers By his own account, Ferndale resident Oscar Renautt is “a numbers person.” That’s why, when he calculated how grossly underrepresented the LGBTQ community is in elective office, he wanted to do something [...]
In today’s historic 6-3 Supreme Court decision, LGBTQ people across the U.S. came one step closer to full equality when justices ruled that workplace sex discrimination protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity. The majority’s [...]
In a historic development, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday federal law bars discrimination against workers for being LGBTQ, affirming long-sought federal protections for LGBTQ people in the workplace. The 6-3 decision, written by [...]
Disregarding pleas from transgender advocates, the Trump administration made final on Friday a rule enabling health care providers to refuse care to transgender people, including gender reassignment surgery. The rule change at the Department of [...]
Jerry Abraham “Jai” Moore, a tireless advocate for civil liberties and social justice, and the last surviving officer of the Detroit Area Council of the Mattachine Society of the late 1950s, died May 22 at [...]
In a series of public reintroductions, last week the Ferndale Arts and Cultural Commission broke new creative ground when it launched a new website, released a new logo, announced two upcoming community art projects and, [...]
Commitment to Diversity NextGen America, the coalition of young people whose goal it is to mobilize other youth to register and vote for progressive candidates, places a high value on the diversity of its volunteers [...]
LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared June 2020 Pride Month in Michigan to celebrate LGBTQ+ individuals and recognize the important work that must be done to create a more equitable state for all identities, genders, [...]
Yesterday, Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens gave the Fair and Equal Michigan LGBTQ citizens' initiative a 69-day extension to collect the signatures required to be considered by the state's legislature. That period [...]
LANSING – Racism has officially been declared a public health crisis in Ingham County. The Ingham County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution to declare it so Tuesday evening. The resolution was moved by Commissioner [...]
Although this photo might bring to mind the iconic image of the White House lit up in Pride colors upon the United States' historic marriage equality ruling, it is in fact the city council building [...]
Lesbian athletes Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe are calling on the National Collegiate Athletics Association to move a major basketball competition from Idaho in the wake of the state enacting a law barring transgender [...]
The Aut Bar in Ann Arbor has become the latest victim of the novel coronavirus. In a statement, the BarStar Group, which purchased the restaurant and bar just over a year ago, announced the iconic [...]
Berkley, Out of the Closet “Where you want to be” is the motto of Berkley, Michigan, and now more than ever, “you” is directed toward the LGBTQ community. Just since December, the city council enacted [...]
