Chris Azzopardi
Five local colleges selected for LGBT advocacy
The Advocate selected five Michigan colleges as the 100 best schools for gay students and will feature them in a College Guide for LGBT Students, Triangle Foundation announced last week. "I think we've always strived to do groundbreaking work," said [...]
Gay-friendly bank services community at Ferndale branch
Opening up a branch of the gay-friendly Paramount Bank in Ferndale wasn't a complicated decision, even if it took two years for it to happen. "It was a logical choice to expand. Ferndale itself is kind of an ideal market for us," said Jeff Sugg, [...]
Man sentenced in shooting outside Gigi's
DETROIT – A Detroit man was sentenced Tuesday in Wayne County Circuit Court to six-to-12 years in prison – more than the suggested guidelines – for shooting a Windsor man as he left Gigi's Nightclub. Steven Williams Jr., 18, was found guilty last [...]
Melissa Etheridge tour promises powerful night
DETROIT – Melissa Etheridge has taken her share of punches. First a nasty breakup. Then a recent battle with breast cancer. But with each punch, Etheridge has stood up taller and woven intricate snapshots of her life in her candid lyrics. Critics [...]
The Ditty Bops' Big Adventure
It doesn't matter that Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald of The Ditty Bops indulged in one vanilla-mint and three peanut butter-chocolate-soycream smoothies at a Salt Lake City, Utah, pit-stop. "Ah! It was even better than it looked," Amanda says about [...]
The "Little" indie film that could
"Little Miss Sunshine." Starring Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette. Rated R. Opens Aug. 11 at the Birmingham 8. Whether it's the anal-retentive father or the gay suicidal literature professor, there's at least one member of the deeply [...]
Candlelight vigil honors ancestors
quote: "We should remember all those people that have gone before us. WeÕll never forget those. So many people weÕve lost to the virus. So many people that have paved the way.Ó Рthe Rev. Darlene Franklin-Foster cutline: Kalimah Johnson performs [...]
Judy Lewis: 'My daughter inspires me'
Judy Lewis says she wants to help those individuals "who are afraid to come out and speak for themselves." BTL photo: Elizabeth Carnegie When Judy LewisÕs daughter, Jessica, stood up and passionately urged legislators to support second-parent [...]
BTL founder brings stage show back home
He or she? It doesn't matter to MaxZine Weinstein. "I am somewhat committed to screwing with gender," says Weinstein, 41. "It's fun to challenge gender stereotypes and roles, and hopefully the more people do it, the more society will get a clue and [...]
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival crosses generations
At this year's Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, it shouldn't be a surprise to see grandma boogieing to some quirky tunes from The Ditty Bops. "The generational spectrum is much, much wider than it was back in the '70s," said Sandy Ramsey, a festival [...]
Tune in to 'Night'
Gay radio personality Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) doesn't always tell stories based on his life verbatim. He embellishes them, twisting them into amusing, but not always truthful, anecdotes. In "The Night Listener" Noone's character, in the midst [...]
A 'safe haven' for fertility
When a lesbian couple from Grand Rapids visited Dr. Michael Mersol-Barg's Center for Reproductive Medicine in Birmingham it wasn't because they couldn't find a facility closer to home. It's because several reproductive agencies turned them [...]