D'Anne Witkowski
Grindr Improves User Experience By Allowing Users to Include (Tasteful) Bare-Butt Shots in Public Profiles
Today I learned that LinkedIn, the popular social networking site, is now allowing people to use bare-butt photos in their profiles. I was a little surprised considering that — oh, wait. It's Grindr, not LinkedIn. I am always getting those two [...]
Remembering Aut Bar: How the Iconic Ann Arbor Bar Brought a Community of LGBTQ+ People Together
Twenty two years ago, Ann Arbor resident Debra Miller came out at age 44 after a long marriage. The first LGBTQ+ space she went to was the Aut Bar. "When I came out, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to feel safe or feel comfortable," [...]
Making Care Sexy: Michigan Native Documents Intersection of Sexuality and Disability
Disabled people are sexual beings. Unfortunately, this fact is rarely depicted in the media or even something most able-bodied people consider. Photographer and Yale MFA graduate Robert Andy Coombs seeks to change that with his work. The [...]
This Artist and Historian Are Preserving Michigan LGBTQ+ History With a Comic Book About the State's First Pride March
When Merrilee Melvin, then 24, came out as lesbian to some coworkers in 1972, she didn't expect to lose her job. "I was working at a little print shop in Detroit, and I had come out to my coworkers," she tells Pride Source via phone from her home in [...]
How the Design and Function of Nature Is Impacting Auto Manufacturing
"It all started with a Beetle." This could be the beginning of a story about someone who went on to become a "car nut" engineer or somebody who went on to become an entomologist. In Rich Altherr's case, it's a little of both. Altherr, 48, is [...]
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson Opens Mouth, Spews Filth
Dear Readers, I am not filth. And neither are you. This isn't something that I should have to declare. But readers of this column know that there are people who don't think LGBTQ+ people are human. Far too many are in positions of power where what [...]
Art Heals in Rogério Pinto's Intimately Personal 'Realm of the Dead' U-M Exhibit
The death of a child is the stuff of nightmares for parents. The pain and the anguish never really go away, and the entire family is reshaped by such a tragic event. Such was the case for Rogério Pinto, professor and associate dean for [...]
Pat Robertson Is Retiring to Spend More Time With His Bigotry
It's the end of an era. A very harmful and stupid era. Pat Robertson is stepping down from "The 700 Club." Robertson, the founder of the Christian Broadcast Network, has been the star of this very column SO MANY TIMES. I do not even know how many, [...]
The Magic of Jason Misleh: DJ Jace M Expects to See You at Ferndale Pride
Jason Misleh is not a magician, nor is he a puppeteer. He is, however, an expert in making bodies move. Misleh, better known on the club circuit as DJ Jace M, has 20 years of experience choosing the perfect songs and crafting the perfect beats to [...]
Liz Cheney Makes Brave Public Declaration: Her Sister Is Human and Deserves Human Rights
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is not going to save us. I know it's all the rage to point to her as the one reasonably sane Republican in a sea of seditious liars, but it's just not that simple. First of all, hooray for Cheney for being one of two [...]
It's Not an Island Paradise for Everyone': Maurice Tomlinson Is Fighting an Uphill Battle Against Homophobia in Jamaica
When Maurice Tomlinson married his husband, Tom Decker, in 2011, he did not plan on saying goodbye to his home country of Jamaica. He certainly didn't expect Jamaica to say goodbye to him. But that's exactly what happened. Tomlinson wasn't out in [...]
Texas Tells Biden Administration Where to Shove Their Transgender Protections
The question on everybody's mind right now is whether Texas is terrible enough. They've got a broken electrical grid, a reprehensible abortion ban that sets bounty hunters loose to enforce the law, newly passed voter suppression legislation [...]