Hank Kennedy
Hank Kennedy is a Detroit-area educator, activist, and writer whose work has appeared in Logos, New Politics, the Progressive and the Comics Journal.
Michigan Furry Brings Honey Badger Energy — and Medicare for All — to His Fight for a Seat in the U.S. Congress
Elyon Badger doesn't look anything like how one expects a candidate for office to look. Often clad in marijuana-themed attire or a honey badger fursuit, Badger — alias Samuel Smeltzer — is running for the Democratic primary for Michigan's [...]
From Banned to Beloved: How Queer Comics Found Their Voice at Michigan's Vault of Midnight
When Jacki Van Tuyle started working at Vault of Midnight, she knew the Ann Arbor-based comic shop was different. Unlike the "dusty, kind of quiet places with lots of boxes" that dominate the industry, the Vault's three locations — Grand [...]
How Between The Lines Carries Forward Michigan's Rich Queer Press History
Long before Between The Lines became Michigan's leading LGBTQ+ publication, Metro Detroit had a rich tradition of queer journalism spanning more than five decades. From revolutionary post-Stonewall newspapers to community magazines that weathered the [...]
Why I’m a Proud Queer for Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would shake his head at this title. During Netenyahu’s speech to Congress last year, he took time for an interesting aside. The accused war criminal declared that “Gays for Gaza” were [...]
Michigan Rep. Neil Friske Arrest Shows Hypocrisy of 'Traditional Values' Politicians
It is a heuristic of American politics that those who raise their voices loudest in defense of “traditional American values” or a retrograde “sexual morality” have a better than average chance of themselves being enmeshed in [...]
The Humble Hippopotamus: Michigan’s Next Pride Symbol?
The animals that represent American political parties are quite the menagerie. Most people know about the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, but what about the Libertarian porcupine? The Constitution Party eagle? The very fitting [...]
Anti-LGBTQ+ Conspiracist Robert F. Kennedy to Appear on Michigan Ballot
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of slain 1968 Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, has officially qualified for the November ballot in Michigan. Kennedy and running mate Nicole Shanahan are running as the Natural Law Party’s candidates in the [...]
Tim Walberg: Michigan’s Worst Congressman?
Congressman Tim Walberg, a man with the name and look of a substitute teacher, is an unlikely candidate to grab headlines. Yet after his latest blowup over nuclear weapons, grab headlines is exactly what he did, in national media such as USA Today [...]
Ferndale-Based Hate Group Church Militant: Gone For Good?
We fighters for LGBTQ+ rights have to take our victories where we can get them. As state governments continue to try to take our rights away, as right-wing bigots fulminate about eliminating us from public life, as we reel in horror from the death of [...]