Todd Heywood
Matt's Safe Schools bills move to House floor
LANSING The two bills collectively known as Matt's Safe Schools bill have been voted out of the House Education Committee to the main floor of the House. A vote by the full House is expected in the next week. "I am thrilled that Michigan students [...]
Coulter a bully
Come, take an imaginary, but very real, walk with me. Imagine you are a 13 or 14-year-old boy. You are a little overweight, you get into science more than you enjoy sports, you even sing in the school choir. Your reward for doing your thing is that [...]
Hate crimes, anti-bullying: Will they pass the legislature this year?
LANSING – With the recent and highly publicized savage anti-gay murder of 72-year-old Andrew Anthos, BTL decided to find out where anti-bullying and hate crimes legislation stood in the legislative process and what their potential for passage [...]
Lansing mourns the loss of 'The Mayor of Old Town'
LANSING — Those who knew Robert Busby tell of a man who would ride his bike through Lansing's Old Town 30 years ago. While others would see boarded up buildings, violent bars and a porno shop, Busby saw something else–an artist's community. And he [...]
Spring Arbor professor's journey to womanhood
SPRING ARBOR – Julie Marie Nemecek always knew there was something different about her growing up. Something she could not quite put a finger on. That was before Julie, though. That was when she was John. "I remember when I was in fifth or sixth [...]
Crusader to light the capitol red, white, blue murdered in anti-gay attack
DETROIT – Andrew Anthos, 72, died Feb 23 of injuries he sustained in a brutal anti-gay attack. He had been in Detroit's Receiving Hospital's intensive care unit since the attack Feb. 13, which occurred outside his Detroit residence. According to a [...]
Trans firing may cause Lansing Community College to sever partnership with Spring Arbor
EDITOR'S NOTE: Todd A. Heywood is a former Trustee of Lansing Community College and is currently suing the college Board of Trustees in Ingham County Circuit Court for allegedly violating the Open Meetings Act. LANSING – A lucrative partnership [...]
Viewpoint: Pox on both your houses
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Throughout the '90s I worked diligently to get LBGT people recognized as a protected class at Lansing Community College. It took years, but when the board voted to add sexual orientation to the [...]
First openly gay gubernatorial chief of staff calling it quits
LANSING — While Gov. Jennifer Granholm prepares for her second term, her openly gay chief of staff, John Burchett, will be packing up his bags. "I did what I set out to do," Burchett said of his 15-month tenure as the nation's first openly gay [...]
Lansing approves human rights ordinance
LANSING – As expected the Lansing City Council voted unanimously to approve a comprehensive human rights ordinance Monday night, then voted to make the ordinance effective immediately. The ordinance, introduced in October, is the first [...]
Lansing Ordinance set for human rights vote
LANSING – The Lansing City Council will likely vote on the Comprehensive Human Rights Ordinance Monday, Dec. 18. The eight-member council is expected to pass the ordinance unanimously. Council member originally thought the ordinance would come to a [...]
MSU student group likely hate group
EDITOR'S NOTE: Young Americans for Freedom spokeswoman Joanna Varnavas quit working with the organization over the weekend. She says the organization is no longer the group she thought it was, and did not want to be associated with it anymore. [...]