Todd Heywood
Beaten and Robbed
Aaron Christopher Spyker "This is how I'm going to die." That was all I could think as I lay face down, my hands cuffed behind my back while the two men rained blows down on the back and side of my head. While one of them kept me face down on the [...]
State Sen. Rick Jones Breaks with Caucus, Co-Sponsors Hate Crimes Amendment
State Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge) listens as the LGBT community mourned the loss of lives n Orlando June 12. He joined the crowd of over 100 people at the steps of the Capitol. BTL photo: Todd Heywood In the month since the Orlando massacre, [...]
Goal: 100 for HIV Testing Day
The CDC estimates that the lifetime risk that a black man who has sex with men will contract HIV is 1 in 2. Latino men who have sex with men have a lifetime risk of 1 in 4. And recently, a study from Emory University found the men who have sex with [...]
In Wake of Orlando Massacre, LGBT Venues Ramp Up Security
In the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, the staff at Spiral Nightclub in Lansing have begun talking about guns. Not banning them, but rather getting them. "I've had staff who know I have guns, ask me to shoot with them," said Sam Courtney, the [...]
2015 Hate Crime Report Shows Significant Disparities
The 2015 Hate Crime Report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects reports significantly higher victimization of youth, people of color, and particularly transgender individuals. The report, released last Tuesday, found 1,253 bias [...]
Unity, Defiance In The Face of Terror, Hate
123456ÔÑÑÔÑÖ As news of the horror in Orlando filtered out Sunday, activists across the state and the country organized impromptu vigils to mourn and to stand in defiance of an attack which President Barack Obama labeled "an act of terrorism [...]
Orlando Gay Nightclub Attack Likely an Act of Terrorism
"This was an act of terror," said President Barack Obama during a news briefing at the White House. "This was an act of hate." Media are reporting that alleged shooter Omar Mateen called 9-1-1 prior to entering the gay club Pulse shortly before 2 [...]
Mich. House Legislation Could Gut Local Human Rights Ordinances
LANSING – In a one upsmanship with the state Senate, a group of 20 Republican lawmakers in the House have introduced an even more draconian piece of legislation revolving around access to bathrooms. The new legislation, introduced late last [...]
Rent': A Life
Actor Brennan Hattaway has makeup applied. Photo courtesy of Riverwalk. Inhabited by heroin users, drag queens, the homeless and performance artists — welcome to the world of Jonathan Larson's 1996 musical vision of the struggle to live in New York [...]
Staggering HIV Rates Among Men Who Have Sex with Men
Men who have sex with men face an HIV prevalence rate "magnitudes higher" than any other risk group in the U.S., researchers from Emory University have found. The study, published by the online journal JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, found that [...]
Hillary Clinton Says She'll Work to Reform HIV Criminalization Laws as President
Former Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, told a gathering of hundreds of HIV advocates in Alabama last week that she supports a repeal of HIV-specific criminal laws. "As president I will work to reform [...]
Marriage Equality Champion to Seek Re-election
LANSING — Within minutes of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages in all 50 states last year, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum was performing the first post-ruling marriage in American history. The then 37-year-old clerk [...]