Issue 409

Where I come from, a pop is something you get on your ass—not something you order at a restaurant. This and other lessons mark a boy from the South transplanted to the Midwest. Exhibit A: my first date in Minneapolis. I wanted so desperately to impress him. I’d met him only once before, but he…

Appropriately enough, on Valentine’s Day Eve, February 13, Noon-4 PM, the seventh annual GLBT Life & Wedding Expo takes place at the Park Plaza Hotel, 4460 West 78th Street Circle, Bloomington. The event is presented by the Park Plaza Hotel, Rainbow Wedding Network, and Twin City Bride. Savii Formalwear is sponsoring tuxes; Adagio is providing…

Arts Organizations Left Out Recently, a “Best Of” article [“On the Townsend,” Lavender, December 16] highlighted the Best Productions of 2010 in Minneapolis/St. Paul. On this list were many fantastic performances from area theater companies, both large and small. The list was great; however, there seemed to be a large amount of arts organizations left…

Let me stress: This essay is not an accusation that Sarah Palin’s grammar of divisiveness and vocabulary of violence directly set mass shooter Jared Loughner off on his January 8 rampage. But words are powerful, and do influence—if not trigger—actions. Words are not important then, but irrelevant now. You can’t have it both ways.

Besen Will Visit Minneapolis on Truth Wins Out Tour Activist Wayne Besen of Truth Wins Out is on an 11-state tour to discuss the harm caused by programs that claim to turn gay people straight through prayer and therapy. At each stop, he shows a multimedia presentation pointing out the psychological damage caused by these…

Interviews with Cheryl Gordon and Michele Harris & Richard Adams and Ross Kyllo Let’s face it: Finding someone, winning someone, and keeping someone who is agreeable to finding, winning, and keeping you takes diplomacy, along with courage, nerve, balance, and stamina. Lavender recently approached two long-term couples—21 and 29 years, respectively—asking the partners, Cheryl Gordon…

Diane Follestad, co-owner with her husband, Doug, of Granite Transformations since 2008, recently spoke with Lavender about wonders awaiting your home through engineered stone. Founded 15 years ago, the company now has 80 franchises in the United States, offering environmentally-friendly composite granite and Trend glass tiles and surfaces.

More than 2,000 GLBT-rights advocates will gather in Minneapolis February 2-5 to strategize and organize for the critical year ahead. Hosting the annual Creating Change Conference is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), whose mission is to build the grassroots power of the GLBT community by training activists, as well as through other…

Whenever our community achieves a first of some kind, it’s typically cause for celebration. But when transgender woman Krissy Bates recently was found brutally murdered in her Downtown Minneapolis apartment, becoming the city’s first homicide victim of 2011, all we as a community could do was mourn.