Archive for February, 2009
It could be the end of an era, as evangelical leader James Dobson leaves his post at the anti-gay Focus on the Family. On Friday, Feb. 27, the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based fundamentalist group announced Dobson’s resignation in a monthly worship service for their 950 employees. Dobson, 72, will step down [...]
CHARLOTTE — A local community leader and drag performer, Clay Smith, was the subject of a death threat this week. Smith, who performs as the popular Roxy C. Moorecox in LGBT and gay-friendly bars and clubs across the Carolinas, said an individual called Petra’s Piano Bar and Lounge in the [...]
RALEIGH, N.C. — Conservative lawmakers in North Carolina introduced an anti-LGBT, anti-family state constitutional amendment on marriage today in the state capital. Chiefly sponsored by State Sen. Jim Forrester and Rep. Paul Stam, the “North Carolina Defense of Marriage Amendment” would ban all recognition of same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships or [...]
After the passage of an anti-LGBT, anti-family marriage amendment by the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, LGBT advocates across the state are noticing increased pushes for similar resolutions in other counties. Ian Palmquist, executive director of the statewide EqualityNC, says his group has tracked five other counties that have passed [...]
This self-proclaimed diva may forever be known as the androgynous face (and voice) of The Eurythmics. But her latest disc, “The Annie Lennox Collection,” which includes 14 of her solo hits from the past 16 years, reminds the world why this musical force is an icon in her own right. [...]
Which kind of legislation do you think EqualityNC should focus on first in the 2009-2010 legislative session? Hate crimes Employment non-discrimination Safe Schools Stopping anti-gay marriage amendment Other View Results
The Human Rights Campaign is known to almost every member of the LGBT community, even if only in the slightest of ways. It’s branding and name recognition reach further than almost any other LGBT advocacy group. It’s iconic blue and yellow equal sign logo has become one of the nation’s [...]
After 10 years on the music charts, Kristine W continues to remain on top with hits like “Walk Away” and last summer’s “The Boss.” Her latest track, “Never,” hit the clubs in January and soared to Billboard’s top spot in four weeks. Appearing as the featured live performer at the [...]
Little Charlotte is getting a bit of L.A., Hollywood taste with the opening of “AmerWrecka,” the first production of the gay-owned, recently-relocated Actor’s Lab. The play, which opened on Feb. 12, follows the story of the four students killed at Kent State University in the 1970s. Nearly 40 years after [...]
CHARLOTTE/RALEIGH — Less than a month after the start of the 2009-2010 biennial legislative session, the statewide LGBT advocacy group EqualityNC is reaching out to local communities as they lay plans for achieving equality this year. In a town hall meeting with LGBT community members in Charlotte, ENC Executive Director [...]
A group of LGBT Raleigh professionals are hoping their hard work to organize a Triangle chapter of a nationwide LGBT workplace network pays off in the form of a national conference. Out and Equal Workplace Advocates is a national organization that works with corporate leaders to create safe and welcoming [...]
Five companies in the Carolinas received a perfect 100 score on HRC’s 2009 Corporate Equality Index: • Bank of America, Charlotte, NC • Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams, Taylorsville, NC • Replacements, Ltd., Greensboro, NC • Reynolds-American Tobacco, Winston-Salem, NC • Wachovia, Charlotte, NC Six other companies were ranked in the Index, [...]
[Ed. Note — Joseph Urbiniak is an inmate at Harnett Correctional Institution in Lillington, N.C., and is the plaintiff in a pending lawsuit against the N.C. Department of Corrections to secure the right of LGBT prisoners to possess non-sexual, LGBT-themed books, newspapers and magazines. Q-Notes is publishing a collection of [...]
Charlotte Show your wares CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Business Guild will host its 1st Annual CBG Business Expo on March 21 from 12-4 p.m. at the Lesbian & Gay Community Center, 820 Hamilton St., Suite B-11. Join others in the community who will be there to market and promote their [...]
Early parole denied COLUMBIA — The South Carolina Parole Board denied early parole on Feb. 11 for Stephen Andrew Moller, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the May 2007 death of openly gay Sean Kennedy. Moller will serve the rest of his sentence and be released July 7. His [...]
MOSCOW — A group of Russian gay activists launched a campaign on Feb. 6 demanding their government stop requesting foreign visa applicants for their HIV status. In three letters sent to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Prime Minster Vladimir Putin and the Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, the activists asked for [...]
Historic gay shop to close NEW YORK CITY — The nation’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore has announced it will close as the American and global economies continue to spiral out of control. Oscar Wilde Bookshop, just yards from the Stonewall Inn on Christopher St. in Greenwich Village, opened in [...]
When I came out at the end of eighth grade, one of the first LGBT organizations I learned about was the Human Rights Campaign. You can’t miss them. They’re everywhere. I’m sometimes astonished — completely blown away — when I talk about HRC and an LGBT person asks, “What is [...]
Let the struggle continue We are writing to you in disagreement with your editorial calling for a backing off of the marriage equality struggle (Editor’s Note, Jan. 24, “Revisiting our past could help us now”). We remember the formation of Anita Bryant’s group, “Save the Children,” which was in response [...]
It would be wrong to say that the majority of Republicans are racist. But, it is fair to say that racists have comfortably nested in the GOP for quite some time. Since President Richard Nixon employed his infamous “Southern Strategy,” bigots, xenophobes and homophobes have been sought-after Republican constituencies. Beginning [...]
