Archive for September, 2011
Over the past 24 hours, news and blog reports have detailed anti-gay state Sen. James Forrester’s (R-Gaston) alleged falsification and résumé padding of medical credentials and association memberships. Pam’s House Blend blogger Scott Rose broke the story on Thursday and qnotes reported this morning that Forrester’s membership in the Christian [...]
Gaston County state Sen. James Forrester (R), lead sponsor of the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment placed on the ballot for May 2012, has been accused of falsifying some of his medical credentials.
Charlotte-based, national non-profit Campus Pride took their LGBT-Friendly College Fair Tour on the road recently. Attendees to Pride Charlotte last year and this year might be familiar with the project. The group hosted similar college fairs for prospective LGBT students at the Charlotte events last October and this August. In [...]
An LGBT Pride event scheduled for this weekend at the city’s Crawdad Stadium was nearly cancelled at the last minute as organizers were forced to find a new location after deals with the city-owned venue fell through.
Mayor Anthony Foxx attended a small business forum Tuesday evening at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte. Foxx, a panel of LGBT small business owners and about two dozen citizens discussed a wide range of issues including jobs, taxes, the economy, education, infrastructure and LGBT inclusion in city policies and ordinances.
Three of North Carolina’s most well-known LGBT businessmen and philanthropists were named Tuesday to host and steering committees for Charlotte’s Democratic National Convention in 2012.
qnotes‘ editor, Matt Comer, had the opportunity to speak with reporter Julie Bolcer about efforts to raise awareness on LGBT equality issues in Charlotte ahead of the city’s 2012 spotlight as it hosts the Democratic National Convention. Local mover-and-shaker Scott Bishop was also interviewed. Check out the piece at The [...]
A nascent grassroots activism group based in Western North Carolina announced the official formation of their group today and released their strategy to oppose Amendment One, the anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment that will be put before voters on May 8, 2012.
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) announced today that she will become a cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, federal legislation that would prohibit employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The executive director of a national transgender advocacy organization appeared at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte Tuesday night and is scheduled to speak Wednesday evening at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Mayor Anthony Foxx will attend a meeting with business owners in the Queen City’s LGBT community next week. Organizers of the meeting say Foxx’s willingness to sit down with minority business owners showcases his continued support for LGBT equality and for local job growth.
On a local radio program this morning, the No. 2 Republican leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives refused to answer whether he would support banning or limiting divorce. He also distanced himself from the language of anti-gay pastors he had invited to speak at the General Assembly preceding a vote last week to place an anti-LGBT constitutional amendment on the ballot in May.
LGBT community members will gather across the Carolinas on Tuesday to celebrate the full repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the 1993 U.S. statute that bans openly gay or lesbian Americans from open military service. Community members will host a variety of celebrations. Some will gather for friendly bar events and others will host community conversations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that men having sex with men (MSM) account for just four percent of the U.S. male population aged 13 and older, yet the rate of new HIV diagnoses among MSM is more than 44 times that of other men and more than 40 times that of women. In the rural Appalachian Mountains and foothills of Northwestern North Carolina, a few additional statistics caught the attention of local AIDS service organization, the AIDS Leadership Foothills-area Alliance (ALFA). In 2010, a shocking 90 percent of new clients came into medical care with an AIDS diagnosis and almost 70 percent of the clients self-identified their risk factor as men who have sex with men.
On Aug. 27, the Human Rights Campaign announced the departure of its current executive director, Joe Solmonese, whose contract will run out on March 31, 2012; he has chosen not to renew. The same day, HRC announced the formation of a search committee tasked to find a replacement for Solmonese. North Carolinian Joni Madison, of Hillsborough, and Los Angeles’ Dana Perlman, will co-chair the committee.
You can’t stop Pride. Don’t even try. Human dignity and determination of spirit can’t be overshadowed by hate and prejudice. That’s exactly the message sent by the thousands who attended Pride Charlotte on Aug. 27, the same day hundreds of anti-gay protesters from Charlotte’s radical, religious right made a show of desperate force in an effort to stymie progress and turn back the clock on LGBT equality.
Whether or not you’ve heard of Jerry Buell, in a few minutes you’re going to find it hard to forget him. Buell is a high school teacher in Mount Dora, Fla., who posted on Facebook that he “almost threw up” when he heard about New York’s legalization of gay marriage. He said same-sex unions were part of a “cesspool,” and called them a “sin.”
On Sept. 7, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new guidelines that strengthen the Nov. 2010 hospital visitation rules that protect patients’ rights to be visited in the hospital by their families and loved ones. The guidance, which took effect immediately, makes several important changes to current policy and provides significant protections for LGBT patients and their families.
What did you think about this year’s Pride Charlotte Festival and Pride Charlotte Week? This year’s events were an absolute blast! I enjoyed it. Ah, same old, same old. I wasn’t all that satisfied. Where was the parade?! I didn’t go. I don’t know. View Results
Jordan Mitzel, born in the spring of 1998 to an alcoholic, HIV-infected and crack-addicted prostitute, has survived much in his short life. He battled the affects of fetal alcohol syndrome and drug addiction from the moment he arrived. Seems like a real horror tale, but he was lucky because his mother left him at the hospital and he was placed with Beverly Mitzel and Sonja Austin at just five days old. Eventually, they would become his new moms.
