From release:
The Plaza Midwood Merchants Association is excited to announce the second annual Holiday Central event to be held Saturday, Dec. 3rd from 5-8 p.m.
Last year, PMMA created the first Holiday Central event and invited surrounding neighborhoods to come out to visit with Santa, take part in fun family activities and to have the opportunity to buy local from the Plaza Midwood merchants. There was a tree lighting ceremony to kick off the holiday season.
Based on the great turnout from last year PMMA decided to kick it up a notch! The block of Gordon Street between Pecan and Commonwealth will be reserved for the Holiday Central event. There will be local vendors, fun family activities – such as kids face painting, ornament decorating, balloons, candy canes and more. Santa will arrive in style again in his vintage red Cadillac. Entertainment will be provided by Plaza Family Band and others. The lighting ceremony of the “art tree” will take place at 6:30.
The Plaza Midwood Merchants Association invites all to come out and enjoy this fun holiday event.
For more information, visit plazamidwood.com.
North Carolina AIDS Director Jacquelyn Clymore appears this week on NC Policy Watch’s “News & Views” radio show.
According to Progressive Pulse:
Jacquelyn Clymore, North Carolina’s AIDS director, says while the majority of today’s AIDS patients are living longer and better lives, there is a real need for more funding for treatment and research.
More than 6,200 individuals are enrolled in the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) with another 106 people on a waiting list to receive the life-saving anti-retroviral medication.
Here’s a preview of the conversation…
There’s a bit of a dust-up this week, with The Christian Post picking up on LGBT blogger Bil Browning’s traditional, holiday-time call for donors to avoid the anti-gay Salvation Army like the plague.
The Salvation Army’s anti-gay theology and positions have been known for years. Browning has, for some years in a row now, reminded his readers about the group’s bigoted track record and urged them to shift their holiday donations to more inclusive charities. qnotes wrote up a similar piece last year, focusing on the Salvation Army, a couple other national groups and a local charity known for its anti-gay behavior.
But the Salvation Army isn’t taking Browning’s chiding lightly.
From The Christian Post:
While the Salvation Army as a church does have strong theological beliefs about homosexuality, its main focus as described in its mission statement is “to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.”
Hood pointed out that LGBT groups have boycotted the Christian charity nearly annually in recent years, but they have not had a significant impact on giving in previous years. He said in the past two to three years, the organization actually broke records during their red kettle drive. Last year, Salvation Army raised $142 million, which “was a 5 percent increase over the previous year.”
In the end, Hood said, it’s unfortunate that there is a boycott because it’s not the Salvation Army that will be hurt, but “it’s the people we serve,” including many from the gay community.
“If people refuse to give, it’s the poor and people in need that will suffer.”
The poor people will suffer? If gay people choose not to associate with organizations causing them harm?
Besides the fact that Hood contradicts himself (donations were up, despite LGBT boycotts), Hood’s very insistence on the possibility that the poor and needy will suffer is false. Dead false. Because, gay people actually do care. They care enough to continue their good works and direct them in more positive ways than forking over cash to groups that turn around and use it to push hate-filled, anti-gay agendas.
In fact, local LGBT people in Charlotte are taking holiday charity matters into their own hands. Several community members and the party planners at Just Twirl will embark on their third year of holiday charity fundraising on Dec. 10. Just this morning, qnotes had the opportunity to talk with organizers about their upcoming “Twirl to the World” party and fundraising goals for the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots and Crisis Assistance Ministries.
See, the Salvation Army’s anti-gay policies, theologies, doctrines and positions do more than just cause gay people to flee from the group’s many other good works. The policies blind even the Army’s staffers and members, causing them to see LGBT people as the sick, callous monsters their theology paints us out to be. It’s all a shame, really, when so much good work could be done by setting aside old prejudices.
A preview of our Dec. 10 print edition’s story on Just Twirl’s “Twirl to the World” and holiday charity work is forthcoming. We’re happy to be able to share the story of good work being done for the benefit of all people. One day, I hope the Salvation Army will learn what the Christmas spirit is truly about and finally embrace one of the Gospel’s most important messages and lessons: Peace and goodwill toward all.
Actor Josh Charles, one of People‘s Sexiest Men Alive and star of CBS’ “The Good Wife,” is the latest in a string of high-profile leaders and celebrities to join the Human Rights Campaign’s Americans for Marriage Equality.
His 30-second message is currently gracing the front page of the campaign’s website at hrc.org/americansformarriageequality.
You can view the spot below.
In addition to Charles, other leaders joining the campaign have included Katori Hall, John Leguizama, Julian Bond, Mo’Nique and Cory Booker.
The LGBT Center of Raleigh says today that it’s neared its $10,000 Fall Fundraising Campaign goal. The campaign ends today and they’re seeking the extra $500 they need to put them over the top.
In addition to the $10,000 one-time donation goal, the center hopes to meet a $2,500 challenge in pledges for monthly recurring donations. Currently, the group has raised $1,275.
The group’s fall fundraiser comes on the heel’s of its successful October awards dinner. In addition, the center opened the Triangle’s only LGBT lending library last month. The collection houses over 1,000 books.
Learn more about the campaign at lgbtcenterofraleigh.com/site/fall-fundraising-campaign-2011.html
The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, spoke out ferociously against the Republican-led North Carolina legislature’s special session this week. In an official statement shared by NC Policy Watch’s Progressive Pulse Blog, Barber called the legislature’s agenda items racist, classist and regressivist.
Barber writes:
The General Assembly is required by law to follow the North Carolina Constitution which states in Article 1, Section 2 “all political power is vested in and derived from the people…and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.” They should be upholding Article 1, Section 19 of the North Carolina Constitution, which ensures “no person shall be denied equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be subjected to discrimination by the State because of race, color, religion, or national origin.” The Constitution calls us to a higher place where a “divide and conquer” strategy has no place.
Despite the noble call of our Constitution there is a strange spirit in the halls of the North Carolina General Assembly. The NC General Assembly reconvened last night with two major agenda items: to repeal the Racial Justice Act and pass a Voter Photo ID law that, if accomplished, would have a disparate impact on African Americans, the elderly and other minorities.
These efforts point to an extremist agenda that can be called nothing less than Legislative Racism, Classism and Regression rather than an agenda of Legislative Progress and Prosperity for all North Carolinians.
What’s Barber most upset about? Among the many topics: Repeal of the Racial Justice Act, a voter ID bill, redistricting, primary and secondary education budget cuts, the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment, pre-K education cuts, withholding of federal unemployment benefits and higher education budget cuts.
All this from a legislature that said its top priority was jobs? The proof is in the pudding.
Read Barber’s full statement at pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2011/11/29/racism-and-classism/.
Evan Wolfson, executive director of the national Freedom to Marry, spoke to students at the University of North Carolina School of Law on Monday. In a video released by the statewide Equality North Carolina, Wolfson tells the students that the impending anti-LGBT constitutional amendment banning marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships will tie the hands of future generations.
After the law school speaking engagement, Durham-based blogger Pam Spaulding had the opportunity to sit down with Wolfson. She taped her interview.
See the law school and Wolfson interview videos below.
Wolfson is scheduled to speak again today at a conversation hosted by Raleigh’s NC Policy Watch and Equality North Carolina. Other speakers include University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Law Professors Maxine Eichner and Holning Lau, as well as Stuart Campbell, executive director of Equality North Carolina.
Yesterday, The Charlotte Observer‘s Tim Funk posted his “Five ways to juice up the Democratic Convention,” slated for September 2012 in Charlotte.
Funk included some really great ideas, some of them, at least partly, based on already existing rumor or past convention antics: 1. An Obama-Clinton ticket in 2012; 2. GOP picks Burr for VP; 3. Arizona’s Rep. Gabby Giffords appears on the DNC stage; 4. A third and/or fourth party stage their own debate during the event; and 5. The Democrats invite an Occupier to speak from the DNC stage.
Be sure to head over to The Observer‘s Convention Watch blog to read Funk’s full post and ideas.
Funk’s brainstorming got me thinking. As I’ve said before, the Democratic National Convention will bring more LGBT people to the city than any other event in history. It’s a perfect time for the city’s LGBT folk and convention organizers to team up and make the event not just fantastic and, no, not even fabulous… but truly fantabulous!
Hey, there’s always room for dreaming, right? So, here goes…
1. An openly gay cabinet member
Earlier this year, LGBT politicos went crazy with the idea that an openly LGBT person could be appointed to a cabinet position (Washington Blade: “Tongues wagging over gay Cabinet member”). The Commerce Secretary’s seat was open and several names were floated around. It didn’t happen, but President Barack Obama could make a move right before the convention and announce his intention to do just that.
An openly gay, high-ranking cabinet member would be a phenomenal advance for the LGBT community and set the stage for high spirits during the convention and a truly progressive and LGBT-inclusive administration and government upon the president’s reelection.
2. A blessing from the president
It’s already a foregone conclusion that the convention will bring more parties and receptions to this city than it’s likely ever seen before. The Observer’s already catching wind of parties with headliners along the likes of Bono. Surely, the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the nation, is planning their own party, too. Set against the backdrop of a town with an historic reticence to address LGBT equality, the convention is the perfect place to push local LGBT issues into the limelight (especially if those votes City Councilmember Patsy Kinsey promised never materialize).
With the help of HRC, the local LGBT movement could get a big push. Invite the heads of major, local or statewide LGBT organizations on stage at the HRC party where — surprise, surprise! — President Barack Obama or any number of other high-ranking administration officials just happen to show up, too.
“Our Democratic Party is a party of equality and inclusion,” the president or one of his surrogates say while putting an arm around a local LGBT leader, like newly-elected, openly lesbian LaWana Mayfield, Equality North Carolina Executive Director Stuart Campbell or LGBT Community Center Chair John Stotler. “We stand with you in your fight for full inclusion in matters of local and state policy and law. We encourage the City of Charlotte and State of North Carolina to make changes and include your community in full citizenship.”
3. Gays hit the primetime
Openly gay speakers at the Democratic National Convention are nothing new. It’s happened before, but it’s still a rarity if you discount already-elected-to-office speakers like Massachusetts’ Rep. Barney Frank.
The first gay appearance at any national convention was at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Fla. A truly historic and momentous occasion, it set the stage for further LGBT inclusion in the decades to come.
In 1980, openly gay Mel Boozer, president of the Gay Activists Alliance, was nominated by petition at the convention for the vice presidency and addressed a primetime audience at the convention that year in New York City.
“Would you ask me how I dare to compare the civil rights struggle with the struggle for lesbian and gay rights,” Boozer asked. “I can compare them and I do compare them, because I know what it means to be called a ‘nigger’ and I know what it means to be called a ‘faggot,’ and I understand the differences in the marrow of my bones. And I can sum up that difference in one word: none.”
In 1992, openly gay, HIV-positive Clinton advisor Bob Hattoy addressed the convention, again in New York City. “I am a gay man with HIV,” he told the crowd.
Gay and lesbian people have had their historic moments on the DNC stage and this year would be a perfect time to include us again. Important political and legal issues are raging on topics of LGBT equality, especially here in North Carolina. No matter the outcome of the May 2012 anti-LGBT amendment vote, the topic of marriage equality will, no doubt, remain a highly-emotional issue in this state and across the country.
Putting an LGBT person on stage would allow our voices to be heard on important issues that affect our lives and the life of our nation, states and communities.
Just imagine:
A transgender man or woman addresses the convention audience and delivers a fiery speech. “I am an American citizen and deserve the right to equal and fair employment, housing and healthcare.”
Or, a same-sex couple comes out on stage with their children in tow. “We are a family and we deserve the same protections opposite-sex couples receive for themselves and their children,” they’d say.
Or, the best of all scenarios: A same-sex couple adorned in their best military dress blues. “We are American citizens and American soldiers. We can finally serve our nation and protect our nation’s freedoms with honesty and integrity. Yet, we are still discriminated against. Allow us our full citizenship: Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and grant us the same rights as our fellow soldiers in opposite-sex relationships.”
The possibilities are endless. Guaranteed prime-time ratings booster, for sure, especially considering the GOP’s mostly antithetical positions on most LGBT equality issues.
Which brings me to me next idea…
4. Democrats adopt LGBT-friendly platform
The Democratic Party’s platform goes far and above the Republican Party’s platform on issues of LGBT equality, but it is still lacking. Set against the contrast of the GOP’s continued anti-LGBT animus, the Democrats’ adoption of a decidedly LGBT-inclusive platform would surely make this convention the most fantabulous national political event yet. Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. Support for full marriage equality in all 50 states. Full equality in all aspects of U.S. law for LGBT people. No if’s, and’s or but’s about it.
5. An openly gay veep?
While Funk is positing the idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket, I’m dreaming of something much more significant. If a replacement for Vice President Joe Biden truly is in the works — remember, that’s just a rumor or a pipe dream, depending on perspective — and if the Democratic Party wants to take LGBT inclusion to the max, then the nomination of an openly gay or lesbian person to run side-by-side with President Obama is the way to go. Talk about friends in high places!
BYU letter writer causes uproar
A Brigham Young University student from Raleigh, N.C., caused an uproar when his letter to the editor on homosexuality was published by the student newspaper at the Provo, Utah, university.
“Just as if we wouldn’t want a child to grow up with a prostitute for a mother or a serial killer for a father, we shouldn’t accept a lesbian, gay or transgender parental model for young people,” wrote Taylor Petty, from Raleigh, N.C., in the November 17 issue. “As prophets have said for four thousand years, sodomy is a disgusting sin we can’t accept.”
The letter was part of an ongoing discussion about “Modern Family,” a TV sitcom which depicts a gay couple who have adopted a child. The discussion was started by a letter in which Alex Hairston, from Provo, Utah, quoted a friend who told him that “he would rather pay extra taxes in order for a child to be brought up in an orphanage or foster care rather than to be adopted by a gay couple.”
Petty’s letter caused an uproar among BYU lesbian, gay, ,bisexual and transgender students and their supporters, who placed a flyer inside many copies of the November 18 issue of the Universe. Further criticisms of Petty’s letters appear in the Student Review and even the Daily Universe itself.
“Gay students are in every classroom, every ward and every apartment complex at BYU and we want to reach out in love to help you better understand,” an anonymous flyer inside the Daily Universe reads. “The attitude represented by these articles reopens wounds that Christ died to heal. … The task of any religion is not to teach us who we are entitled to hate, but who we are required to love.”
The Daily Universe has since taken down the letter. The student editorial board said the letter fails to live up to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint’s standards.
From QSaltLake:
“The Daily Universe has removed the letter originally published here after several readers complained about its tone and approach to homosexuality,” Campbell wrote on the new webpage substituting for where the letter was once displayed. “We agree that the letter did not represent the standards of our sponsoring institution or our university community including the recent statement in the LDS Church Handbook of Instruction: ‘While opposing homosexual behavior, the Church reaches out with understanding and respect to individuals who are attracted to those of the same gender.’ The letter published in the Daily Universe did not represent the kind of understanding and respect that should accompany dialog on this issue. We regret that the letter was ever published.”
Read QSaltLake’s full coverage…
Letter: Times are changing
The Hendersonville, N.C. Times-News published two letters to the editor yesterday in opposition to the impending vote on an anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment banning marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. In one, letter writer Glay Eddleman recounts the problems inherent within the as-worded amendment. In a second, letter writer Mark Fagerlin picked up on qnotes’ Nov. 8 election night headline, “Gay candidates win big across North Carolina.”
Not only is the tide turning in the selection of government officials, the North Carolina Council of Churches, a social justice advocacy group that unites denominations and congregations, has become the first organization of its kind in the South to elect an openly gay person as its president,” Fagerlin writes. “These events could be the precursor to the defeat of the marriage amendment scheduled for a vote next May.
Read Fagerlin’s and Eddleman’s full letters at blueridgenow.com…
Could amendment change rules for all couples?
That’s what Shelby Star reporter Jordan-Ashley Baker asked in her write-up yesterday.
From the paper:
In May, North Carolina residents will vote on an amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman as “the only domestic legal union that will be valid or recognized in this state.”
But what is a “domestic legal union,” and what does it mean to recognize that union in North Carolina? It’s that language that some legal and policy experts say could affect all North Carolina residents – whether they’re married, single, gay or straight.
Damon Circosta, executive director of the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Voter Education, said the exact implications of the amendment, if it is passed, are unknown.
“It’s unclear,” Circosta said. “And I think that any time you go altering the constitution, you can inadvertently create a scenario that you might not intend.”
Pullen Baptist stops marriage ceremonies
Raleigh’s Pullen Memorial baptist Church voted yesterday to stop all marriage ceremonies performed by their pastor, Rev. Nancy Petty. The pastor, who is a lesbian, had already made a personal commitment not to perform opposite-sex marriage ceremonies until all of her congregants could enjoy equal marriage rights and privileges. The position is now church policy.
The full congregation of Raleigh’s Pullen Memorial Baptist Church voted Sunday to prohibit the church pastor from legally marrying anyone until she can legally marry same-sex couples under North Carolina law.
The congregants said in a formal statement that current North Carolina law – and the language proposed for a vote next year on an amendment to the state Constitution – discriminates against same-sex couples “by denying them the rights and privileges enjoyed by heterosexual married couples.”
“As people of faith, affirming the Christian teaching that before God all people are equal, we will no longer participate in this discrimination,” the church’s statement says.
The congregation’s vote was unanimous.
Former Pullen pastor: Equal marriage makes institution stronger
As Pullen Baptist made news in Raleigh, a former pastor of the church made waves in Winston-Salem. He wrote in a guest commentary in The Winston-Salem Journal yesterday that allowing equal marriage for same-sex couples would make the institution stronger. Read his entire commentary at journalnow.com…
Mayfield will represent, national group says
This month’s elections for Charlotte City Council resulted in an historic win for openly lesbian Democratic candidate LaWana Mayfield. When she takes office in December, Mayfield will become the city’s first openly gay or lesbian elected official. Such a presence is important to local debates on LGBT equality, says a national group which endorsed Mayfield.
From The Roanoke Times:
The Victory Fund tracks openly gay and lesbian candidates in local, state and national races, as well as endorsing and offering campaign support to some who apply to the organization.
On the local level, such wins are largely symbolic, as sexual orientation rarely matters in debates over land use, taxes and budgets. But they can be a powerful encouragement for gays and lesbians to participate in the political life of a community, [Victory Fund Vice President for Communications Denis] Dison said.
And, when issues affecting gays and lesbians do come before boards with openly gay members, there is better representation, Dison said.
In Charlotte, N.C., LaWana Mayfield beat an incumbent on Nov. 8 and became the first openly gay candidate to ever win a city council race there, Dison said.
“There’s no nondiscrimination ordinance there,” Dison said. “Now she can spearhead that.”
As the issue is debated, Dison said, Mayfield can “sit down with colleagues and say, ‘This is what it means. We’re talking about my life here.’”
South Carolina’s DeMint opposes protection of LGBT human rights
The New Civil Rights Movement is reporting in-depth on South Carolina’s U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint’s ppsition against enforcement of global human rights for LGBT people. The debate came as DeMint criticized the nation’s ambassador to El Salvador, who wrote an op-ed in a paper there supporting LGBT equality. Anti-LGBT groups in the Central American nation had come out strongly opposed to the ambassador’s statements. Read the full discussion at The New Civil Rights Movement…
Speaker: ‘Don’t blame me for amendment’
Meeting with constituents in Boone, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) said citizens shouldn’t blame him for the passage of the anti-LGBT constitutional amendment to be considered by voters on May 8, 2012. Other members of the House, he said, pushed hard for the bill.
According to Watauga Democrat reporter Lauren K. Ohnesorge (src):
Tillis said the amendment was a difficult issue for him personally, but not for morality reasons.
“My difficulty has to do with the role of government and the extent to which government imposes its will on personal lives,” he said. “But there are a large number of members who felt very passionately about it.”
He said marriage is not a constitutional right.
“Anyone, whether they be gay, lesbian, transgendered, will still be afforded the same basic rights, guaranteed under the Constitution, before or after the amendment,” he said. “It has continued to be a debate that has gone on for years. … I felt the best thing for us to do is put this to a vote before the people.”
Tillis promised to honor the outcome “either way,” and added that, currently, same-sex marriage is not legal in North Carolina. The voters’ decision in May, he said, will be final.
“It will be the last time it is taken up as long as I am speaker,” he said, adding that he planned to self-institute a term limit at one more term.
Read the Watauga Democrat’s full article here… plus, more commentary on Tillis’ town hall via Watauga Watch…
Shooting suspect linked to gay beating
The Rock Hill Herald and Charlotte Observer are reporting that a shooting suspect is linked to an anti-gay beating earlier this year.
Darenco Markie Wilmore, 21, of York, S.C., was charged with possession of a weapon during a violent crime, burglary, criminal domestic violence and unlawful carrying of a weapon. He is awaiting bond. The current charges come after an Oct. 13 argument with his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. A struggle ensued and shots were fired, though no one was injured.
Wilmore also was one five York men charged in the April beating of a gay man outside a Rock Hill convenience store. The suspects were in Rock Hill on April 9 because they apparently had been to nightclubs before the incident, which happened around 2:30 a.m., said York County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. Mike Baker, but there doesn’t appear to be any other previous connection or dispute between those arrested and the victim, Joshua Esskew, 19, of Rock Hill.
Esskew said he was first called a gay slur before he was hit in the head with a beer bottle, then attacked by several men running to join the fray from the parking lot.
Wilmore is awaiting trial for the anti-gay beating in April. For that crime he was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
Progressives to host Wolfson
Progressive watchdog N.C. Policy Watch will host Freedom to Marry Executive Director Evan Wolfson, author of ”Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People’s Right to Marry,” and other special guests on Tuesday, Nov. 29, in downtown Raleigh. They will discuss the impending North Carolina anti-LGBT constitutional amendment. Other speakers include University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Law Professors Maxine Eichner and Holning Lau, as well as Stuart Campbell, executive director of Equality North Carolina. Get more information and register…
Guilford hosts play
Guilford College was one of 43 sites nationwide to host the gay-marriage-themed production, “Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays.” Student writer Haley Hawkins has more at The Guilfordian…
Equality North Carolina, the statewide LGBT education and advocacy group, says Tuesday’s landslide election victories for openly gay and lesbian candidates across the state represent a “turn in the tide on LGBT discrimination.”
The group hailed the election victories of Chapel Hill’s Mark Kleinschmidt and Lee Storrow, Carrboro’s Lydia Lavelle and Charlotte’s LaWana Mayfield, among others, in a statement posted to their website last night.
“Mark and Lydia are experienced leaders in their communities who have been instrumental in putting an LGBT face on local leadership,” Equality North Carolina Executive Director Stuart Campbell said. “And while their wins tonight demonstrate once again that voters elect people based on proven experience, not sexual orientation, Lee and LaWana’s victories also show the importance of our community’s most trailblazing members in moving the state forward, renouncing discriminatory policies, and keeping our state, and its citizens, on the right side of history.”
The group was also out in force helping to educate voters on the upcoming anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment. Volunteers across the state organized to reach out to voters and ask them to pledge to vote against the amendment on May 8, 2012. Activists were able to organize support in Asheville, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Wake County, and other areas including Hillsborough, Carrboro, Kure Beach, Brevard, Shelby, Mitchell County, Franklin County, Kernersville and Monroe.
“It’s these very active and informed volunteers and voters who will make all the difference in turning the tide of discrimination in the South and voting against the North Carolina’s anti-LGBT amendment on May 8, 2012,” added Campbell.
Wake Forest University investigates racist, anti-gay vandalism
Officials at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., are investigating six separate instances of racist and anti-gay vandalism on campus. The messages, some of which contained racist language and all of which contained anti-gay language, were scrawled on the doors of six of the campus’ fraternity lounges. Read more via The Winston-Salem Journal…
Anti-gay advocate visits Winston-Salem
The Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg was a guest at a North Carolina Family Policy Council event in Winston-Salem Thursday evening. Details are scarce but blogger Jeremy Hooper picked up on Sprigg’s tweets about the event.
University of South Carolina’s new LGBT director
The University of South Carolina in Columbia has hired its first director of LGBT programming. Devin D. Moss started work on Nov. 1. Read more from the university…
Campbell v. Fitzgerald
The Fayetteville Observer published a news article yesterday with comments from anti-gay hate group lobbyist Tami Fitzgerald and the new Equality North Carolina executive director, Stuart Campbell.
From the piece:
Campbell reckons the removal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military and ongoing attempts to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act suggest the mood is different than when other states approved marriage amendments.
He said North Carolina voters would be on the wrong side of history if they pass this one.
Fitzgerald rejects that argument.
“What they’re talking about is redefining the historical definition of marriage,” she said. “History is on the side of marriage being between one man and one woman.”
Charlotte’s On Q Productions will host a special community dialogue with a diverse panel of LGBT community leaders on Friday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m. at Duke Energy Theatre at Spirit Square, 345 N. College St.
Panelists, including qnotes‘ editor, Matt Comer, will chat with audience members in a special conversation before the night’s performance of “For the Love of Harlem,” a musical written by openly gay Charlottean Jermaine Nakia Lee.
The conversation topic will focus on both external and internalized homophobia directed toward the LGBT community.
The dialogue is free and open to the public. Tickets for the post-conversation musical performance can be bought online.
Neighbors for Equality expands
The Boiling Springs, N.C.-based grassroots group, Neighbors for Equality, is expanding their work into Asheville. The Shelby Star has more details…
NC Policy Watch chats with Maxine Eichner
NC Policy Watch’s Chris Fitzsimon chats with University of North Carolina School of Law professor Maxine Eichner about the impending anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment banning marriage, civil unions and domestic partnership recognition for same-sex couples. Listen to the News & Views radio interview…
Profile: Jasmine Beach-Ferrara
On Sunday, Asheville Citizen-Times published a delightful profile on Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Coalition for Southern Equality. Beach-Ferrara’s group was the driving force behind October’s “We Do” Campaign in the Blue Ridge city.
Technician: Student Senate should represent
On Oct. 13, the editorial board of North Carolina State University’s Technician spoke out against their student government’s efforts to pass a resolution opposing the proposed anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment on marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. The editorial and news of the resolution preceded by only three days acts of vandalism to the campus’ LGBT student center. The editorial board followed up with another opinion on Thursday, writing, “Many of these issues are emotionally-charged or issues of morality, which is why the Senate should make a better effort to gather the sufficient student feedback they need to make and pass bills…steps could have been taken to receive the necessary student opinion on this bill, such as forums by Student Government or even audience-led debates. The Senate should utilize this ability rather than deny it.”
Letter: Acts of Discrimination
In a letter to the editor on Saturday, Raleigh resident Dave Parnell tells the News & Observer that acts of vandalism at North Carolina State University were no coincidence. He writes, “Does anyone think the disgusting graffiti inscribed on the walls of the LGBT Center at N.C. State would have occurred in 2009 or 2010? This act is a result of the 2011 General Assembly bringing forth a constitutional amendment that would put discrimination towards a small segment of our population into our state constitution.” Read Parnell’s full letter…
Duke panel: Why You Should Care About the N.C. ‘Marriage’ Amendment
On Oct. 17, members of OutLaw, the LGBT student organization at Duke University Law School, held a panel discussion on the proposed anti-LGBT constitutional amendment. In case you missed it, the group did post video of the panel last week. Check it out below…
Via Charlotte’s newest gay blogger, Steven Publicover (welcome to the QC!)…
Monday 9am on Charlotte Talks 90.7 WFAE – Gay and Gray
The Baby Boomer generation is aging and we have kept an eye on some of the issues confronting those in the twilight of their lives here on Charlotte Talks. However, one large set of elderly folks have unique issues to manage. Gay and lesbian couples are aging in a country divided about same sex couples and that sentiment affects their retirement choices, executor status for their wills, end-of-life issues and more. We look at the challenges for those who are gay and gray.
Guests
Allison Auldridge – Policy Associate, SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders)
William Sims – Local resident, advocate and member of the Gay and Gray Project
Marilyn Morenz – Marketing and Communications Director, Hospice and Palliative Care, Charlotte
N.C. State GLBT Center vandalized
The Technician, North Carolina State University’s student newspaper, reported this morning that the campus’ LGBT student center was vandalized on Monday night. The unknown perpetrators used purple spray paint to write “fags burn” and “DIE” on the center’s door and glass display cases. Campus police are saying the incident is not a hate crime. ”A hate crime has to be against a person… there’s generally some violence involved in the situation. Nobody was named in the writing, and because it wasn’t against a person, it’s a hate incident,” Sergeant Jeff Sutton told the paper. Follow The Technician for more updates…
UNC clears Christian group that booted gay member
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill last week cleared Christian a cappella group Psalm 100 of any wrongdoing after investigating its revocation of a gay student’s membership. Durham’s Herald-Sun editorializes today on the group, the school and the policies governing student organization membership, calling it a “sly argument” about “not about what a person is, but what he believes about what he is.”
Mayfield a ‘gay candidate to watch’
Writing yesterday at The Huffington Post, Lesbian & Gay Victory Fund President Chuck Wolfe named Charlotte City Council District 3 candidate LaWana Mayfield one of his “10 Gay Candidates to Watch This Election Day.” He writes, “Mayfield’s primary victory made national news because Charlotte has never elected an openly LGBT city council member. She’ll finish the job and join the council if she wins her general election.” The Victory Fund earlier endorsed Mayfield’s candidacy. Read Wolfe’s full article and see his other top candidates…
The following is a guest contribution from New York City-based writer Joshua Plante.
We need a beacon for the LGBT children of this country, and for the world. Our children need a voice, one that speaks not for them, but on behalf of them. This pillar of strength is needed now more than ever because with each day that we sit in silence— for each day that we are not reminding our children that it gets better, that there is meaningful life beyond the abuse—we lose another soul.
Most notable is the recent death of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy who killed himself after enduring years of abuse because of his sexuality. His life, or more accurately, his death, touched the lives of many, and has inspired many to come out of the closet and live an authentic life.
Jamey’s death gave us a voice because it rocked us to the core, it awoke many to the fact that gay teenagers are suffering and that they are victims of systemic abuse. Members of the LGBT community are treated as second-class citizens in this country. We are unequal before the law, we do not receive many of the protections and rights that heterosexuals do, and we are vastly misrepresented in mass media.
Before the 2008 election of Barack Obama, it seemed impossible that we would ever have a black president. To this day, it is nearly unimaginable that we will ever have a woman in the White House. Now, at least one of these minority groups can look up and say, “one day I can do it! He did it, so can I”. This is boldly empowering and offers a healing dose of imperial evidence supporting the fact that it does get better.
The LGBT community has so few public figures to look up to, and by not living an authentic life, by not living openly, we are silently sending the message that it may not get better, and that today’s fight may be one that will be fought for the rest of our lives.
We can change this quite easily, as Zachary Quinto recently did. He had the audacity to realize that as a celebrity he has the power to give our children a voice— to be a pillar of strength by living openly and honestly in the face of adversity. We need more people to come out, to stop hiding in the closet because of the fear of what the public may think. If you are not willing to be part of the solution, you are an even bigger pawn in the problem.
If, growing up, our children can point to people in the public spotlight that are gay and have achieved so much, the tides will change and they will start to believe that someday this will all be worth it, “someday I will be worth it, my life does not need to end here.”
Your silence is an open invitation to let this inequality, this endless bullying, and constant fear live on forever.
We are one nation, one people, one world; get up, and show these silent children that it is okay to love someone of the same sex; get up and fight for the children whom no longer have the strength to fight for themselves; get up and force the world to wake up to the fact that we are here, we are queer and our lives have meaning and we deserve to be treated as such.
Come out, and give our kids hope!
– Joshua Plant, a New York City-based gay writer, consultant, and activist. This post originally appeared on HereWomenTalk and is reprinted with permission from the author.
Winston-Salem Pride
The LGBT community in Winston-Salem, N.C., held their first Pride festival and parade since 1996 this Saturday. Organizers said as many as 5,000 turned out throughout the day and many festival-goers expressed concern over an impending anti-LGBT state constitutional amendment. Local news-media in the Triad area was on hand to cover the festivities, including The Winston-Salem Journal, WXII, WFMY and Fox 8. qnotes will have photos and a follow-up report online later today.
Charlotte rallies against anti-LGBT amendment
While community members in Winston-Salem were celebrating Pride, Charlotteans took to the streets to protest the anti-LGBT amendment. WSOC has a report…
Asheville’s ‘We Do’ hits primetime
The Daily Tar Heel covers Asheville’s “We Do” Campaign. Also, the campaign got a shout out on Lawrence O’Donnell’s primetime MSNBC show. See the video below…
