Charlotte

Where do you live when you’re gay and gray?

Charlotte’s Senior LGBTQ Community Facing Challenges in Housing

by David Aaron Moore on July 26, 2019

Two elderly women, who had shared the same home for most of their adult lives, had begun to face health issues and physical challenges. Marriage Equality was somewhere in the distant future, and the couple had no legally binding paperwork to keep their relationship safe and protected. As their lives deteriorated, … family separated the two women by placing them in elder care facilities states apart from each other…

The hip-hop scene gains acceptance in CLT

Three Local Artists Share Their Experience

by Camilla K. Cannon on July 26, 2019

When local hip-hop artist Eli posted a Facebook status this past Pride month coming out as bisexual, his first public declaration of his queer identity, he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Suicide prevention film to start production in Charlotte

‘Judge Me’ set to begin filming in September

by Carlyle Addy on July 12, 2019

A film about suicide prevention with a focus on the LGBTQ community will start filming in Charlotte in September.

PPSAT Charlotte to increase services

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Moves to Larger Health and Education Center Near Uptown

by Rachel Sutherland on June 28, 2019

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic’s (PPSAT) new health center will double its square footage with its move to a building just outside of Uptown Charlotte this summer.

From Brooklyn to Ballantyne: The story behind Charlotte’s affordable housing crisis

Charlotte’s history of affordable housing includes broken promises and empty gestures. Now that the city’s chronic shortage has become a crisis, leaders are responding with unprecedented resources. Will this time be different?

by Pam Kelly on June 17, 2019

Anyone who’s lived in Charlotte for a minute knows that the Ballantyne area, wealthier than Mecklenburg County as a whole, isn’t the place to find an affordable apartment if you’re a hotel housekeeper, a fry cook, a landscaper — anyone making less than $15 or so an hour.

Say it loud, I am black and I am proud

A Look at Black Gay Prides in the Tar Heel State

by Maurice Falls on June 14, 2019

Black Prides offers a safe place where people who identify as black and LGBTQ people could have safe spaces to celebrate their unique identities. In North Carolina, Fayetteville, Raleigh and Charlotte have all had Prides focused on the black community.

A look at the history of housing for Charlotte’s LGBTQ community

Historic Urban Housing Once Affordable for City’s Gays is No Longer

by David Aaron Moore on May 31, 2019

There have been times when I’ve had friends visit and they invariably ask, “Where’s Charlotte’s gay neighborhood?” These days, that generally leaves me scratching my head.

The Queen City: A Pride Retrospective

The Early Years of Pride Events in Charlotte

by Jeff Byers on May 31, 2019

Pride events in Charlotte grew out of the activism of the 1970’s, such as the short-lived Charlotte Gay Alliance co-founded by the late Don King in 1972, and a chapter of Dignity, organized in 1977, and later changed to Acceptance to expand its diversity and outreach.

Family, struggle and solidarity in Charlotte’s gay bar scene

Looking Back with Gregg Brafford

by Camilla K. Cannon on May 31, 2019

In 1984, when Greg Brafford became part-owner of O’leens, one of Charlotte, N.C.’s most storied gay bars, the city was not far removed from the time when “suspected homosexuals” would be arrested in Freedom Park and have their names featured on the front page of The Charlotte Observer.

Bishop Tonyia M. Rawls

Talking About Liberating LGB/T People Through Theology

by Jack Kirven on May 31, 2019

In Charlotte, Bishop Tonyia M. Rawls created the Freedom Center for Social Justice (FCSJ) 10 years ago to be a “culture-shifting organization committed to the growth, safety, and empowerment of marginalized populations.”