Qnotes issue, March 17, 2023

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6 GOP and FOX taking aim at LGBTQ everything

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Florida bill seeks to take trans kids away from from affirming parents 6 Increase in Drug-Resistant Shigellosis in the United States

7 Virginia Senate moves to repeal state’s same-sex marriage ban

7 Man driving car that killed Luke and Restin Drawdy convicted and sentenced 7 Hatemonger and Rightwing ‘Daily Wire’ host calls for ‘eliminating trans genderism’ while speaking at CPAC 8 Biblical terrorism continues in NC 8 Steven Smith homicide investigation capturing attention again

Man driving car that killed Luke and Restin Drawdy convicted and sentenced

Man charged with deaths of Luke and Restin Drawdy convicted and sentenced to eight years in Piedmont Correctional Facility.

PAGE 7

Biblical terrorism continues in NC

Biblical terrorists leave behind cryptic message and potential threat to owner, staff and patrons of LGBTQsupportive business with painted and carved ‘millstone.’

PAGE 8

These rates only cover a portion of our true cost, however, our goal is to serve our community

Mailed 1st class from

4 On the Trans healthcare issue, we as a community are more in agreement than not

5 Mainstream media doesn’t know what to do

Writers: L’Monique King, David Aaron Moore, Greg Owen, Gregg Shapiro, Terri Schlichenmeyer, Mark Segal, Molly Sprayregen, Daniel Villareal

Graphic Design by: Will Kimbrough Photography/Illustration: Adobe Stock

On the Trans healthcare issue, we as a community are more in agreement than not Op-Ed

by Mark Segal Qnotes Contributing Writer

Last week found me in London for what turned out to be three major speaking events. It also came in the wake of what I believe is one of the most horrible of trans hate actions ever publicly reported in the United Kingdom. 16-yearold Brianna Ghey was killed when she was stabbed multiple times in a park by two 15 year olds. Police immediately stated it was not related to her being trans. If that

compelled to bring up her name, Brianna Ghey, and give her the identity she deserved, an identity her parents supported, but the British government and mainstream media did not.

And we in our community that do support trans health and legal issues seem to want to do nothing but debate on almost any issue of trans health and legal issues. The reality is, much of the anger is being targeted at those who agree with Trans heath policies rather than those who fight against Trans people.

We all agree that Trans people and chil

national organization, which is supposed to understand the media, simply proves they do not. While GLAAD’s action will help their fundraising, it add discourse that distracts from the real fight.

You can’t begin to fight the injustices until you understand how those supporting injustice are fighting. In this case, they’re allowing us to fight against ourselves and divide ourselves, and GLAAD contributed to that. Here is the ONE simple point that those Republicans use: they state the medical treatment for trans children, “harms children.” They’re

the trans issue, but spoke to people that they would not approve of. That’s called censorship. In the end, the NYT will either consider you irrelevant or put out a blanket statement that they have learned from this experience. GLAAD will have raised more funds, and we all will have wasted time we could have spent fighting the real enemy. My friend and fellow journalist Chris Johnson formally of the Washington Blade wrote an important piece about this issue, titled “Why a crusade against the New York Times shows LGBTQ groups outlived their purpose.” It’s a good piece, and it reflects

Sometimes the Grass Actually IS Greener

Mainstream media doesn’t know what to do with us anymore Op-Ed

by David Aaron Moore Qnotes Staff Writer

Most people believe the modern day LGBTQ movement began in the United States in the 1960s. Some point to 1965 and Philadelphia while others unequivocally lay claim to the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969. Others look to political accomplishments in San Francisco of the mid 1970s as the true beginning of the movement.

Take your pick. Ultimately they’re all part of the same movement and began around the mid-20th century mark.

While instances of organizations and efforts by LGBTQ individuals and groups date back to 1924 in the United States, no such efforts were covered by media of the day as they were by the second half of the 20th century.

Since the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, mainstream media has been there all along, covering it sometimes objectively, sometimes as friend and others as foe.

In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association declared that same-sex attraction was not a mental illness. Later in the same decade Anita Bryant, a former Miss Oklahoma turned anti-LGBTQ activist, tried to rally the nation against us, insisting we were a danger to children but instead ended up with a pie in her face and a lost contract to promote Florida orange juice. The mainstream media was there, covering every juicy, messy moment.

By the 1980s, a time when most households had cable television, we saw the advent of 24-hour news networks, the full blown arrival of the then-deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic, and a stall-out on the LGBTQ rights movement that wouldn’t fully resume until the turn of the 21st century.

But have no doubt, mainstream media remained right by our side, covering the over half a million deaths that occurred during the next two decades and anything related to our community that was even the least bit controversial (or enough to draw in viewers); from anti-LGBTQ political campaigns and haters hell-bent on pushing us back into the closet to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and scantily clad twink boys

dancing on floats during Pride parades.

As we continued to inch forward towards the new century, changes in mainstream media were at a fevered pitch. Television and radio networks, no longer bound by the Fairness Doctrine abolished during the Reagan administration, were now allowed to run amok. Conservatives felt they were being besmirched by the truth, so they created their own network to be “fair and balanced.”

Ironically, multiple Fox “News” shows have never proved themselves to be anything more than talking mouthpieces for the far right wing of the Republican Party to fire off fantastical and unfounded fodder at anyone who would listen.

Other changes were apparent as we drew closer to the turn of the 21st century: new medications were made available to people with HIV and even full blown AIDS that brought them back to health and gave them the opportunity to live a long and full life.

New technology exploded, bringing LGBTQ communities from around the globe closer together, more than ever before, via the internet.

In 2003 states that still had sodomy laws, which made sexual activity between adults of the same gender illegal, were overturned by the Texas v. Lawrence case.

In a landmark event, the United States elected its first Black president in the year 2008. Barack Obama, along with his Vice President Joe Biden, set in motion many of the freedoms the LGBTQ community enjoys today.

By 2015, as Obama and Biden were nearing the end of their second terms, LGBTQ communities across the country celebrated while Marriage Equality finally became the law of the land.

All of that was a media field day that lasted for decades. And same-sex marriage, finally recognized as legal, truly was a cause for celebration.

But suddenly there was no longer any major queer controversy for the media to pay attention to. No felonious sodomy charges. HIV was largely contained and controlled by medication. And now, same sex couples could get married and divorced just like their heterosexual counterparts. What was their to report on?

It didn’t take long for Donald and Melania Trump to come gliding down an escalator and stir things up again. Let’s face it, the next four years were hell. Not just for LGBTQ people but for everyone that was kind, forward thinking and a sensible progressive.

And what about that mainstream media? Long since split into the two camps, left wing mainstream media told the truth, no holds barred, good and bad on both parties. The right wing influenced shows only wanted to talk about the best of their own party, covering up or at times even boldly, straight out lying in an effort to advance their cause.

After accomplishing what seems like quite a bit in a short amount of time, scant media attention was paid to the LGBTQ community during the Trump era, save for his ignorant and hate-filled, pandering to his voter base move of requiring all transgender people serving in the military to step down, unless they were going to serve in their position in the gender they were designated at birth. The media paid attention to that one.

Now we’re three years into a presidency that has seen the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which had previously allowed women the right to make their own decisions regarding pregnancy termination.

In a victory for the president and the trans community, all trans individuals who were removed from military service were allowed to return to their previous positions if they desired to do so.

Most recently came the passing of the marriage protection act, which requires all states across the country to continue to recognize same-sex marriage, even if they have an antiquated ban remaining on their state constitution, should the Supreme Court of the United States attempt to try and overturn marriage equality.

Now and for the past few years, the trans community and the drag community have become the primary target of the super right wing. Drag queen story hours and transgender men and women using restrooms are hot button topics for a small set of extremely loud Trumpinfluenced politicians and their followers.

The media has stuck their toes in the water, but they haven’t jumped in for a full

bodied swim on either topics. Why?

In recent testimony during the January 6 investigation hearings, it was revealed that most of the reporters and anchors who worked for networks supporting the far right did not believe what they were reporting January 6, or practically the entire period Trump occupied the White House. If they didn’t believe their Republican overlords then, why should they believe them now and repeat the same mistake twice? Especially when networks like Fox have instructed their employees to dial back the Trump supportive rhetoric.

While mainstream left media is lightly covering state legislative actions made against trans youth and drag queens, neither sides of the media are covering LGBTQ issues with the verve they once did.

Perhaps that’s because mainstream media sees it as less significant then they did previously, or because they want to draw less negative attention to a marginalized group of people.

Whatever the case, it places the responsibility squarely back in the hands of the LGBTQ media.

It remains our job to bring you as much pertinent information as possible from the local, national and global community so that we all stay informed, and prepared for whatever Republican sponsored legislation (over 120 bills have already been introduced nationwide so far this year) or extreme right wing threat may come our way in the war they are waging against us once again. ::

GOP and FOX taking aim at LGBTQ everything

Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) used a homophobic dog whistle while calling for the impeachment of out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“[We] have a president who actually put someone in place of the Department of Transportation who was instilled [sic] there on identity politics, not due to the fact that he actually knew what the job entailed and how to do the job,” Collins said during a Wednesday Fox News interview.

The out Transportation Secretary has faced homophobic criticism for not visiting the derailment site sooner.

When the Fox News anchor asked Collins, “Is impeachment on the table, congressman?” Lee answered, “Well, if he doesn’t resign, everything’s on the table be-

cause you can tell after two and a half years of a culture of ‘wokeism’ in this department, you see the results of it.”

The congressman’s statement is just the latest homophobic attack by right-wing politicians on Buttigieg. These attacks have escalated in response to a February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment released hazardous materials, potentially endangering locals. Buttigieg visited the town on February 20 and was criticized for waiting so long even though the former transportation secretary under former President Donald Trump (R) never visited train derailment sites.

Earlier this month, Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Buttigieg “flamboyantly incompetent.” Donald Trump Jr. suggested

Florida bill seeks to take trans kids away from affirming parents

As Florida starts a new legislative session during the week beginning March, one bill among a wave of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ rights would allow state courts to remove trans minors from their parents’ custody if the child receives or is “at risk” of receiving gender-affirming healthcare.

The GOP-sponsored SB 254 would also reach across state lines to authorize Florida courts to “vacate, stay or modify a child custody determination of a court of another state,” effectively denying parents who are supportive of their child’s gender transition in so-called “safe states” custody of their children.

“This is becoming interstate legislative warfare over trans youth,” posted trans activist Erin Reed.

The legislation would enable one parent opposed to their child’s transition to seize them from the other and stop treatment.

The bill, introduced by State Sen. Clay Yarborough (R), would grant Florida courts

authority to take “emergency jurisdiction” of trans youth who receive or may receive puberty blockers and hormone therapy, or what the bill calls “sex-reassignment prescriptions” and other gender-affirming care.

The bill defines those procedures as “serious physical harm.”

“Parents would be charged with felonies and thrown in prison,” posted Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Florida House lawmaker and the state’s first LGBTQ+ Latino legislator. “This is fascist.”

SB 254 would also require health care providers to affirm they don’t provide the treatment to children younger than 18, or face losing their license.

While the bill asserts that Florida courts have jurisdiction to override another state’s child custody determinations, legal analysts believe that is likely to be disputed by other states.

Alejandra Caraballo, trans activist and clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s

Increase in Drug-Resistant Shigellosis in the United States

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the last week in February an increase in extensively drug-resistant Shigellosis infections reported through national surveillance systems and appearing at a significantly high rate in men who have sex with other men (MSM).

Shigellosis (not to be confused with Shingles) is an acute enteric infection that is an important cause of domestically acquired and travel-associated bacterial diarrhea in the United States. Shigellosis usually causes inflammatory diarrhea that can be bloody and may also lead to fever, abdominal cramping, and tenesmus, a consistent feeling that you need to pass stools, even though your bowels are already empty. It may involve straining, pain, and cramping..

Infections are generally self-limiting;

however, antimicrobial treatment may be indicated to prevent complications or shorten the duration of illness.

The CDC defines Shigellosis bacteria as strains that are resistant to all commonly recommended standard and alternative antibiotics — azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ampicillin. Currently, there is no specific data of resistant Shigellosis to recommend antimicrobial treatment of infections, which means multiple attempts may be required if you are immune impaired or a strain you catch is a particularly resistant one.

The bacteria is transmitted by the fecal-oral route, directly through personto-person contact including sexual contact, and indirectly through contaminated food, water, and other routes. The recent increase in infection has been observed

Buttigieg’s only job qualification was being gay. A GOP official called Buttigieg “Pete Buttplug,” and Donald Trump referred to the Secretary as Pete ‘BUTTedgeeddge.”

Additionally, Republicans have tried to rile up their conservative base by declaring war on “wokeism” and “identity politics,” proposing and passing legislation that marginalizes LGBTQ+ and non-white people. This is perhaps most evident in Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) passed a “Don’t Say Gay” law banning LGBTQ+ content from schools and a”Stop Woke Act” that essentially prohibits government-funded instruction that implies anyone has ever been oppressed because of their race or gender.

In late February, conservative politician Tulsi Gabbard compared President Joe Biden (D) to Hitler for having a diverse cabinet of secretaries who reflect the racial, gender and sexual makeup of the United States.

“They’re are proud to be judging people, hiring people, selecting people based on race,” Gabbard said on Fox News. “It’s based

Cyberlaw Clinic, posted to Twitter that SB 254 amounts to the “legal kidnapping of trans children.”

“The bill goes even further to violate interstate comity by authorizing the courts to vacate child custody determinations of other courts only if the child is trans,” Caraballo wrote. “This is a greenlight to transphobic family members to engage in state sponsored kidnapping.”

Reed agreed, adding that the bill is evidence the U.S. is “splitting into states with safe state laws protecting parents and anti-trans states allowing kidnapping.”

SB 254 is one of three bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community introduced this session by state Sen. Yarborough.

SB 1320 would bar Florida public schools from requiring employees, contractors or students to use someone’s preferred pronouns if they do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. It would also ban classroom instruction or discussion related to sexual orientation or gender identity through eighth grade. That ban currently

on genetics, race, based on your blood, your genes… the very same geneticist core principles embodied by Nazism and Adolf Hitler. This should be something that is sickening and alarming to every single Democrat and every single American. We have seen where this philosophy can lead.”

This story appears courtesy of LGBTQ Nation. ::

—Daniel

runs through third grade.

SB 1438 addresses the controversy surrounding a performance of the touring show “A Drag Queen Christmas” last December, which conservative media seized on, falsely claiming children were being exposed to sexually deviant behavior. The legislation would revoke the license of any “public lodging” that admits a child to a socalled “adult live performance.”

This article appears courtesy of our media partner LGBTQ Nation. ::

—Greg Owen

Microscopic enhancement of drug-resistant shigellosis bacteria.

CREDIT: Facebook/Screen Capture

among adult populations, especially gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM), people experiencing homelessness, international travelers and people living with HIV

Most people with diarrheal illness require only supportive care and fluid replacement. Antimicrobial agents are not always needed for mild shigellosis, but

they may be indicated to shorten the duration of illness (by about 2 days) and reduce the likelihood of transmission, during outbreaks, in institutional settings, from food handlers, to immune compromised individuals or those being treated with immunosuppressive drugs, and to people living with HIV. :: Qnotes Staff

Villareal

Republicans call for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to resign, threaten impeachment. CREDIT: MSNBC Screen Capture

SB 254 amounts to the ‘legal kidnapping of trans children,’ says trans activist Alejandra Carabello. CREDIT: Screen Capture

Man driving car that killed Luke and Restin Drawdy convicted and sentenced

Thomas James Nix, 27, was convicted last month of two felony death by vehicle charges in the automobile accident that caused the deaths of Luke and Restin Drawdy.

As of March 3, Nix was moved from the Charlotte Mecklenburg detention Center to the Piedmont Central Incarceration (PCI) unit in Salisbury, N.C. He will remain there until 2031.

Multiple media outlets throughout Charlotte reported on the deaths of Luke and Restin Drawdy in November of 2021. The well-liked and married gay male couple were active in the Charlotte LGBTQ Community in both Stonewall Sports and the Charlotte Gay Men’s Chorus.

The automobile accident occurred the evening of Nov. 23, 2021, shortly after 9:00 p.m in the 9700 block of North Tryon Street. According to the police report, officers found the Drawdy’s 2011 Audi Q5 SUV, which had sustained heavy damage,

stopped in the northbound lane. Nearby officers found a 2017 Volkswagen Golf GTI with heavy front end damage, driven by Nix.

The Drawdys were killed instantly and pronounced dead on the scene, Nix experienced injuries that required an extended hospital stay. He was arrested and charged with two felony counts of death by vehicle on Nov. 25 at 7:18 p.m., although he was released on bail later in the night at 12:11 a.m. on Nov. 26.

While out on bail, he was subsequently charged with two felony counts of second-degree murder (in relation to the Drawdy case) and arrested Jan. 28, 2022, at 7:29 p.m., only to be released again later that evening on bail at 11:31 p.m.

Following his second release, the second-

Virginia Senate moves to repeal state’s same-sex marriage ban

The Virginia Senate has approved a resolution seeking to repeal an amendment in the state constitution prohibiting same-sex marriage. The resolution – introduced by out gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D) – passed in a 25-14 bipartisan vote Feb. 27.

“SJ 242, my proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the defunct same-sex marriage ban, has passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 25-14,” Ebbin tweeted. “It is time our constitution reflects the law of the land and the values of our society.”

In January, the state senate also voted to pass a separate bill proposed by Ebbin to explicitly make same-sex marriage legal.

The Marshall-Newman Amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman has been part of the state constitution since 2006, and many are worried that if the Supreme Court overturns federal marriage equality, LGBTQ+ Virginians could lose their right to marry.

For an amendment to the state constitution to pass, it must be approved in two consecutive sessions by both chambers of the General Assembly and then voted on by the people. A 2022 attempt to pass a similar bill failed after the House of Delegates voted to reject it, despite it passing in the state senate.

Virginia’s U.S. Senators, Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D), wrote a letter to the

Hatemonger and Rightwing ‘Daily

Far-right Daily Wire host Michael Knowles called for eradicating “Transgenderism” during this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) but insisted he did not call for killing transgender people.

In his speech, Knowles’s claimed that “For the good of society, and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen prey to this confusion, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely — the whole preposterous ideology, at every level.”

In response to Knowles’s speech, multiple publications published stories saying he called for eliminating trans people and many influential figures accused him of advocating genocide.

Knowles then claimed that wasn’t what he meant and called for retractions. On Twitter,

he called out Rolling Stone’s headline, which originally stated, “CPAC Speaker Calls for Transgender People to Be ‘Eradicated.’”

“This headline is libelous, and I demand a retraction,” he wrote, tagging the publication.

An article in the Daily Wire called out other publications, like Huffington Post and Yahoo, for the same thing, explaining that Knowles was calling for the eradication of an ideology rather than people.

And more than one publication gave in to Knowles’s demands.

“Just like [The] Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast bowed to right wing pressure to change their headline,” wrote Ari Drennen, the LGBTQ program director for Media Matters. “This is more than mere cowardice. This is joining in the campaign to reduce

ary charges were later dropped.

After multiple trial date postponements, Nix finally went to court Feb. 16, 2023 and was convicted of the felony death by vehicle charges.

Following the trial he was sent back to the Charlotte central jail facility where he

leaders of both chambers urging them to protect same-sex marriage.

“It is long past time that Virginia’s governing document conveys to same-sex marriages the same freedoms, rights, and responsibilities that are afforded to all other constitutional marriages,” the letter stated. “We urge you to work with your colleagues to advance legislation for a referendum that would fully protect Virginia’s LGBTQ couples.”

The senators called the ban in the state constitution “shameful” and said the freedom to marry “is a sacred and fundamental right in our society.”

the very existence of trans people to a matter of ideological disagreement.”

Rolling Stone’s update did manage to call out Knowles for his tantrum, updating its headline to “CPAC Speaker Calls for Eradication of ‘Transgenderism’ — and Somehow Claims He’s Not Calling for Elimination of Transgender People” while also adding interviews to the story commenting on Knowles’s call for a retraction.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if by using the inflammatory term ‘eradicate’ Mr. Knowles specifically meant trans people should be killed,” added senior Lambda Legal attorney Carl Charles, “What does matter is the reality of what he is saying and the impact it is having and will have at this particular moment in history.”

“He is advocating that trans people should not be free to live their lives with dignity and autonomy like Mr. Knowles presumably does — instead, they should be relegated to non-existence: carrying on in secret and shame and living a lie for the rest of their

remained from Feb. 16 through March 2 before transfer the following morning to PCI. Records on Nix describe him as a medium risk inmate and confirm he has been released into the central population as of March 3. He will serve a total of eight years. ::

days, which, he must realize, will mean some trans people opt not to do.”

On a recent episode of his show before the conference, he said he wasn’t calling for genocide because “genocide refers to genes” and “transgender people is not a real ontological category.”

“There are people who think that they are the wrong sex, but they are mistaken,” he said. “They’re laboring under a delusion. And so we need to correct that delusion.” ::

—Molly Sprayregen

This article appears courtesy of our media partner LGBTQ Nation. :: —Molly Sprayregen

In Virginia, for an amendment like SJ 242 to pass, it must be approved by both chambers of the assembly and then voted on by the people. CREDIT: Adobe Stock

—David Aaron Moore

Thomas Nix (left) was convicted of two felony charges last month of death by vehicle in the automobile accident that killed Luke and Restin Drawdy (right, l-r). CREDIT: Screen Capture

Wire’ host calls for ‘eliminating transgenderism’ while speaking at CPAC

Daily Wire Host Michael Knowles: ‘For the good of society transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely. CREDIT: Screen Capture

Biblical terrorism continues in NC LGBTQ-supportive

business in Beaufort targeted

by David Aaron Moore Qnotes Staff Writer

Anti-LGBTQ forces in rural North Carolina are going to great lengths to let business owners and residents know just how they feel about openly queer folk in their midst in recent months. It appears the latest occurrence involves concrete yard art with a rainbow paint job and a bible-based threat of drowning. Stories throughout television and internet media are describing what was left behind overnight Feb. 28 in front of the LGBTQ-friendly Cru Bar and Wine in Beaufort, N.C., as a “100 pound millstone,” but it’s not stone at all and likely nothing more than a common yard art replica that could be purchased from a hardware, big box store or roadside manufactured statuary vendor.

“It’s poured concrete,” Beaufort Police Captain Joe Moreno told Qnotes. “[But] I don’t know where it came from.”

Footage from CCT showed that two men and a woman placed the replica of a millstone between the street and sidewalk in front of Cru Bar and Wine in the small town located in far eastern North Carolina

in the Crystal Coast region.

The “millstone” had been trimmed with paint done in the manner of the original LGBT Rainbow Flag and carved with a reference to the biblical chapter and verse of Luke 17:2. Further investigation showed the verse reads as follows: “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

Aside from the obvious reference to the false, trumped-up notion that transgender individuals and drag performers

are somehow a threat to children, it’s raising eyebrows because it shows a recent ominous and continuing trend in antiLGBTQ sentiment in rural North Carolina, which likely first appeared Dec. 3 of last year with an attack reported in Q-Notes on a Moore County, N.C., power substation. That event left more than 30,000 residents in the region without power and shut down a Sandhills Pride drag performance. Leading up to that attack, there had been a multitude of anti-LGBTQ messages and threats aimed at Sandhills Pride and the drag presentation, although area au-

thorities have since denied any connection between the drag show and the substation attack.

The manager of Cru seems to be quite confident the “millstone” with the reference to Luke 17:2 is an anti-LGBTQ threat.

“Initially, I was like wow what’s this?”

Ashley Harrell, the general manager of Cru said in an interview with the area’s NBC affiliate WITN. “Did somebody make us something? Then I got closer to it and I realized there was a Bible scripture on it.

“The scripture was talking about tying a millstone with chains around someone’s neck and casting them into the sea, and the water is right there,” Harrell explained, as she gestured towards the inter costal waterway of the Atlantic Ocean across from her business.

The ownership and management team at Cru confirmed the existence of the surveillance video from a camera located on the front of the business shows two men and a woman dropping off the stone in front of the bar during off business hours, but they have remained steadfast with their decision not to share the footage with public.

Despite Cru’s belief the action is a sign of intimidation, they have no intention of closing down the business, redirecting its focus or the community it serves. ::

Steven Smith homicide investigation capturing attention again

Investigators still exploring SC gay teen’s death and possible connection to Murdaugh family

by David Aaron Moore Qnotes Staff Writer

Over the past several months national and global media have focused their attention on South Carolina and the multiple homicide case against attorney Alex Murdaugh.

Of particular significance to the LGBTQ community in the Carolinas, is the death of openly gay Steven Smith, who was 19 at the time of his death on July 8, 2015. He was a nursing student with dreams of becoming a physician. While the possibility of murder was first considered in Smith’s death, the county coroner later ruled it a hit and run accident and the case was closed. That has since changed and the case has been reopened as a homicide investigation.

According to South Carolina authorities, anonymous tips pointed to the Murdaugh family and the possible involvements of one or both of Alex Murdaugh’s sons in the death of Smith.

Alex Murdaugh was charged with the murder of his wife Margaret, 52, and their son Paul, 22, on the family property in June of 2021. Prior to the conviction for their murders on March 2, 2023, he also came under suspicion for what he claimed to be was an attempt on his own life.

Murdaugh was facing financial ruin and multiple charges of embezzlement from clients and the firm that bore his family name. The purported reasons behind the killings of his wife and son: he hoped to

swing the spotlight from his financial swindlings to the deaths of his family members in an effort to gain sympathy from prosecutors and the public.

The ongoing cloud of suspicion and a guilty verdict has resulted in recent microfocusing on additional deaths that are believed to be related to the Murdaugh family.

Gloria Satterfield, 57, was the family’s long time housekeeper. Now convicted murderer Murdaugh said that family dogs caused her to trip and fall, but her death was not reported to the coroner and an autopsy was not performed.

Mallory Beach, 19, attended a waterfront party with her boyfriend Anthony Cook and their friend Paul Murdaugh, the son Alex has since been convicted of killing. Paul agreed to drive himself and his friends to the party location with the family boat. Following the late evening activities, he later lost control of the boat while driving drunk and ran into a piling of an area bridge, which resulted in the injuries of all on board and the death of Beach. At the time of Paul Murdaugh’s murder, he was reportedly facing felony murder charges and driving a vehicle under the influence. Charges were dropped after his death.

Case watchers have speculated that Paul and Buster Murdaugh, with the assistance of another individual, may have killed Smith in an effort to cover up a relationship or encounter between Buster and the 19-yearold nursing student.

During the original investigation into Smith’s death, witnesses have said that Smith and Buster Murdaugh had social-

ized at a party held at the Murdaugh estate and elsewhere. They also talked about a purported relationship between the two young men.

In another report, it was pointed out that Stephen Smith’s body was found on a deserted road not far from the Murdaugh family estate on the same night a social event was held there.

A statement released by the Jeffcoat Firm in Columbia dated July 14, 2022, contained a comment from Stephen Smith’s mother Sandy Smith indicating she sympathized with all parties involved. In the previous paragraph, a release from South Carolina’s State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), dated approximately one year earlier, confirmed the Stephen Smith Case had been reopened. In the release, The Jeffcoat Firm follows that announcement, also in the previous paragraph, blending in their summary that members of the Smith family have no knowledge or reason to believe that any member of the Murdaugh family was involved in Stephen’s death.

However, that final line is attributed to no one, even though the construction of the paragraph appears to insinuate that Smith’s

mother did not believe anyone in the Murdaugh family had anything to do with her son’s death.

While attorneys for the Smith family have indicated it is possible Stephen Smith’s death could have been caused by someone else, they have made no statement exonerating all members of the Murdaugh family.

As of March 10, the investigation continues by SLED and private investigators hired by the Smith family. For now, Steven Smith’s death remains unsolved.

“People know,” Smith family lawyer Mike Hemlepp said in an interview with the Carolina News and Reporter. “They know what happened. It’s just a matter of time.”

This is an ongoing investigation please continue to follow Q-Notes for more details. ::

Steven J. Smith and his tombstone in the Gooding Cemetery in Hampton, South Carolina. CREDIT: Screen Capture

Anti-LGBTQ ‘millstone’ and fearless Cru Beer and Wine manager Ashley Harrell.

CREDIT: Screen Capture

Science proves LGBTQ parents raise better adjusted kids

Study shows children of same-sex couples fared better in several areas compared to children of heterosexual couples

Greg Owen|Contributing Writer

New research reveals children of samesex couples fare as well as or better than their peers raised by heterosexual couples.

The report, titled “Family outcome disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual families,” was published in the BMJ Global Health journal. The research included 34 studies across countries where same-sex relationships are legal.

“Most of the family outcomes are similar between sexual minority and heterosexual families, and sexual minority families have even better outcomes in some domains,” write the authors.

The research is a collaboration between the Duke University School of Nursing in North Carolina and the School of Nursing at Guangxi Medical University in China.

Positive disparities for children of samesex couples included better psychological adjustment, especially for children around pre-school ages, and better relationships with their parents than children raised by traditional heterosexual couples.

The study found little difference between same-sex and heterosexual couples when it comes to children’s educational outcomes and physical health, as well as parental mental health (anxiety, depression and distress)

and couples’ relationship satisfaction.

The research identified 17 studies regarding children’s psychological adjustment and found that “a majority reported children of sexual minority parents were as likely as children of heterosexual parents to grow up healthy and well adjusted.”

For preschool-age children, sexual minority parents reported significantly fewer psychological problems than heterosexual parents. For kids ages 6 and up, no differences were found between children with sexual minority parents and children with heterosexual parents. Researchers found a decreasing difference in children’s psycho-

logical adjustment over time between the two groups.

The authors added: “Sexual minorities historically have faced more rigorous scrutiny than heterosexuals regarding their rights to become parents. In fact, growing up with sexual minority parents may confer some advantages to children. They have been described as more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing towards younger children than children of heterosexual parents.”

On the topic of parent-child relationships, the authors examined six studies and found statistically significant effects “indicating that sexual minority parent groups

showed higher levels of parent–child relationship quality, such as higher levels of warmth, greater amounts of interaction and more supportive behavior, when compared with the heterosexual parent groups.”

The study also examined children’s gender identity, sexual orientation and gender role behavior in the different family groups.

“Based on the results of narrative synthesis, children who lived in sexual minority parent families had a lower expected likelihood of developing as [solely] heterosexual, compared with the children who lived in heterosexual parent families,” the authors write.

Addressing gender, the study indicates that, “Regardless of family type, if parents hold more liberal attitudes towards genderrelated behavior, their children hold more flexible attitudes towards gender.”

According to the authors, “The impact of sexual minority parents’ attitudes toward gender on their children might be uniquely positive. Exploration of gender identity and sexuality may actually enhance children’s ability to succeed and thrive in a range of contexts.”

This article appears courtesy of our media partner LGBTQ Nation. ::

Children of same-sex couples exhibited better psychological adjustment and relationships with their parents. CREDIT: Adobe Stock

Saving the planet with sustainable gardening

By L’Monique King Qnotes S

Writer

Spring is just around the corner, and it’s that time of year again. The days are a little longer, the air is warmer and pretty green and colorful things are popping up everywhere. For some, it’s a lifesaving, therapeutic time of year, for many different reasons. For those suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) a type of depression exacerbated by the lack of Vitamin D our bodies produce when exposed to the sun, being shuttered away during cold months and inclement weather, spring is a welcome change. For others, spring offers options to socialize outdoors more frequently and comfortably.

Then, there are those of us who can’t wait to return to immersing our hands in soil, digging in the dirt while pruning and planting to our hearts delight. That last group are the folks we commonly refer to as gardeners, and they’re as plentiful and diverse as anything.

For a plethora of reasons, gardening can beautify, sustain and offer therapeutic benefits. Horticultural therapy uses plants and gardening to improve mental and physical health. It is a professional practice with a multitude of advantages many folks are interested in accessing, particularly during such a stressful time in history.

However, once we feel better from all that planting and digging in the dirt, what about our planet? Are we actually helping or hurting our environment with our spades, shovels and shrubbery?

If the environment is just as important to you and green means more than spending money on sod or grass seed, you might want to consider sustainable gardening. Sustainable gardening involves practices in gardening which enhances while not causing harm to us or our planet. It’s something that the environmentally conscious should seriously consider. It’s also the reason that Q-Notes spoke with local gardener, Craig Maxwell.

Maxwell has lived in Charlotte since the tender age of five. During the day, he works for Wells Fargo as a Content Manager. He also serves as Chapter Chair for the North Carolina Native Plant Society. In this capacity Maxwell says, “I’m in charge of organizing our monthly events, hikes, garden tours and getting speakers to come to events to talk and share information.”

It was just before the COVID-19 pandemic when Maxwell started gardening quite a bit – in honor of his grandmother, a stellar gardener herself. Maxwell credits his grandmother for being a big part of his inspiration.

“She was a science teacher and could name every flower and tree she passed. She was an impressive woman. She had gardened since she was a kid, always had a farm and grew her own vegetables.”

With the inspiration of his grandmother guiding him, once COVID hit he “started down a pod casting rabbit hole on gardening and then more specifically native [North Carolina] plants.”

During our conversation

with Maxwell, we learned that native plants for our area, (the Southeast) include such plants and flowers as the Cardinal Flower, a pretty flower with a red bloom; Beautyberry Bushes, a shrub with purple berries so pristine that it can be mistaken for being artificial and Trout Lily, a flower we often see along our highways and creek banks. Many of these native plants are also edible or can be used for medicinal reasons. Trout Lily is one such flower. According to the Edible Wild Food website, the leaves of this plant have a very mild flavor and the flowers a slight sweetness from their nectar while the corms (short, squat stems) offer a cucumber-like taste. It is said this plant has been used by Cherokee people for numerous medicinal purposes like reducing fever, healing wounds and preventing pregnancy.

These flowers are also non-invasive, meaning they won’t spread and encroach upon other plants and areas like ivy and mint are known to do. According to Maxwell, the top three invasive plants in our area are Privet (often viewed as a bush or hedges), English Ivy and Bradford Pear Trees. The latter is generally a pretty tree, with white flowers that indicate spring has arrived and, for some, offer breathtaking

vistas when placed properly on a landscape. Regrettably, Bradford Pears have a propensity when they reach 25 to 30 years of age, they can split right down the middle during a gusty wind storm.

Storm damage is something Carolinians dread and are unfortunately well acquainted with. But who knew the planting of the pretty Bradford Pear would create a victim of mother nature’s wet and windy wrath? Obviously, Maxwell and those he joyously educates on sustainable gardening.

Like other sustainable gardeners, Maxwell has earned the moniker of being anti-grass. Wait, a gardener that’s anti grass? How is that possible? Sustainable gardening is about protecting the environment. This means not planting items that are not native to the area and remembering (or learning about) how certain plants and vegetation lend to our environments by providing food, shelter and control of wildlife. So, to be fair, Maxwell isn’t necessarily anti-grass. However, he explained, “I am anti- turf grass. There’s a big ‘kill your lawn movement’ based on the premise that turf lawns are not sustainable and are ecological nightmares. Anything that you grow and walk on is turf grass. The alternatives would be other native ground covers, most

Craig Maxwell is a strong advocate for sustainable gardening, and the benefits it brings to both our planet and its inhabitants

taff

Individuals coping with Seasonal Affective Disorder can notice substantial benefits from the arrival of spring and a fresh approach to gardening – the sustainable way. CREDIT : Adobe Stock

Gardener Craig Maxwell enjoys sharing tools and skills for gardening that can reduce stress and save the planet. CREDIT: Craig Maxwell

of which would not be grass.”

“Some grass is okay, but having big swaths of it isn’t,” he continued. “Turf grass is the number one crop in the United States. It takes up more land than any other crop we grow. More than corn, more than cotton and more than soybeans.”

Another option not mentioned by Maxwell, for those who can’t give up grass, is artificial grass, and we’re not talking CBD or plasti-coated AstroTurf, either. If you like the look of a plush green lawn and/or enjoy the feeling of the softness beneath your feet, artificial grass may be an option to consider. It will most certainly save your back, doesn’t need mowing and won’t hike your water bill because it never needs watering.

For those who are skeptical about beginning a journey of therapeutic and sustainable gardening, Maxwell warns against buying into area gardening myths.

over water it for ease or quickness.

Maxwell also offered some advice for those who are interested in simultaneously saving the planet and money on traditional therapy.

“Check out your local plant nurseries and ask them where their native plant section is. You’re not going to find native plants typically at a big box store. There are resources like the NC Native Plant Society and your local extension office. With my lawn I slowly added beds that have now taken up 75 percent of my lawn space. It’s very intentional and you can still have a pretty yard without having your HOA on your case. A lot of their regulations and standards were started in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s when people knew very little about the benefits of native plants.”

In conclusion Maxwell added a few

“I would say for our area, the myth is that the red clay is bad soil,” he explains. “It’s not. You just have to know how to work it. One of the big mistakes people make is working it when it’s really wet. It’ll be a little easier to work with but clay is the finest sediment one could have. When [attempting to work wet red clay] what you’re actually doing is compacting the soil. You’re walking around the [planting] area, causing all the oxygen and water to be pushed out of it. Kind of like a construction site, where you can see the tire tracks from all the big trucks and heavy equipment. Eventually nothing grows there. The only thing that will grow are weeds.” The lesson here is to be patient in working with red clay; be careful and don’t

cautions. “When you do fall clean up and remove all the brown leaves, you also remove potential homes for the winter for local wild wife, mostly bugs but also some birds, worms and snails. We need them. A healthy ecosystem provides its own pest control. Having dragon flies that eat mosquitoes, not to mention pretty butterflies…all that feeds up into the food web. So much of this is getting people not to be afraid of nature. We’ve been so disconnected that it’s easy to be afraid when in reality there’s really nothing to be afraid of. Start small and don’t be afraid to kill a few plants. Good gardeners have killed hundreds of plants. Master gardeners have killed thousands.” ::

native plants. CREDIT: Facebook

Intersectionality and the LGBTQ+ Community

by Liz Schob (she/her), Director of Operations and Communications

Hey, Y’all.

Decades ago, civil rights scholar Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” and wrote that it is, “a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking.” She devised this term to describe how race, class, gender identity, and other characteristics like sexual orientation “intersect” in our everyday lives through layers of power and privilege.

For members of the LGBTQ+ community, intersectionality shows up in complex ways. Our community is not monolithic. No one person represents us all, and still we get lumped together as if we all have one singular experience. This does our entire community a great disservice. It’s important to make space for all the nuanced experiences members of our community can have that are informed by things like like race, gender identity, economic background, etc. Reducing us all down to just our singular membership in this one community leaves out all the other experiences that make us all who we are.

Charlotte Pride has a complex history with intersectionality. My predecessor Matt Comer wrote an article last year talking about why our city has two Pride organizations and the journey Charlotte Pride has been on to embrace intersectionality and better represent the diversity of our community. White cis gay male privilege is real. Charlotte Pride has grappled with this, and it is still something the LGBTQ+ community as a whole still grapples with. I’m glad Charlotte Pride has been moving intentionally (and has been for a while) in the direction of diversity, equity, and inclusion and making sure that more voices are represented at the table. All of Charlotte Pride’s staff (including myself) are LGBTQ+ women for the first time in our organization’s history. Growth is a good thing, but there’s always more work to do.

March is Women’s History Month and I’ve been reflecting on what it means to me to be not just a woman, but a queer woman in our community doing the work I do. To be a publicly queer woman takes a lot of courage, but I often don’t feel as if I have any choice. I can no more separate my queerness from my womanhood than I can my family’s deep and abiding love for Duke basketball. My queerness and my womanhood exist in the same sphere, equal to each other, intersecting and responding to the ways in which I move through the world.

It took me a long time to reconcile my identity as a queer woman. The word “queer” is incredibly loaded; it has a complicated history that must not be ignored, yet we must still hold space for the expansiveness and intersectionality of the word. The great bell hooks wrote “Queer’ not as being about who you’re having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but ‘queer’ as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”

To step out into the world as your authentic self, to “find a place to speak and to thrive and to live,” takes so much courage. And I so admire the courage of my community every day. Identity is nuanced and complex. Everything is connected and those of us in positions of power and privilege in the LGBTQ+ community have a duty to stand up, speak out, and lift up the voices of our siblings who don’t have always have a seat at the same tables we do.

I feel like I read something every day about a new attack on our community. Those of us with platforms must speak out as well as amplifying the voices of our siblings who have been speaking out from the beginning. Pride, after all, was founded on protest. May we never take for granted the nuances and intersectionality that exists in our community and may we never take for granted the importance of making our voices heard. ::

PHOTO CREDIT: Adobe Stock

Volunteers needed for buddy program

by Dale J. Pierce

Our family here at Dudley’s Place has gained yet another member, so please join us in welcoming Brodderick Roary, Director of Special Populations, to our team! Brodderick has been working in Public Health for more than 15 years. He will oversee special projects, development, support the Ryan White Part A and PrEP Programs, manage Dudley’s Place Couch Talks and Buddy Program.

We will be launching the Dudley’s Place Buddy Program in the coming months. Brodderick is currently looking for members of the community to volunteer to become a Buddy.

If you are someone who enjoys volunteering your time in the community to help others, we are looking for YOU.

More than 40 years into the HIV epidemic many of the people living with HIV still lack support from family and friends in relation to their diagnosis. They either feel uncomfortable talking about HIV with those close to them or they are having difficulty in navigating the stigma that is often associated with being positive. Dudley’s Place and Rosedale Health + Wellness has created a program that offers one-on-one support for our clients living tackle stigma and isolation and help foster physical and emotional well-being.

The landscape of the HIV epidemic has drastically changed over the course of time. There is still a need for support for people

living with HIV, but the actual need has changed. It is no longer holding the hands of someone dying with AIDS. It may be supporting someone living with HIV to feel empowered in returning to school or finding a job.

Dudley’s Place and Rosedale Health + Wellness is currently looking for “Volunteers” for our Buddy Program. The Buddy Program’s purpose is to provide agency clients with one-on-one support from trained

volunteers. The main objective of the Buddy Program is to improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS by providing practical and emotional support and company, and by assisting them in maintaining autonomy and independence to the greatest extent possible.

A Buddy is a trained volunteer or peer who collaborates one-on-one with a specific client. A Buddy is a social contact, an active listener, an advocate, and a helper with the tasks of daily living. A Buddy is a companion, a non-judgmental and objective third party, a sounding board, a supporter, a limit setter, and a representative of Rosedale Health and Wellness and Dudley’s Place.

Buddy volunteers will provide the client with –

Emotional Support

Socialization

Support with Running Errands

Developing New Skills

For more information or to become a Volunteer please contact:

Brodderick Roary

Director of Special Populations

Phone: (704) 977-2972

Email: broary@dudleysplace.org

Broadderick Roary, Director of Special Populations.

‘Gray Love: Stories About Dating and New Relationships After 60’ Out in Print

by Terri Schlichenmeyer Qnotes Staff Writer

by Nan Bauer-Maglin and Daniel E. Hood c.2023, Rutgers University Press

$24.95

303 pages

It was supposed to be a nice night out.

But you drove around and around looking for the restaurant and once you found it, you learned that you needed reservations. Practically before the evening started, you sensed that your food could be as cold as your date. As in “Gray Love,” edited by Nan Bauer-Maglin and Daniel E. Hood, looking for love wasn’t like this when you were younger.

You thought you’d be happy alone.

After the divorce, the funeral, the last break-up, you didn’t think a little you-time was a bad idea. And it wasn’t – but love, someone to go to the movies with or dine with or snuggle with, seems more and more appealing now. Today, though, as the forty-two essays in this book confirm and as you’ve learned, that’s easier said than done.

You want a partner, someone your age, but you fear becoming a caretaker. You like doing your own thing, but having someone around to do it with would be nice. You have company but you are “without intimacy.” Or you don’t want a full-time someone but it’s scary to think about “falling off a ladder alone.”

So you go online because, well, people don’t meet like they used to. That’s when you learn that dating sites are generally ripe with people who lie about their ages,

who seem clingy or who want things you can’t give, “the Uncertain, the Angry... the Unattractive,” and – let’s be honest – jerks. Unlike real life circa 1973 or 1993, there’s nobody to vouch for singles online.

You wonder, “What would I wear?” You learn about scams the hard way, while tales of love at way-up-there-ages are inspirational. Experimenting with same sex, different sex, different race isn’t off the table, but nobody’s asked – or you did, and it was wonderful and why didn’t you do that before? Love is love. You date the

wrong people, you date the right people, you’re exhausted and disappointed. And sometimes, even for awhile, you’re someone’s “’sweetie.’”

According to a study quoted in “Gray Love,” about twenty-five percent of American adults live alone. If you’re one of them and open to a relationship, you need this book.

Just know that this is not a how-to manual. Editors Nan Bauer-Maglin and Daniel E. Hood don’t offer advice in their introduction, and most of their storytellers

didn’t Ann-Landers their way into this book. Instead, you’ll read tales of dating and mating gone happily right and very, very wrong, told in ways that will make you laugh, sigh, and know that you’re not alone in your late-life search for love. The mixture here is diverse and wide: If one tale makes you want to swear off dating forever, the next one offers Happily Ever After.

Be aware that a few of the tales inside “Gray Love” flirt with the explicit and others might ruffle a feather or two. Still, it could be great to share it with a millennial or older Gen Z’er. If you see this book on a bookshelf, take it out. ::

by Gregg Shapiro Qnotes Staff Writer

What is it about the awkward titles of movies about Whitney Houston? First, there was the 2017 documentary “Whitney: Can I Be Me” which for some inexplicable reason lacked a question mark. Now, we have Kasi Lemmons’ equally unwieldy titled “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” (Tristar Pictures/Sony), just released on Blu-ray and digital. Wouldn’t the iconic Houston tune be enough to indicate that the movie is about her?

Bracketed by Houston’s legendary 1994 American Music Awards performance, “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” quickly takes us back to 1983 New Jersey where strict taskmaster Cissy Houston (Tamara Tunie) disapproves of defiant daughter Whitney’s (Naomi Ackie) showboating in the church choir. This is obviously meant to set the tone for the mother/daughter duo’s tempestuous relationship.

Shortly thereafter, Whitney meets Robyn (Nafessa Williams), and there is immediate chemistry between the two. Of all

Whitney, we hardly knew you Screen Savor

the relationships in the movie, this is the one that plays the most genuine. It’s a pleasure to watch the pair develop as a couple. Whitney invites Robyn to a nightclub performance where she sings backing vocals for Cissy. The young women exchange glances during the show, making this something else to which Cissy can object.

But Cissy, who isn’t exactly mother of the year, has her own issues, including her stoner sons, as well as her rocky marriage to John (Clarke Peters). Meanwhile, Whitney and Robyn’s relationship is thriving, and they move in together.

However, Whitney’s life is about to change in a big way. Notorious comb-over queen Clive Davis (Stanley Tucci) attends a performance where Whitney impresses him enough to have him sign her to his Arista Records label (also home to her cousin Dionne Warwick). If you aren’t distracted by the hairpiece, the interactions between Whitney and Clive are alternately educational and entertaining. As Clive grooms Whitney to become “America’s Sweetheart,” we see how it impacts her relationship with Robyn, who she has hired as her creative assistant.

The Houston parents are none too thrilled with that arrangement and make every effort to drive a wedge between

the women. The scene where Davis plays Houston the demo for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” takes on particular resonance, as she personalizes the song’s message being about someone who wants to “dance” with somebody, but isn’t permitted to do.

As Houston’s fame begins to soar, it starts to take a toll on her. A chance meeting with Bobby Brown (Ashton Sanders) allows her the opportunity to present a “straight” life to the world, even as her Black fans turn on her because they consider her music to be too white. The ups and downs of her professional and personal (including motherhood) lives clash and her drug use increases to the point of destroying her ability to sing and perform. We all know how that ended.

It’s hard to believe that Kasi Lemmons, the same person who directed “Eve’s Bayou,” is responsible for this mess. The blame is certainly shared with screenwriter Anthony McCarten who attempted to pack a ton of shit into a two-pound bag. To be fair, “WH: IWDWS” isn’t the only recent musical biopic to suck. Both “Respect” (starring Jennifer Hudson) and the virtually endless “Genius” (starring Cynthia Errivo) didn’t do Aretha Franklin’s story any favors. Far from being a love

letter to Houston, it’s more like hate mail. Blu-ray extras include a “Whitney Jukebox,” the featurettes “Becoming Whitney” and “Moments of an Icon,” deleted scenes and more. Rating: D ::

Havana hard time: An interview with gay writer Aaron Hamburger

Gay writer features queer characters in storyline of latest novel

by Gregg Shapiro Qnotes Staff Writer

Even though it only spans two years in the life of immigrant Pearl, Aaron Hamburger’s third novel “Hotel Cuba” (Harper Perennial, 2023) has the feel and weight of an epic. Opening in 1922, as Pearl and her kid sister Frieda set sail for a better life in America from their home in Russia, only to be waylaid in Havana, Cuba, with their futures hanging indefinitely in the balance, Hamburger paints a vivid picture of time and place. While the novel is sure to appeal to a wide audience, gay writer Hamburger has made sure to feature significant queer characters in the storyline.

Gregg Shapiro: Aaron, your new novel “Hotel Cuba” is arriving at a moment when LGBTQ historical fiction is having a resurgence along with the novels “The New Life” by Tom Crewe and “In Memoriam” by Alice Winn. Why do you think this is occurring at this time?

Aaron Hamburger: I read somewhere about “presentism,” meaning this bias we have, thinking of ourselves as so modern and enlightened in comparison to people of the past. And yet, in the writing of this book, I was struck by the many links I found between life

in the past and our present. Just as an example, I was inspired to write this story when I came across a picture of my grandmother in full male drag from 1922. As my good friend and LGBTQ literary legend, Leslea Newman said when I showed her the photo, “Your grandmother looks like a butch lesbian! I have such a crush on her!” As I delved into the research, I was surprised to read about a raucous gay bar in Havana from the late 1800s. And I was struck by the fact that the conversation about immigration one hundred years ago was almost exactly the same as that of our time, just with different immigrant populations.

GS: How much of your own family’s immigrant story is in the pages of “Hotel Cuba”?

AH: Quite a bit of it is in there in the broadest outlines. My grandmother was desperate to escape the chaos of Russia after the Russian Revolution and join a sister in America, but new and discriminatory immigration laws closed the borders to her, and she decided to go to Cuba instead. We have recorded interviews with my grandparents about their immigration stories, mostly focused on my grandfather’s story, and a small part about my grandmother, who appears as the protagonist, Pearl, in the book. She was a woman of few, but choice, words, and while she left a lot of hints about her time in Cuba, I was intensely curious to fill in the details. I wanted to know what it felt like to go from a war-torn wintry sheltered shtetl to sultry Havana with the music, the food, the language, all of it so unfamiliar to her. The novelist in me got the chance to flesh out that picture.

GS: Were you able to travel to Cuba for research?

AH: Yes, I went to Havana and immediately noticed the heat, the intensity of the sunlight, the atmosphere. Many people who were in my grandmother’s situation, European immigrants, came across the ocean in their best woolen clothes and struggled to adjust to the tropical weather, often getting awful heat rashes, for example. Also, when I was in Havana, I had a wonderful guide who told me

stories about her grandmother strolling down Havana’s main street and looking at the fashions in the high-end department store windows, which made me imagine my fashion-loving main character Pearl, based on my grandmother, taking that same walk.

GS: How’s your Spanish?

AH: I’ve studied Spanish, but I actually speak much better Italian because I lived in Rome for a year thanks to a prize I received for my first book. So, when I was in Cuba, if I didn’t know a Spanish word I would reach for an Italian equivalent and give it a Spanish spin. Fortunately for me, the Cubans I met were uniformly generous and would meet me halfway!

GS: You mentioned your Havanan guide and the fashions in the department store windows. Pearl, the main character in “Hotel Cuba” is a milliner and seamstress, and you incorporate a lot of detail when writing about her work. Have you always had an interest in fashion or was it something you had to research for the book?

AH: Definitely something I had to research, which was a lot of fun. I never realized I would learn so much about

women’s hats in the 1920s [laughs]. My grandmother and my mother both had a talent for sewing, so it was something I grew up with, but sad to say, I can’t even sew a button onto a shirt [laughs]. However, I identified with my grandmother’s sewing as a creative and expressive act. A lot of Pearl’s thoughts about sewing are actually mine about the artistic process.

GS: Antisemitism is at the heart of the novel. It’s the driving force behind Pearl and her sister Frieda’s departure from their homeland in Turya, and it’s something they continue to encounter in other places. Can you please say a few words about writing about antisemitism at a time when it’s on the rise?

AH: It is sad that we can’t quite seem to shake our addiction to all sorts of hatreds, and antisemitism is one of the most persistent and pernicious of those hatreds. More than anything, Pearl, as well as my grandmother, simply wanted to live her life in peace. However, then, as now, political figures have found that stoking fear of Jews, LGBTQ+ people,

See Hamburger on next page

Staff

J. Wesley Thompson MHS, PA-C, AAHIVS, DFAAPA

HIV Medical Director and co-founder

Chad Ellis PA-C

Richard T. Wynn, MD

Primary Care Director and co-founder

Mandy Irvin, PharmD, CPP, AAHIVP

Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner

Jason L. Hardin, MSN, AGNP-C, AAHIVS

Jerry A. Saunders, MD PhD

Heather Manos, MD

Shane Bentley, PharmD, CPP

Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner

Bill Kreft, PA-C

Hana Kim, PA-C

Hamburger from page 17

immigrants, and on and on is a convenient way to accrue power. Even more tragic is that they find a willing audience for their hate. That’s one thing we can do, resist vigorously any leader who might try to appeal to us through the language of division.

GS: Anti-immigrant sentiment is also woven throughout. In chapter eight, one character says “Republicans hate the immigrants.” Is this a way of saying that not much has changed since the early 1920s?

AH: It’s actually that character’s opinion of the politics of that time, as eerily familiar as that might sound to some contemporary readers. The Republicans in the 1920s were advocating for a tough stance on immigration. By the way, the immigration laws of the early 1920s laid the foundations for much of the debate we’re having now. Back then, many Americans worried that the people fleeing Communism (many of them Jewish) were actually Communist infiltrators coming to bring chaos and revolution to our shores. Compare that to the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing ISIS. I also read in the National Archives letters from everyday citizens demanding that the government do more to keep out immigrants in order to “protect the blood pool.” Disgusting.

GS: In chapter 11, Pearl pays a visit to a bar in Havana called the Gold

Dollar where she encounters “inverts and hussies.” There she encounters butch dyke Señora Martin and Martin’s associate, the “Queen of England.” Later, in New York, she works for Safaya, who introduces Pearl to her lesbian social circle. Being a gay writer, why was it important to you to include queer characters in what is primarily a straight story?

AH: I would say it’s important not only for gay writers to do this but for any writer who wants to write accurately about human beings. I see Pearl as bisexual, though she would not have had the language to label her feelings or identity in that way. Because of that, I wanted Pearl to meet people who would have been more open about their same-sex attractions, which would show her a different way of life from what she might have known back home. It’s part of the theme of the book, this idea that coming to Cuba was an accidental stop on her journey to America, a “hotel,” as many Jewish immigrants called it. But that experience turned out to shape the rest of her life in ways she couldn’t have expected.

GS: After being in Cuba, Key West, and New York, Pearl finds herself in Detroit, where Frieda has relocated. Parts of chapter 18 read like a promotional brochure for Detroit (in a good way), where you grew up. Do you think that city can ever return to its

former glory, the one you write about in the novel?

AH: I was amazed to learn that Detroit was considered the Paris of the West. Money was pouring in because of the new car industry that had sprouted up there, so the city attracted people from all walks of life who wanted to take advantage of those opportunities. I really don’t know if Detroit could return to the past, but maybe instead of that it could be something new and wonderful that hasn’t yet been invented. Right now, all kinds of exciting things are happening there. Go visit!

GS: “Hotel Cuba” is very cinematic. Do you think there might be a movie adaptation? If so, I kept picturing Murray Hill as Martin. Do you think that’s a good choice?

AH: Murray Hill as Martin is genius! Perfect. Will this book be a movie? There’s a word in Spanish, “Ojala” or in Yiddish you might say “From your lips to God’s ears.” I think it would be a terrific film, but I’ll leave the casting of it to others.

GS: The Key West setting made me wonder if there was any chance you would be heading there to read at Books and Books, which is co-owned by Judy Blume.

AH: Not as of yet, but Judy Blume was one of my first favorite authors. If you’re reading this, Judy Blume, I’d love to visit your store! ::

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Our People: Rev. Dr. Benjamin Boswell

A candid discussion on parenting, awareness and advocacy

By L’Monique King Qnotes Staff Writer

Every now and then someone comes along who surprisingly changes the game about something we thought we knew about. Suddenly, things look a little different and we either buck against that change or willingly embrace it like a breath of fresh air. Rev. Dr. Benjamin Boswell is that breath of fresh air. At least for many. For others, he’s an agitator they wish would just go away.

Born in Lynchburg Virginia, Boswell went to high school in Kannapolis and moved back to the area seven years ago to become Senior Minister at Myers Park Baptist Church. Also a military veteran, educator, author and activist, he was prompted by a friend and the church’s reputation for engaging in social justice to bring his skills, lived experience and passion to MPBC. Parishioners there receive inspiration from the inclusive environment Boswell fosters. As an ally, he is a warm, witty and easy person to talk to.

But make no mistake, he takes his role as a minister seriously, and he’s well aware of the privileges he experiences as a cisgender and heterosexual white male. He believes strongly that it is his job to speak with marginalized and oppressed people, ask what needs to be done and follow their lead.

When he’s not delivering sermons or providing guidance to his friends and church family Boswell is spending his time trying to be the best father, husband and couch potato he can be. He enjoys reading, running, working out and “watching an unreasonable amount of TV.”

During this interview, we learned a lot about his life, his social justice ideologies and what makes him the guiding and sometimes disruptive force he’s become.

L’Monique King: Pardon the pun but, we know you’re a minister. When did you become a father?

Rev. Dr. Benjamin Boswell: A little over 13 years ago. My wife [at the time] and I could not have children of our own. The [adoption] agency asked us what races of children we were open to adopting, which seemed like a strange question to us. We were open to adopting all children.

My daughter Lucy is 13 years-old, she’s adopted and she’s amazing. She plays basketball, talks about teenage things like friends, boys and all that stuff. Every moment I get to spend with her is precious.

LMK: Any challenges with being a blended family and having a Black daughter?

BB: It is a journey we did not set out intentionally to take. However, we had a really great relationship with Lucy’s birth mother and we were there when she was born. Yeah, of course there are challenges. I think there’s suspicion on both sides of the racial divide. White folks look at us and see us as traitors and Black folks look at us and wonder “where’d you get that child?”

The black community has a history of raising their own regardless of what has

occurred. Obviously, as a white father raising a Black daughter in this time in America it’s hard, very hard and I take it very seriously. I’m learning about Black hair, making sure she has access to that and taking a lot of care in making sure she can fully participate in Black culture. I’ve worked hard to make sure she has a community of Black people, particularly women (models, people who look like her in leadership positions), showing how much we value her and her Blackness. To a great extent, it’s about understanding the truth of American history, having conversations on experiences and what she can expect in policing encounters.

LMK: Do you ever tire of questions about your interracial family structure?

BB: Yeah, it does get tiring because people can be insensitive about it and ask questions that can be exhausting to describe. I worry more about my daughter than I do myself; her constantly having to explain, “Yes, that’s my dad. Yes, I know he’s white.” Watching her have to go through that is hard. She has enough challenges to deal with being a Black girl in America.

LMK: You mentioned earlier that you adopted your daughter with your wife at the time. Are you currently married?

BB: I’m divorced from Lucy’s mom and am remarried. My daughter is with me quite a bit, during holidays and for most of the summer. She doesn’t live only with me, we share custody. Lucy’s mom and I have a great co-parenting relationship. We had to work on it. We had to decide that we had to put our own desires and our own history on the back burner and stop being so self-oriented and focus on her and do the work, with our own therapists. Once you make the decision to have a child, especially in an interracial relationship, you have to prioritize the child and that means you gotta get whatever [angst] you have with each other out of the way. You’ve gotta be patient and work on it. My current wife is very supportive. She’s a high-powered nonprofit consultant with a career. We’ve been married about a year and a half.

LMK: Obviously your personal life shed light on what it means to be inclusive. In your pastoral life, what does it mean for your church to be inclusive and how important is it?

BB: The inclusivity of our church is historic and it is the life blood of our community of faith. It is the distinguishing and unique marker of who we are. We first began our journey of inclusivity in the ‘40s and ‘50s. At that time, it meant having an open baptism policy that allowed for people to join the church [no matter their previous or current baptism status]. Then in the ‘60s inclusivity expanded to include race. That continued to evolve (around the ‘70s and ‘80s) to include women in leadership and it also began to include women clergy (hired and ordained by the church). It then continued to evolve to include LGBTQ inclusivity.

We’ve been on a journey of becoming officially welcoming and affirming for a long period of time. Everyone thinks they are welcoming, but then some people who are actually LGBT, come [to a church] and are told they need to change who they are. At our church, we have moved away from the toxic theological malpractice of associating God given diversity of sexuality with sin. We believe there is nothing sinful about the beautiful diversity of sexuality that God has given to creation.

LMK: How’s that practice working out for you?

BB: This type of inclusivity has become so important to us that it is now a part of our mission statement. It’s on our website and the front of our building. We even changed our logo to include rainbow colors. Not just for [representing] the LGBT community – but also for race, gender, sexuality, economic status, religious affiliation or religious belief. This got us evicted from the Southern Baptist convention years ago.

We have members of our community who are atheist, agnostic and a variety who believe in different religious traditions; being Jewish and Buddhist. We have a deep relationship with Temple Beth El and have even renamed a space in our building Shalom Hall in honor of that historic relationship. Since my tenure, we’ve had new areas of focus with an ever-expanding commitment to

inclusivity. Meaning, we don’t stop, freeze ourselves in time and pat ourselves on the back. As we learn more and discover more, we stand in solidarity with trans and non-binary folks and [spiritually and financially] assist trans folks in their journey of gender transition.

LMK: This is the second year that you’ve organized and held your Confronting Whiteness Conference. What inspired you to do this?

BB: Well, I created this course called Confronting Whiteness in 2019 as part of a degree program. I piloted it with a congregant. What I had come to realize through pastoral work is that people who are racialized as white continue to have conversations about racial justice and racism [viewing these issues] as abstract constructs and struggles that are not their own. This comes from white supremacy. If they could see themselves through the eyes of someone else and see what whiteness is, they could begin to… <thoughtful pause>. I thought if I could introduce my congregants to the writings of people like W. E.B. Du Bois, Toni Morrison, Malcom X, Bell Hooks, James Baldwin and more modern writers like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kelly Brown Douglas and Kimberly Crenshaw that they might begin to see themselves through someone else’s eyes; through the eyes of Black people – that they would see themselves.

LMK: That’s a tall order. What’s been the reaction from white fundamentalist ministers, if any?

BB: I think the most visceral one has been from those who have driven by, seen our Black Lives Matter sign and emailed me or called us to leave nasty messages of why we have a Marxist sign out front. I find it sad because I can tell by the way and words they use that they are just using talking points by Fox News commentators. I’ve had people tell me that I am obsessively focused on race and that I’m not a Christian or a legitimate clergy person because of the work that I’m doing.

LMK: As a minister with a Black daughter, diverse friends and an inclusive church; what do you say to folks who are having difficulty navigating a world that does not honor them for simply being who they are?

BB: I say, I’m so sorry, you don’t deserve this. You are a beloved child of God and this is not what Jesus, God or any other religious deity would say how anyone should be treated. But you get to tell your story and in your own way.

LMK: Do you see this recognition, this way of apologizing to the marginalized as your job to do?

BB: My job is to be an encourager and inspiring. To help people develop the tools that they need in this time of horrific violence. People at the intersection of more than one form of oppression are the people who know the way out. And it’s my job to speak to those people and ask what we need to do, what the pathway out is and follow their lead. ::

Benjamin Boswell: Preacher, Pastor, Author, Civil Rights Leader and Public Speaker. CREDIT: Courtesy Myers Park Baptist Church