QNotes, Jan. 15-28, 2016

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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Jan. 15-28 . 2016

inside

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Holocaust remembrance day

qnotes news & features

news. views. arts.

5 entertainment.

News Notes: Regional Briefs 7 News Notes: U.S./World Briefs 8 Non-discrimination ordinance

a&e / life&style 4 International Holocaust Remembrance Day 9 Homelessness and HIV 10 ‘Witches Night Out’ 13 Tell Trinity 14 Q Events Calendar 15 Our People: Rabbi Judy Schindler

opinions & views 4 Guest Commentary

Honoring LGBT community members lost, persecuted. page 4

‘The Danish Girl’

•••••• only online ••••••

A moving film about self awareness and self identity in the earlier 20th Century. more: goqnotes.com/41025/ Photo Credit: Working Title Films First Look Photography

FDA’s releases updated recs With revised donor recommendations, the agency has yet to get more than a lukewarm review. more: goqnotes.com/41027/ Photo Credit: robiu via Dollar Photo Club

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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qnotes connect Jan. 15-28, 2016 Vol 30 No 19

arts. entertainment. news. views. goqnotes.com twitter.com/qnotescarolinas facebook.com/qnotescarolinas

contributors this issue Lainey Millen, Lee Storrow, Jeff Taylor, Chris Tittel, Trinity

front page

Graphic Design by Lainey Millen Photography: ‘Wicked’ and ‘Witches

Night Out’ Road Tour

Mission:

The focus of QNotes is to serve the LGBT and straight ally communities of the Charlotte region, North Carolina and beyond, by featuring arts, entertainment, news and views content in print and online that directly enlightens, informs and engages the readers about LGBT life and social justice issues.

Pride Publishing & Typesetting, Inc., dba QNotes P.O. Box 221841, Charlotte, NC 28222 ph 704.531.9988 fx 704.531.1361 Publisher: Jim Yarbrough Sales: x201 adsales@goqnotes.com Nat’l Sales: Rivendell Media, ph 212.242.6863 Managing Editor: Jim Yarbrough, editor@goqnotes.com Assoc. Editor: Lainey Millen, specialassignments@goqnotes.com Social Media Editor: Jeff Taylor, socialmedia@goqnotes.com Production: Lainey Millen, x205 production@goqnotes.com Printed on recycled paper.

Material in qnotes is copyrighted by Pride Publishing & Typesetting © 2016 and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent of the editor or publisher. Advertisers assume full responsibility — and therefore, all liability — for securing reprint permission for copyrighted text, photographs and illustrations or trademarks published in their ads. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers, cartoonists we publish is neither inferred nor implied. The appearance of names or photographs does not indicate the subject’s sexual orientation. qnotes nor its publisher assumes liability for typographical error or omission, beyond offering to run a correction. Official editorial positions are expressed in staff editorials and editorial notations and are determined by editorial staff. The opinions of contributing writers and guest columnists do not necessarily represent the opinions of qnotes or its staff. qnotes accepts unsolicited editorial, but cannot take responsibility for its return. Editor reserves the right to accept and reject material as well as edit for clarity, brevity.

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Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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views

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Jan. 27

In the wake of annihilation, they were also persecuted

Holocaust replete with LGBT Europeans who were part of the 10 million lost

by Lainey Millen :: qnotes staff acts which included court-ordered castration, humiliation, torture, medical experimentation and murder. Those who were relegated to concentration camps were often singled out for sexual abuse. Additionally, lesbians were also targeted, but to a lesser extent since they could more easily be forced ttempts to wipe out entire peoples and civilizations has existed for the or persuaded to appear straight. millennia. However, none had come so close or had done so much The purge of Berlin’s LGBT community’s damage as the action that was clubs was accompanied also by the disposal of perpetrated out of Germany and spread books, gay organizations, as well as scholarly across the European continent and to literature relative to being gay which were the East into Russia in the last century. systematically burned. Also burned were items The architects were Adolph Hitler and that were anti-Nazi, Jewish and/or not in line his National Socialist German Workers with party principles and ideals.

Party (the Nazi Party).

While there is not an exact count for gays Among the demographics of those who perished in the camps, it is thought that it who were tortured, killed and expericould have been around 60 percent according to mented on were: Jews, 6 million; Soviet Rüdiger Lautmann, a leading scholar. prisoners of war, 2-3 million; Ethnic The Homocaust website reports that up Poles, 1.8-2 million; Serbs, 300,000100,000 gay men and women were persecuted 500,000; disabled, 270,000; Romani, and imprisoned for their sexuality under Paragraph 90,000-220,000; Freemasons, 80,000A pink triangle (rosa winkel in German) memorial plaque at 175 of the 1871 German Penal Code. The code was 200,000; Slovenes, 20,000-25,000; gays, Buchenwald concentration camp is one of three in Germany revised in 1935 to include 175a and 175b (detailed 5,000-15,000; Jehovah’s Witnesses, dedicated to LGBT prisoners and victims who perished durbelow) The site also shares that of the approximte 2,500-5,000; and Spanish Republicans, ing the Holocaust. Stones are left on the marker as a sign of count, around 15,000 were sent to camps.

7,000. Each was assigned identification respect and a way to honor the memory of the deceased.

Paragraph 175 stated: “An unnatural sex patches, such as a yellow star for Jews. act committed between persons of male sex or by humans with animals is Gays were first required to wear yellow arm bands, but the protocol changed punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed.” to the inverted pink triangle placed on a jacket’s left side, as well as on the During the Nazi Party’s control, the paragraph was revised. It’s components left pant leg. were expanded and read: Being gay was a criminal offense in Germany. Henrich Himmler, one of the 175. A male who commits lewd and lascivious acts with another male high ranking members of the Nazi Party and a cohort of Adolph Hitler, created or permits himself to be so abused for lewd and lascivious acts, shall be the Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion to punished by imprisonment. In a case of a participant under 21 years of deal with “the problem” in 1936. Gays were considered to not be wholesome and regarded as “defilers of German blood.”

In fact, during the Nazi regime, gays were subjected to a host of horrific see Holocaust on 11 “May their memories forever be for a blessing.” translation from Hebraic greeting and mentions of those deceased

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guest commentary

by Lee Storrow, Executive Director, North Carolina AIDS Action Network :: guest contributor

Blood donation policy needs a serious revamp Last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “updated” their policy restricting men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating blood.

Since the 1980s, men who have sex with men have had a lifetime deferral from donating. After years of calls for change to this policy, the FDA made a change on Dec. 21, 2015, to a one-year deferral, allowing gay and bisexual men to donate after a year of celibacy. This shift in policy, however, is still not science-based and continues to reinforce damaging and dangerous stereotypes about gay sex and gay love.

During my first couple of years in undergraduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I became a regular platelet donor at UNC Health Care after hearing a speaker in my biology class comment on the need for donated platelets to treat cancer. I’d been a regular blood donor in high school after turning 16 and wasn’t afraid of needles. I saw blood and platelet donation as part of my civic duty and a valuable way to give back to those in need. Over several years, I donated over 60 units of platelets, an amount equivalent to half of what’s needed for one individual undergoing a bone marrow transplant. I set a goal for myself to donate 120 units before I graduated.

At the same time, I was coming to terms with my own sexuality. At the start of my sophomore year, I came out as gay to my friends and family. I wasn’t dating anyone, and my romantic life was all talk and no game. But as the years went on and I became more comfortable with my identity, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would become ineligible to donate under the policy.

It’s been over five years since I’ve had to stop donating blood or platelets due to the original policy. The recent change, however, won’t impact my eligibility to donate, even though I engage in low-risk sexual behavior and get tested regularly.

The change is a step in the right direction, and will slightly increase the pool of eligible donors. But it still reinforces something damaging

about gay relationships — that men who have sex with men are somehow unclean and unhealthy. It ignores the fact that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities are living with HIV. Treating men who have sex with men differently than other groups at increased risk of HIV is a clear indication of a failure to use science- and evidence-based approaches.

These kinds of governmental policies reinforce stigma and impact gay and bisexual men’s understanding of their own health and self-worth. And it harms the blood supply, preventing an additional two million people from donating approximately 300,000 pints on an annual basis.1 The United States lags behind other peer countries when it comes to our blood donation policy. Italy and Spain both screen donors for high-risk sexual behavior rather than MSM behavior only,2 and have not seen an adverse impact on their blood supply. Blood is rigorously tested for HIV and other viruses, and with the introduction of PrEP as a new HIV prevention tool, anyone regularly taking Truvada (the only PrEP medication currently on the market), is at an almost non-existent risk of becoming HIV-positive (and subsequently passing the virus on to someone else through blood transfusion).

This policy shift by the FDA is an opportunity for action. When I share my personal advocacy on this topic with friends and colleagues, many of them are shocked to find that this policy even exists in the first place. The FDA should take the next logical step and implement a screening process based on individualized risk assessment. I’d like to think it’s still possible in my lifetime that I might make my original goal of donating 120 units of platelets. There’s no reason, other than stigma and discrimination, that shouldn’t be possible. : : illiamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Blood-Ban-updatew Jan-2015.pdf 2 gmhc.org/files/editor/file/a_blood_ban_report2010.pdf

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news notes: carolinas compiled by Lainey Millen & Jeff Taylor :: qnotes staff

Attorney honored CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Connie Vetter, a long-time LGBT activist and attorney, was awarded with the Julius Chambers Diversity Champion Award by the Mecklenburg County Bar Association on Jan. 7.

“I’m incredibly honored and blown away by it. I’m in the company of some pretty amazing people,” she said in a Facebook post.

Vetter said that the award recognizes outstanding contributions to diversity and equal opportunity in the community.

It was named for its first recipient, civil rights attorney Julius L. Chambers in 2008. He represented the plaintiffs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education desegregation case. “…it is a huge step for the Mecklenburg County Bar Association to give this award to an openly lesbian attorney. I’ve been a bar member since 1994 and this wouldn’t have happened even as recently as a few years ago. I am honored,” she added. She is the ninth awardee.

The award will be presented at the Hon. James B. McMillan Fund Fellowship Dinner on Feb. 25, 6 p.m., at Byron’s South End, 101 W. Worthington Ave. #110. McMillan was the presiding judge at the aforementioned trial. info: meckbar.org.

Charlotte Org nets HRCNC award

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce has been named the 2016 Organization of the Year by the Human Rights Campaign North Carolina (HRCNC).

The award, according to the HRCNC’s website, is “given to an organization that has furthered the progress for civil rights for LGBT people in North Carolina.” It continued by saying that “the organization should have created and sustained policies and practices that work to end discrimination against LGBT people and exemplifies the mission and vision of HRC.” “In what has been a historic year for the group formerly known as the Charlotte Business Guild, the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce has been named the Human Rights Campaign’s Organization of the Year,” the organization said in a press release. “This award comes on the heels of an announcement of the Chamber’s President Chad Turner winning the Person of the Year Award by qnotes, the area’s largest LGBT newspaper.”

“This is yet another moment in our organizational history that allows us to realize that we have become more than a social networking club, but moved far beyond into making an impact across our city and state in the area of equality and business,” said Turner in an email to the chamber’s Board of Directors announcing the award.

The Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce has seen an increase in membership of nearly 40 percent since Turner took office. The group creates a network for its members to connect with local business members as well as larger business organizations outside of Charlotte.

They also fight for equality in Charlotte, North Carolina and beyond.

The HRCNC will present the award at their annual gala on Feb. 20 in Charlotte, N.C. info: hrccarolina.org. clgbtcc.org.

Search on for gala co-chairs

news

Two soldiers burst into the apartment and slit their guest’s throat, beginning a nightmare odyssey through Nazi Germany. Ranked even lower on the human scale than Jews, the two men as avowed gay men, hope to survive with each other for comfort and courage.

“Bent is a powerhouse of a show that delivers a slice of life that should have never been served.

The play allows us to explore, only superficially, the horrors to which millions were subjected.

Stories like this must be told over and over, so we cannot forget them, lest we, as a race, repeat our mistakes,” shared Artistic Director Jamie Lawson.

“Bent” stars Michael Ackerman, Seph Schonekas, John C. Wilson, Ray Stewart, Thao Nguyen, Zac Hiatt, Donald Carroll and Adam Plant.

Tickets are $18/adult and $16/seniors and students and are available at the box office or online at brownpapertickets.com/ event/2473063. info: wstheatrealliance.org.

PFLAG to meet

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Greensboro will meet on Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m., at College Park Baptist Church, 1601 Walker Ave. The organization recently highlighted their accomplishments during 2015. Those were: provided $1,000 in scholarships for high school students; received $2,100 in grants from Guilford Green Foundation; shared booth with YouthSAFE at Greensboro Pride; hosted the Oscar-nominated documentary, “Facing Fear;” and launched a new website. info: pflaggreensboro.org.

see Carolinas on 6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Board of Directors and Board of Governors for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) North Carolina have extended an open call for gala co-chairs for its 2017 season.

The chairs are responsible for raising critical funds for HRC through the gala dinner; cultivating, educating, leading and motivating committee members; serving as positive ambassadors for HRC; being problem solvers and proactive leaders; building and nurturing new and existing relationships with other organizations in the community; and building an overall stronger and inclusive community.

Applicants must be available to attend a number of events during the upcoming year in preparation for and in advance of next year’s event, as well as attendance at the gala on Feb. 4, 2017.

Completed applications are due no later than Jan. 22 and should be sent to Dan Mauney at danmauney@gmail.com. After review by the various boards, selected individuals will be notified on or before Feb. 8. Applications are available online at hrccarolina.org/gala.

The 2016 gala will be held on Feb. 20, 5:45 p.m., at the Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S. College St. Tickets for the affair are available online. info: hrccarolina.org.

Triad Theatre presents ‘Bent’

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The WinstonSalem Theatre Alliance, 1047 Northwest Blvd., will present “Bent” from Jan. 15-24.

Performances are at 8 p.m. on Jan. 15-16, 20-23 and at 2 p.m. on Jan. 24.

The show storyline takes place in 1934 Berlin, Germany, on the eve of the Nazi incursion, with grifter Max and his lover Rudy who are recovering from a night of debauchery with a SA trooper.

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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Carolinas News Notes continued from page 5

Movie screenings go bi-monthly

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — OUT at the Movies has announced that its screenings have gone to a bi-monthly schedule due to the success of the organization’s festival.

Times are slated for 7 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month on March 12, May 14, July 9, Sept. 10 and finishing out the year with the OUT @ the Movies Fest slotted for Oct. 5-9. Screenings are held at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts ACE Theatre Complex, 1533 S. Main St. Tickets go on sale the evening of the performance and can be secured in the theatre’s lobby. info: outatthemovieswinston.org.

Gala goes Hollywood

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford Green Foundation’s Hollywood Gala Green Party will be held on March 19, 7 p.m., at the Proximity Hotel, 704 Green Valley Rd. In it’s 17th year, the annual event is the organization’s premier fundraising effort. It touts that “everyone’s a star.”

Attendees will be treated to a cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a reception with live action food stations, open bar, special seating areas and live entertainment.

Silent auction items will be up for bid.

Three awards will be presented during the evening: Visionary, Distinguished Service and Distinguished Leadership. The names have not been made available as of press time.

Tickets are $175 and are available online.

Sponsorships are also being sought. Email ggfgalateam@ggfnc.org. info: ggfnc.org.

Triangle Diversity lecture upcoming

RALEIGH, N.C. — Dr. Robert Jones (pictured), the president of the State University of New York at Albany in Albany, N.Y., will deliver a lecture on Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m., at the HatterasOcracoke Ballroom, Student Union, North Carolina State University, 2601 Cates Ave. The diversity presentation, “Institutional Culture Change in Higher Education: Leadership and Inclusive Excellence,” will be given to the university’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The event is free and open to the public. info: jmphd@ncsu.edu.

Center announces events schedule

DURHAM, N.C. — The LGBTQ Center of Durham, 114 Hunt St., has announced its midwinter event schedule.

On Jan. 15, 8 p.m., at Motorco Music Hall, 723 Rigsbee Ave., Little Green Pig presents a family-friendly, glam rock fundraiser for the center with a host of talented performers.

Tickets are $15 and are on sale at motorcomusic.com/events/rubber-peacock.

The center welcomes Larry Revelle with the city’s human relations commission on Jan. 25, 6 p.m. He will present “Fair Housing, Know Your Rights.” The presentation is open to the public.

To learn more, email larry.revelle@durhamnc.gov.

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Jan. 15-28 . 2016

A grant writing program will take place on Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. Learn how to start and sustain a business or organization, as well as get tips on understanding the grant-writing process. Beginners, start-ups, faith-based and current 501(c)(3) and non-profit organizations are encouraged to attend. Seasoned consultants will be on hand to provide how-to information for novices, along with a refresher course for those who have written grants previously.

Registration is $150/early-bird until Jan. 23, $175/regular until Feb. 13 and $195/late beginning on Feb. 14. Visit u2canwingrantawards.org to sign up.

Queer NC, a statewide LGBT youth group based in the Triangle, will have a movie night on Jan. 15, 5 p.m., featuring “The Way He Looks,” which explores independence and relationships.

The Geeks and Gaymers of NC Meetup group will gather on Jan. 23, 3 p.m. They are hosting a screening of “The New, Original Wonder Woman” and “Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther,” plus the pilot and first episode of the “Wonder Woman” series which starred Lynda Carter. The public is invited to attend. RSVP to eventbrite.com/e/ the-new-original-wonder-woman-screeningtickets-19921686300 to secure a spot. info: lgbtqcenterofdurham.org.

Queens’ bingo is calling

RALEIGH, N.C. — “God Save the Queens!

Keep Calm and Play Bingo” will be held on Jan. 23, 6 p.m., at the Double Tree by Hilton Raleigh, 1707 Hillsborough St. Surprise guests and special prizes will “grace” the event. It will celebrate all things British. Proceeds will benefit Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina.

Ticket sales are available at ticketor.com. info: aas-c.org.

Dance slated at center

RALEIGH, N.C. — A SAGE Raleigh sponsored Valentine’s dance will be held on Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m., at the LGBT Center of Raleigh, 324 S. Harrington St. This annual event is tailored for seniors and includes an evening of “dance, drink and delicacies.”

Suggested contribution is $10 per person.

Volunteers are requested to arrive at 6:30 p.m. to create a discoinspired space. DJ Robert Murray will spin tunes.

In other news, the organization will hold its monthly dutch-treat luncheon on Jan. 18, 12 p.m., at Sweet Tomatoes, 2310 Walnut St., in Cary, N.C. info: lgbtcenterofraleigh.com.

Senior housing study proposed

RALEIGH, N.C. — SAGE Raleigh is on the precipice of launching efforts to establish affordable housing for LGBT seniors with the help of the city government.

The Committee to Study LGBT-Friendly Housing in Raleigh is seeking volunteers who are interested in being involved with the initiative. Only serious parties will be entertained for inclusion as the committee holds regular meetings, works on surveys and focus groups, promotes and takes part in community town hall meetings. Planning is

one of the key elements in the work ahead.

There is no age limit to participate. Those with prior experience are encouraged to contact organizers.

SAGE Raleigh has already met with the director of housing and neighborhoods for the city, as well as two members of the Human Relations Commission. The city is engaged in planning to supply more affordable senior housing that supports diversity and inclusion.

Email lgeller@lgbtcenterofraleigh.com to learn more. info: lgbtcenterofraleigh.com.

Western Benefit planned

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A concert benefit for Western North Carolina AIDS Project (WNCAP), featuring David Troy Francis, will be held on Jan. 31, 4:15 p.m., at Asheville Country Club, Pisgah Ballroom and Emerald Lounge, 170 Windsor Rd. Francis is an awardwinning talent as a creator and composer. He will be accompanied by Carol Duermit.

Attendees will be able to enjoy hors d’oeuvres and wine beginning at 3 p.m., along with a chance to mingle after the concert.

To purchase tickets, call 828-252-7489 or visit the WNCAP website and follow the link to the donation page. Select “Piano Concert 1/31/16” category and buy tickets for $100 each. info: wncap.org.

Mountains welcome Graff

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Singing in Sacred Circles will be held on Feb. 13, 2 p.m., at Senior Opportunity Center, 36 Grove St. The women’s event is an “opportunity to look into your sister’s eyes and share voice and spirit through song. While learning short, repetitive women-centered and earth-based chants, power rises from the center of the circle as all voices create an energy that is empowering, loving, healing and transformative. This opportunity is intended to allow women, regardless of singing experience, to share their voices in a non-competitive, relaxed safe space.”

Admission is $10-20 sliding scale via cash or check. No pre-registration is required.

Organizers said that no woman would be turned away for lack of funds.

For more information, email amsels@aol.com. info: shellyg.com.

Center seeks funds

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The Blue Ridge Pride Center, 121 College St., is seeking contributions to help offset a significant shortfall as a result of its rain-drenched Pride event on Oct. 3, 2015.

They estimated a $16,500 loss and are currently holding a $16.50 fundraiser to help the organization dig out of the loss and ready it for the 2016 event.

At press time, they had raised $1,311, seven percent of the goal.

Contributions can be made online through the organization’s website or by check via snail mail at Blue Ridge Pride Center, P.O. Box 2044, Asheville, NC 28802. info: blueridgepride.org.

Southern conference slated

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The LGBT* in the South Conference will be held from March 18-20 at the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, 340 Victoria Rd. Organizers said the “fight for full LGBT* equality in the South is far from over, but together we can get there.” Participants will be able to learn, share skills, build strategies and connect with like-minded individuals.

Workshop topics at press time include: #BlackLivesMatter: Our Survival Affirms Your Liberation; Bridging the LGBT Divide; Dismantling the Discrimination to Incarceration Pipeline for Transgender People of Color; Ending Conversion Therapy; GaySL: A Crash Course in LGBTQ American Sign Language; In it Together: Understanding HIV Health Services for Black Gay/Bi-sexual Men; Inclusive Spaces for All Students: Confronting Heteronormativity; Navigating Conflict: Mobilizing People to Work Together; Queer Eye: Language, Identity, and the Stories We Tell; Queering Reproductive Justice: Abortion and Beyond; Real Harm to Real People: How to Discuss Religious Refusal Laws; Restroom, Locker Rooms, and Sports, Oh My! Supporting Transgender Youth in Schools; Sexuality and the Bible from a Black Perspective; Staffing the Backlash: A Look at the Looming Legislation Targeting the LGBT Community; Strategies for Addressing the Health Insurance Gap for LGBT* & HIV+ Southerners; Strategies for Working in Hostile Environments; Strong Southern Queer Folk; Trans-thriving: Coping Through Transition; and Working with Cis Families of Trans People.

Registration costs are: $75/organization, group, company representatives; $40/independent organizer and/or community member; $20/student; and $250/North Carolina attorneys seeking state bar association approved CLE credits.

Scholarship applications are due by Jan. 24 for those who require assistance with fees. info/registration: lgbtinthesouth.com.

South Carolina Shop to support those in need

CHARLESTON, S.C. — We Are Family (WAF) will hold Closet Case from Jan. 15-18, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., at Jericho Inc., 815 Savannah Hwy., Suite 101.

The pop-up thrift shop will be stocked with a “funky array of well-curated clothing, home furnishings and vintage curiosities.”

Additionally, for memorabilia buffs, furniture from the set of HBO’s “Vice Principals” will be for sale at bargain prices.

We Are Family will provide free clothing to people in need.

Urban Electric Co. is the event lead sponsor.

During its Founder’s Award Ceremony and Reception held on Jan. 14 at Jericho, the organization bestowed its Founder’s Award to Greg Garvan for his contributions to WAF leadership development programming. It also presented Lee Ann Leland with its David Singleton Memorial Volunteer of the Year Award for her work in assisting transgender youth. And, it gave its Business Award to Dudley’s for raising upwards of $5,000 for WAF. info: waf.org.

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news notes: u.s./world compiled by Chris Tittel :: qnotes contributor

Bi reaches new high According to the latest national survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], more Americans are identifying as bisexual than ever before.

Not only that, but more heterosexual Photo Credit: David Levithan men are admitting to via LGBTQ Nation having had gay sex.

Researchers interviewed more than 9,000 men and women ages 18 to 44 between 2011 and 2013.

Respondents were asked about the types of sexual experiences they’ve had, whether they’re attracted to the same or opposite sex, and how they label their sexual orientations.

Here’s what they learned: 1.9 percent of men said they were homosexual, which is on par with the CDC’s last survey conducted between 2006-2010. Meanwhile, 2 percent of men said they identified as bisexual, up from 1.2 percent in the last survey.

And this is where it gets interesting, because 6.2 percent of men said they had engaged in either oral or anal sex with another man.

A bit of basic math: If 1.9 percent of men said they were gay and 2 percent said they were bisexual — but 6.2 percent said they had

engaged in same-sex sexual activity — that means 2.3 percent of men engaging in same-sex sexual activity are straight. Or at least straight-identifying.

“You do expect some differences,” said Casey E. Copen, the lead author of the study. “For some people … they may or may not have had the experiences they’re contemplating, [especially] if they’re younger.”

— LGBTQ Nation (lgbtqnation.com), a qnotes media partner

Survey: Americans not so angry over LGBTQ issues

As we inch closer to the 2016 election, a new survey by Esquire and NBC News called “American Rage” polls 3,000 Americans to get a sense of what makes Americans angry.

The findings are surprisingly pro-LGBTQ. Only 22 percent of respondents said they’d be angry at a hypothetical headline that read: “More Than 100,000 Couples Have Wed Since Supreme Court Ruling.”

Apparently, 45 percent of those surveyed are angry at the way LGBTQ people are treated,

and 41 percent think LGBTQ people have a right to be angry about their mistreatment.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a properly gayfocused poll without at least one question about Kim Davis (the clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples based on her religious views), but rest easy: only 24 percent of people support her.

Due to these results, the Washington Post said that LGBTQ rights ware “the social justice issue that garnered the most agreement” among those polled.

However, the news isn’t quite so cheery for one particularly famous transgender woman.

A headline reading “Caitlyn Jenner’s Wedding of the Century!” would make about 41 percent of respondents angry — though respondents may simply be tired of seeing Jenner in the news so often.

A few other interesting tidbits from the poll: 77 percent of Republicans get angry once a day (compared to 67 percent of Democrats), whites and Republicans are the angriest groups in America, and 63 percent of people claim the “American Dream” is no longer true, or never was true.

— LGBTQ Nation (lgbtqnation.com), a qnotes media partner

FedEx must deliver survivor benefits

On Jan. 4, U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton denied FedEx’s attempt to throw out a lawsuit filed by Stacey Schuett, widow of a longtime FedEx employee who has been denied the survivor pension benefits her samesex spouse earned during her long career with the company.

news

FedEx refuses to provide the benefits because its pension plan incorporates the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), even though that law was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor on June 26, 2013. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, federally-regulated retirement plans must recognize the legal marriages of same-sex couples for purposes of survivor benefits.

“It is shocking to me that a company that pays lip service to diversity and the importance of its employees refuses to recognize our family,” Schuett said. “My wife earned her benefits during her decades of service to the company.

No employer should be permitted to ignore our families and refuse to provide the hard-earned benefits of dedicated and skilled employees.”

According to FedEx’s “Diversity and Inclusion: Values in Action” website, FedEx believes that diversity is “a smart business practice.” The company page goes on: “But there’s another, far more important reason why we embrace diversity and inclusion: It’s simply the right thing to do.”

Amy Whelan, senior staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said: “Companies that claim to support diversity, as FedEx does, should be celebrating the downfall of DOMA, not trying to resurrect it for widows of FedEx employees who are fighting to receive the basic benefits their spouses earned during decades of service to the company.”

Attorney Nina Wasow, who also represents Schuett, said: “The June 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision established once and for all that DOMA was an unconstitutional law. The fact that FedEx continues to rely on it as a defense in this case is not only legally wrong, it’s shameful.”

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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news

Council revisits non-discrimination ordinance Hopes increase with push of newly-elected mayor

by Jeff Taylor :: qnotes staff After failing to pass a non-discrimination ordinance in March of last year, Charlotte remains one of the largest cities in the country not to have full LGBT protections in place for its citizens. That may soon change.

Newly-elected mayor Jennifer Roberts has called for a forum to take place Feb. 1 so the public can discuss the ordinance, tentatively scheduled to be taken up for a vote by Charlotte City Council on Feb. 8, just one week later. The ordinance would add sexual orientation and identity to protected categories in public accommodations, passenger vehicles for hire and commercial contracting through the city.

The forum on Feb. 1 will be convened at the mayor’s request by the Charlotte Community Relations Committee and the Community Building Initiative.

“Mayor Roberts has asked the Charlotte Community Relations Committee and the Community Building Initiative to convene a forum for the citizens of Charlotte who want to learn more about the LGBTQ Community and Charlotte’s Non-Discrimination Ordinances.

The forum is intended to be educational and informative and allow Charlotte citizens to talk with one another about what’s at stake with these ordinances and how they will affect our lives,” said The Mecklenburg LGBT Political Action Committee (MeckPAC) in a statement on a Facebook event page to announce and help promote both the forum and the upcoming vote.

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Mayor Roberts mentioned the issue during her swearing in speech on Dec. 7, saying, “I will work with council to ensure non-discrimination for our LGBT community.” It also came up during her run against Republican candidate Edwin Peacock, when, during a debate, Peacock called the non-discrimination ordinance “a very minor issue we cannot let ourselves get distracted by.”

“Discrimination is not a minor issue,” Roberts shot back. She later campaigned on the moment, citing it as a key difference between the two.

The ordinance appears to have a better chance at passing this time out, with two at-large council members who voted against the full LGBT non-discrimination ordinance, Michael Barnes and David Howard, exiting during the same Dec. 7 meeting. Howard voted for a compromised package, stripping out protections for transgender individuals to use public restrooms matching their gender identity. Barnes allegedly told another Council member that he would vote for a compromised package removing those same public accommodations affecting restrooms, yet voted against it.

While the increased likelihood of the ordinance passing has supporters in high spirits, it is also likely the public debate will feature some of the same anti-transgender rhetoric heard last year. It is a fear-based response that will have to be countered by education and conversation, making the forum an important first step back into the contentious issue.

“It is our job as a community to have that conversation, and to help assist and educate, because obviously we face a huge obstacle with the bathroom issue,” said Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce President Chad Sevearance-Turner. “And it was completely made into a bathroom issue, and the only way you can overcome that is to get people to talk about it, getting them to understand the situation.

Do they know a trans person? Do they know an LGBT person at all? And making it personal for them, instead of making it a faith issue, or being an issue of what they feel is moral or ethical.

Because it just comes down to a commonsense issue. It’s not a Democrat or a Republican, or an LGBT or a straight, issue. It’s just commonsense for someone to use the restroom in which they identify with.”

Sevearance-Turner points out that while the chamber does not formerly endorse persons or parties, they will endorse policy “if it has a great business case.”

“This time around, luckily, we have a wonderful mayor who is willing to have community conversations leading up to the ordinance,” he added. “And I think that that will help in allowing people to hear both sides and make educated decisions concerning whether or not they support the ordinance.”

Even if the ordinance is passed by Charlotte City Council, the fight may continue. The Charlotte Business Journal has reported that

passing the ordinance could spark a fight with the General Assembly.

Writer Erik Spanberg reports that a Republican strategist told him that, “based on informal discussions, state lawmakers would take a long look at overturning any such measure.”

Spanberg goes on to say that State Rep. Dan Bishop (R-Mecklenberg), who was a member of the county commissioners board with Roberts from 2004 to 2008, told him the ordinance was “an extremely divisive thing,” which he believes most Charlotteans oppose. Bishop also stated, “I hope cooler heads prevail and they’ll decide not to go down this path.”

Examples of LGBT discrimination are not tracked by the city, as citizens have no way of reporting activity that is not illegal. A website, which can be found at charlotteequality. strikingly.com, was set up by a group called the Charlotte Non-Discrimination Ordinance Coalition where those who have experienced discrimination can share their stories.

The Charlotte Business Journal also reports that Scott Bishop, who lives in Charlotte and serves on the national board of the Human Rights Campaign, along with other LGBT rights activists, reached out to uncover stories of housing and employment discrimination in the city and received over 140 testimonials of such treatment.

He added that another survey is planned before council reconsiders the ordinance. : :

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life

Homelessness and HIV/AIDS Challenges abound in LGBT community

by Jeff Taylor :: qnotes staff

Photo Credit: Cylonphoto via Dollar Photo Club

H

omelessness and HIV/AIDS are two of the biggest issues facing the LGBT community. When the two exist in tandem, the challenges that each condition presents become exasperated.

The cost of medications and healthcare for those living with HIV can become impossible to keep up with for homeless individuals. Add to that the exposure to the elements and the prevalence of poor diets seen in that population and the situation becomes further complicated, as HIV targets the immune system. According to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, homeless people are three to six times more likely to become ill.

The National Coalition for the Homeless points out in an online fact sheet that the conditions of homelessness can also increase the risk of contracting HIV, with a potential for a higher prevalence of intravenous drug use and unsafe sex practices as compared to the general public.

According to data from the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness (NCCEH), taken from Jan. 28, 2015, there were 85 total HIV positive homeless adults in North Carolina.

That included 53 emergency and seasonal, 22 in transitional housing and 10 unsheltered.

They also track numbers of formerly homeless people who are now in permanent housing.

Of those, there were four HIV positive adults in rapid re-housing and 130 in permanent supportive housing. The total number of homeless people, including both children and adults, sat at 3,527.

As the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) states in their report “HIV/ AIDS and Homelessness,” authored by Evelyn P. Tomaszewski, “Studies indicate that the prevalence of HIV among homeless people is as high as 20 percent, with some ‘subgroups’ having much higher burdens of disease.”

In Charlotte, Carolina CARE Partnership helps provide housing vouchers to homeless individuals who are also HIV positive. They are the project sponsor for the HUD-funded Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program.

“This past fall, 2014, and throughout 2015, 30 chronically homeless people who were HIV positive were given housing and supportive services through an initiative run by Carolina CARE Partnership,” said Liz Clasen-Kelly, executive director at Urban Ministries, which has helped get the word out in the past about the existence of these services to those who might need them.

“It is a phenomenal resource to have, because we know that housing is healthcare,” she added. “There are multiple challenges for seeking regular preventive primary healthcare when you’re experiencing homelessness.”

“Housing status has more impact on health outcomes than demographics, drug and alcohol use, mental health status or receipt of social services,” Carolina CARE Partnership says on its website. They also state that those experiencing homelessness or unstable housing are more likely to enter HIV care late, have lower CD4 counts and higher viral loads, be less likely to receive and adhere to antiretroviral therapy, are more likely to be hospitalized and use emergency rooms and experience higher rates of premature death.

They do, however, offer positive statistics for those individuals who are able to find stable housing: 84 percent of unstably housed people with HIV who received a voucher for rental assistance were stably housed at 18 months, there was an 80 percent reduction in mortality among homeless people with AIDS who received supportive housing and there was a 57 percent reduction in hospitalizations for people with HIV after they were stably housed. All clear indications that the program is effective.

Yet Clasen-Kelly points out that while progress has been made, it is important to remember that there remains work left to be done.

“The Carolina CARE Partnership did a good deal to work toward ending chronic homelessness for people who are HIV positive, but it did not fully meet the demand. So we certainly have additional chronically homeless individuals who are HIV positive, and that’s just chronic homelessness,” Clasen-Kelly said. She stressed the difficulty that presents, adding, “There are resources, I think we have agencies and organizations in our community that are willing to work with the homeless population, there’s funding to assist them, they have access, but the reality is, the level of poverty those people are experiencing when they’re on the street makes even accessing healthcare a challenge.”

Additional assistance for homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS can be found through other HOPWA funded agencies, such as the CATAWBA Care Coalition, Crisis Assistance Ministry, Community Link, Different Roads Home, Prosperity Unlimited Cabarrus County and Positive Wellness Alliance.

More information can be found on the Carolina CARE Partnership website at carolinascare.org. : :

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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‘Witches Night Off’ Tour company members to perform a one-night only charity cabaret

by Nick de la Canal :: qnotes contributor

S

ure, it looks fun from out here, but life inside the national tour of “Wicked” can be grueling. The company performs eight shows a week, Tuesday through Friday, nearly 52 weeks a year. Typically, cast members receive only one night off a week to rest: Monday.

And on Monday, Jan. 25, cast members will donate their one night off to perform a whole new cabaret-style show at the Blumenthal’s McGlohon Theater in Charlotte, N.C. The cabaret will raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) and the local Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN).

The show, marketed as “Witches Night Off,” is produced by two company members, boyfriends Ryan Jackson and Justin Wirick, who met after joining the national tour in 2010. The duo has produced about two to three charity nights annually in different cities all around the country.

“We’re literally rehearsing these numbers before shows, in between shows, in the dressing rooms, in the hallways. Anywhere we can find space, “ said Wirick as he prepared for a 1 p.m. matinee in a backstage dressing room. “It takes a lot of work. We’re basically building a show from scratch.”

Jackson and Wirick have spent the last several weeks contacting charities, producing television and radio spots, organizing rehearsal space, finding local musicians, and rehearsing their own numbers they plan to perform in the cabaret.

It helps that the couple has produced “Witches Night Off” twice before in the Queen City, and the charity night has been periodically delighting audiences in other cities since 2009, the same year “Wicked” began its national tour.

Then-company member Don Richard produced the first “Wicked” charity night that year, and Jackson and Wirick took over producing the event after Richard left the tour in 2012.

“We still call him for advice from time to time,” said Wirick. “He was very big on charity fundraising, and he’s kind of our inspiration.”

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Audience members can expect to enjoy a range of non-Ozian material performed by current cast members and some cast alumni, all accompanied by area musicians. Expect everything from musical theatre to rock to even country, Wirick said.

There will also be an opportunity for audience members to participate in a live auction, with chances to go backstage with the cast at Ovens Auditorium. Event goers could win seats inside the orchestra pit for a “Wicked” performance, or a chance to perform a walk-on role in the show wearing a Tony-award winning costume.

The “Witches Night Off” charity cabaret is part of an ongoing series of performances by the touring company to support charitable causes. The “Wicked,” Munchkinland Tour has raised over $3.7 million in donations for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and local AIDS service organizations all over the country.

Want to attend?

“Witches Night Off” plays at the Blumenthal’s McGlohon Theatre in Spirit Square on Jan. 25. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. The McGlohon is located at 345 N. College Street Charlotte, N.C. VIP admission is $100, which includes a pre-show reception with “Wicked” cast members from 6- 7 p.m. and preferred seating.

General admission tickets are also available for $35.

To purchase tickets, call 704-372-1000 or visit WitchesNightOff.org.

“Wicked” is playing at Charlotte’s Ovens Auditorium through Jan. 31. Show times are Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Tickets to “Wicked” are available at the Belk Theater Box Office, by phone at 704-372-1000 and online at blumenthalarts.org. : :

(left to right) ‘Wicked’ cast members Justin Wirick and Ryan Jackson bring their ‘Witches Night Off’ cabaret to Charlotte, N.C. on Jan. 24 Photo Credit: ‘Wicked’ Road Tour

life

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Holocaust continued from page 4

age at the time of the commission of the act, the court may, in especially slight cases, refrain from punishment.

175a. Confinement in a penitentiary not to exceed ten years and, under extenuating circumstances, imprisonment for not less than three months shall be imposed: 1. Upon a male who, with force or with threat of imminent danger to life and limb, compels another male to commit lewd and lascivious acts with him or compels the other party to submit to abuse for lewd and lascivious acts; 2. Upon a male who, by abuse of a relationship of dependence upon him, in consequence of service, employment, or subordination, induces another male to commit lewd and lascivious acts with him or to submit to being abused for such, acts; 3. Upon a male who being Over 21 years of age induces another male under 21 years of age to commit lewd and lascivious acts with him or to submit to being abused for such acts; 4. Upon a male who professionally engages in lewd and lascivious acts with other men, or submits to such abuse by other men, or offers himself for lewd and lascivious acts with other men.

175b. Lewd and lascivious acts contrary to nature between human beings and animals shall be punished by imprisonment; loss of civil rights may also be imposed.

One of the party’s members was Ernst Röhm. In his early days as the Nazis came to power, his gay identity was mostly overlooked.

However, that did not last. Hitler had protected Röhm in the beginning, but that changed and Röhm was murdered for his sexual orientation, along with others during the Night of Long Knives in 1934, when those who were thought to be threatening to Hitler and the party’s power, were rounded up and dealt with utilizing Nazi Party methods. Afterward, gays who would not “reform” (disavow they orientation or conduct themselves in acceptable ways) became an unprotected class and were sent to camps.

Unfortunately, reports on how gays were treated in the camps was not openly revealed and acknowledgement was not even made until the 1980s when European countries began to do so. Finally, governmental representatives from Germany extended its apologies to the LGBT community in 2002. Subsequently, a resolution on the Holocaust was adopted by the European Parliament in 2005 and included gay persecution.

Germany erected a memorial in Berlin in 2008 to honor LGBT victims and survivors. The marker includes in part the following: “With this memorial, the Federal Republic of Germany intends to honor the victims of persecution and murder, to keep alive the memory of this injustice, and to create a lasting symbol of opposition to enmity, intolerance and the exclusion of gay men and lesbians.” The monument is a cubist piece designed by artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. Two other monuments were also installed, one in Frankfurt in 1994 — Frankfurt Angel Memorial, and another one in Cologne in 1995 — Kölner Rosa Winkel. The Cologne memorial was a gift of the city trade union. Also, markers are placed in several camps.

The first LGBT Holocaust memorial in Israel was unveiled in Tel Aviv in 2014. Holocaust museums and memorial markers are located worldwide with some more directed at a particular sector or aspect of the devastating time in history.

For more detailed information, visit homocaust.org and yadvashem.org. : :

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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tell trinity

by Trinity :: qnotes contributor :: trinity@telltrinity.com

Cheating three times in 900 days Hey Trinity, In the two-and-a-half years that I’ve been with my lover, he has cheated on me three times. He’s always wanted an “open relationship,” but it’s hard for me. I love him. Am I overreacting?

Lost In The Game, Ann Arbor, MI Hey Lost In The Game, Men are farm animals and practice what I call “pigomy.” Maybe it’s biological or psychological, but if it’s 1-in-300 days — he’s a pig; however, if it’s 3-in-900 — he’s a good man. Congratulations. You’ve won the game.

Open relationships may not be common for straight couples, but it is common for gay ones. You can go with it, fight it or end it.

Either way, honey, many gay relationships after time open up, loosen up or have play dates. It’s a gay thing. Monogamy is a straight thing. Oh, and no crimes of passion, please!

End it first. Good luck.

Dear Trinity, Everyone has extra marital affairs, it’s normal and you never hear of someone going to jail for cheating. Is it really that much of a crime?

Can’t I just do what I want without felling so guilty?

Cheating With Ease, Billings, MT

Dear Cheating With Ease, First of all, cheating may be common, but so are car accidents. Second, people don’t go to court for cheating, but the courts are flooded with divorce trials. Third, “play dates” may be acceptable, but an all-out “affair” is not. So, pumpkin, do what you have to, whether you feel guilty or not, but eventually you’ll have to grow up and practice a higher form of intelligence called control! (Check out my cartoon on how I’d fair in court on the cheating/control issue.

Can someone say guilty?)

Hello Trinity, Okay, I did it! I “powerdated” (multiple dating at the same time) until I was dizzy! Now I think I met the one. But what do I do with my other dates while I’m just dating this one.

Powerdizzy, Queens, NY Hello Powerdizzy, Never throw out that little black book, at least for one year, even if you think that you’ve found the one. Now, as for your other dates, keep in contact with them at least by text or simply tell them in some clever way that you’re, “busy for a while.” Until at least three months pass, sweetie, and you’re sure that this is the one, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but just have fun. Congratulations.

a&e

Dear Trinity, I want to kill my ex-lover! Not in the criminal sense, but at least in the eternal suffering sense.

Any advise?

Kill Or Suffer, Charleston, WV Dear Suffer, There are alternative reconciliation’s besides murder. So, darling, while you’re seeking professional counseling and creating a close support network here are: Trinity’s Revengeful Things You Can’t & Can Do To Your Ex-Lover or Partner 1. You can’t castrate, blind, or hire a hit man to kill your ex!

2. You can’t burn down, blow up or drive a tractor-trailer into the home of your ex.

3. You can’t stalk, kidnap or have someone else criminally assault your ex.

4. Y ou can’t pull a Jeffrey Dahmer on any past, present or future ex.

5. L astly, you can’t let your ex make your life miserable!

6. Y ou can however, sue, take back everything you ever gave your ex and throw a big “Good-bye Ex Party!”

7. You can stop cooking, cleaning or sleeping with your ex.

8. You can use your ex as a reason to hurt yourself. But it’s not worth it! You know this!

9. You can change the locks, move out and/or fly away on a fabulous vacation for a week or so!

10. Lastly, while you can punish your ex within the fullest extent of the laws, why not just snap out of it, girl. Get rid of your ex and move on! I do every time! info: With a Masters of Divinity, Reverend Trinity hosted “Spiritually Speaking,” a weekly radio drama performed globally, and is now minister of sponsor, WIG: Wild Inspirational Gatherings, wigministries.org. Learn more at telltrinity.com.

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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EVENTS

January-February 2016 ‘Gender Identity and SEP JAN MO Transgender Lives’ Discussion with Rabbi Reuben Zellman Rowe Auditorium, UNCC 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte 2-4 p.m.

Submit your event to our calendar!

You can submit your event to our comprehensive community calendar presented by qnotes, the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Visit Gay Charlotte. Submit your event at goqnotes.com/eventsubmit/ and get a three-forone entry. All Charlotte-area events will appear on each of the three calendars at qnotes (goqnotes.com), Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce (clgbtcc.org) and Visit Gay Charlotte (visitgaycharlotte.com).

‘Music Making Mirth’ First Presbyterian Church 305 E. Main St., Durham 3-4 p.m.

Vox Virorum Men’s Chorus of the Triangle presents their winter concert with music centered on joy and camaraderie featuring three settings of Shakespeare, as well as songs from local composers. The show is directed

by Jeremy Nabors, and accompanied

by Deborah Coclanis. Admission is free, with a suggested $10 donation.

Social Justice Lecture by SEP JAN MO Dr. Ravi Perry North Carolina State University, Talley 3285 1210 Varsity Dr., Raleigh 7-8:30 p.m.

The GLBT Center, Women’s Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, and African American Cultural Center host the second annual Social Justice January guest Continues through Feb. 7 SEP JAN MO lecture with Dr. Ravi ‘Three Sisters’ Perry. Perry will Paul Green Theatre speak on cultural 300 Country Club Rd., violence against miChapel Hill nority communities, 7:30-9 p.m. which underlies PlayMakers Repertory Company the movements Black Lives Matter presents the Anton Chekhov play “Three Sisters.” The play tells the story of sisters and Trans Lives Matter. The speech is entitled “Rise. Resist. Repeat.”

Olga, Masha and Irina, who are unhap–––––––––––––––––––– pily away from their beloved Moscow, Continues through Jan. 29 where they all spent their childhood.

NGLCC Training Institute Program This world premiere adaptation by Libby Appel runs through Feb. 7. Tickets range Omni Hotel 132 E. Trade St., Charlotte from $15 to $44. More information and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. tickets are available online. playmakersrep.org/show/three-sisters. The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) will hold a two-day training institute on Jan. 28 and 29. The NDC Planning Session event, hosted by the University of Notre SEP JAN MO Citrix Dame - Mendoza College of Business, 120 S. West St., Raleigh is a free event providing executive level 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. training to chamber of commerce leadThe National Diversity ers across the country. It is intended to Council Carolinas will hold its 2016 stra- foster collaboration and bring together tegic planning session, which serves as local affiliate chamber leaders. The a check-in with local business and com- Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce munity leaders. It helps the NDC plan is a chapter member. Registration is how to carry out its work into the new available online. year. Registration is available online. nglcc.org/events/chamber-trainingndccarolinas.org. institute-2016.

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Activist and educator Rabbi Reuben Zellman will visit the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus to lead a discussion on gender identity and transgender lives, with insights into what it was like to be the first openly transgender rabbinical student and how that lead to his fight for full LGBT equality. Zellman became the first openly transgender individual accepted to the Reform Jewish seminary in 2003.

He is currently completing his Masters in Music in choral conducting from San Francisco State University. He received his BA in linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley, his master’s degree in Hebrew literature and in 2010 his rabbinical ordination from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, Calif. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, email adeeter@uncc. edu or call 704-686-0259.

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3rd Annual Same Love, SEP JAN MO Same Rights LGBT Wedding Expo Sheraton Raleigh Hotel 421 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh 12:30-3:30 p.m.

The 3rd Annual Same Love, Same Rights wedding expo will feature dozens of gay-friendly exhibitors ready to help make you and your fiancé’s big day the best it can be, including DJs, photographers, wedding planners, jewelers, officiants, venues and more.

There will also be free raffles, wedding tips and music. Free admission. More information is available online. samelovesamerights.com.

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The Guilford Green Foundation’s Red Party Kress Terrace 212 S. Elm St., Suite 300, Greensboro

7 p.m.

The Guilford Green Foundation will hold its fundraising event Red Party, formerly known as Women’s Party. The event is a social, community building affair where all LGBT community members and allies are welcome. Appetizers will be available and there will be a cash bar. Entertainment will be provided by DJ Jessica Mashburn and Big Beatty and the Punchbowl. $15 suggested donation collected at the door.

More information is available online. ggfnc.org.

‘Silhouettes on a Winter’s SEP FEB MO Evening’ Youssef 242 242 11th Ave. N.E., Hickory 6:30 p.m.

OUTright Youth of Catawba Valley will hold its Fifth Annual Evening of Distinction, called “Silhouettes on a Winter’s Evening.” The event is a fundraiser, helping the LGBTQ youth support organization to continue their work.

Tickets are $100 per person. Tickets and more information are available online. youthoutrightcv.org.

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Condom Couture SEP FEB MO Neighborhood Theatre 511 E. 36th St., Charlotte 8 p.m.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic hosts its Condom Couture event, where designers create wearable art pieces using condoms.

All proceeds go to benefit Planned Parenthood’s work to provide sexual health and safer sex information and resources. Early bird tickets: available at $25 general admission and $40 balcony.

Door prices are $30 general admission and $45 balcony. More information and tickets are available online. condomcoutureclt.com.

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life

OUR PEOPLE:

Q&A with Rabbi Judy Schindler Retiring senior rabbi at Temple Beth El

by Nick de la Canal :: qnotes contributor how other parents at my kids’ school would receive me and how teachers would respond.

What was amazing was, after I got back from that 2011 wedding, I drove my kids to school. I get to school, and a teacher said, “Rabbi Schindler can I talk to you?” And they sat me down and they said, “Thank you.” They said, “My relative is gay, and your actions mean the world to me.”

Straight but not narrow: Rabbi Judy Schindler has championed LGBT rights since arriving at Temple Beth El in 1998. She will step down in July.

Photo Credit: Nick de la Canal

When Rabbi Judy Schindler first arrived at Charlotte, N.C.’s Temple Beth El in 1998, she was mostly known through her father, Alexander Schindler. He had fled the Nazis as a boy in 1937 and later grew up to be a prominent American rabbi who made a number of sweeping changes to Reform Judaism in the 1970s and 1980s.

Were it not for her father, Schindler would never have been able to become ordained herself — it was under his guidance that Reform congregations first began allowing women (and LGBT people) to become rabbis.

Alexander Schindler passed away in 2000, but Judy Schindler has kept her father’s activist roots alive. Since becoming senior rabbi in 2001, Schindler has become a fierce champion of LGBT rights in the Carolinas. She’s spoken out at rallies against Amendment One, produced documentaries for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools that discourage bullying of LGBT kids, and she’s made two trips to Washington, one in 2011 and another in 2014, where she legally married 13 local gay and lesbian couples.

Her congregation of more than 1,000 families includes many LGBT ones, and the synagogue has celebrated well over a dozen same-sex unions over the last decade, beginning with a lesbian couple in 2003.

In December, Schindler announced she will leave her post as senior rabbi to pursue other social and academic work. qnotes sat down with the outspoken LGBT ally on a recent, rainy Monday to reflect on her past 17 years.

In 2011, you took seven couples to Washington to legally marry them. This was before North Carolina had legalized gay marriage. Were you worried how people would react back home?

Rabbi Judy Schindler: I was worried. It was a front page story [in The Charlotte Observer] and not all the couples wanted their names to be used and they were nervous about whether they’d lose their jobs when they got back. I wasn’t sure whether the temple would be defaced in any way, or we’d get angry phone calls, or there would be threats. I was nervous about

You were, of course, Charlotte’s first woman rabbi, and that trip you took to Washington was with two other clergywomen. Do you think being a woman in the ministry has had an influence on your being an LGBT ally?

I think being a Jewish minority has had an influence on my being an LGBT ally. You know, knowing what it means to be a minority, and knowing what it means to be an oppressed minority in a place where no one is standing up and speaking out against the discrimination or hatred. And because I know that past, I feel an obligation to speak out today.

Why did you decide to become an outspoken LGBT ally?

So my father was born in Munich, Germany, and my grandfather wrote for an underground newspaper against Hitler there. He realized what Hitler was capable of. He read “Mein Kampf,” and he spoke out against Hitler. Soon after being elected, Hitler came to arrest my grandfather.

And my grandfather knew what was coming and wasn’t at home that night. He went to sleep at a Jewish hospital and then left the next day. My father remained for five years in Munich with his mom until they could be reunited. So if my grandfather could speak out against injustice in Nazi Germany, then certainly I should feel comfortable speaking out against an injustice that I see.

will you have a ceremony for us to celebrate the sanctity of our love?” And I thought well, if you’re full members of the congregation, then of course. We have ceremonies to celebrate the sanctity of heterosexual couples and their love, why wouldn’t we have ceremonies to celebrate the sanctity of gay and lesbian couples?

So from 2003, we’ve been celebrating samesex unions here at Temple Beth El. So that first couple that I married in 2003, one of the partners died. And at the hospital, the lesbian partner couldn’t sign the death certificate because they were not legally married. But there was a very sensitive social worker who had the son sign the forms that the hospital needed signed, and also had the lesbian spouse sign the forms. And at that moment, I realized that something needed to change, that we needed to change the law here to achieve marriage equality.

And then we did achieve marriage equality in North Carolina in October of 2014, and it was on a Friday, and we had just gathered at Temple Beth El for Shabbat. We lifted our cups and toasted that moment. After that, we officiated at many gay and lesbian weddings at the Temple, making legal the ceremonies that we had officiated over the years. I think I’ll never forget that moment of achieving something here in North Carolina that many people never thought was possible. : :

Slightly off-topic, but there was a Gallup Poll published earlier this year [bit.ly/1pLl1Lf ] that found less than half of all LGBT people are religious, and less than a quarter regularly attend services. Does that concern you at all?

We have a vibrant gay and lesbian community here at Temple Beth El. And I am thankful there are so many LGBT congregants who enrich us and broaden our horizons and make us look at the world in new ways and lift my life with all their passion and compassion and love.

I think it’s sad that some LGBT people reject religion. I understand it because religion has historically rejected those who are LGBT, so there are a lot of obstacles to overcome to reembrace the community. But to anyone reading this and saying ugh! — religion is not for me, I would say, look again, it might be for you.

And if you join us, you can enrich us, we can enrich you, and together we can make an even greater difference in the community.

You’re leaving your post in July of 2016. Is there any moment from your past 17-and-a-half years at Temple Beth El you hope to carry with you the rest of your life? [pause] The temple has welcomed LGBT members as full members of the community since it passed a resolution in 1998. And the first [same-sex] couple that came to ask for a union ceremony was in 2003. They were a lesbian couple and they said, “Rabbi Judy,

Jan. 15-28 . 2016

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Jan. 15-28 . 2016