QNotes June 20-July 4, 2014

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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June 20-July 3 . 2014

inside

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news & features 6 Fund grants $100,000 8 News Notes: Regional Briefs 8 News Notes: U.S./World Briefs

a&e / life&style

qnotes arts. entertainment. news. views.

Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund grants more than $100,000

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Charlotte Black Gay Pride HIV Testing Day LGBT elders: by the numbers The Greatest Gayest Generation Playing the Field Jane’s World Tell Trinity Games without frontiers Augusta Pride Celebrate Stonewall Q Events Calendar Our People: Penny Craver

opinions & views

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Plaza Midwood DISH’s Penny Craver’s Q&A

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Editor’s Note QPoll TalkBack Staff Commentary

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qnotes connect June 20-July 3, 2014 Vol 29 No 04

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

contributors this issue

Paige Braddock, Takwa Browning, Matt Comer, Jon Hoppel, Lainey Millen, Trinity

front page

Graphic Design by Matt Comer Photography: Rutgers University

archive. Girls: James Dockery 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.

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Material in qnotes is copyrighted by Pride Publishing & Typesetting © 2014 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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June 20-July 3 . 2014

editor’s note

by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com

A new Stonewall rallying cry: Leave no one behind This year, we celebrate the landmark 45th anniversary of the riots at Stonewall Inn, giving us time to pause and deeply reflect on our history, how far we’ve come as a community and where we’re going.

This issue, we interview a few longtime leaders in the local LGBT community — their thoughts on their involvement during the past few decades, how far our community has advanced and the issues they see as important today.

We also explore LGBT aging issues in a special online only feature at goqnotes.com.

A whole generation of proudly out men and women are aging gracefully into retirement.

It’s the first time in history our community must face a variety of aging, healthcare, social and other issues affecting our elder LGBT community members — each of them pioneers in their own right, paving the way for younger generations and the successes we’ve experienced in the decades since Stonewall.

Like Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation of the World War II era, our community has its own. If you were 21 in 1969, you’d be 66 today — part of our very own Greatest Gayest Generation. During your youth, you would have witnessed firsthand the radical changes of the 1960s and, perhaps, joined in the movement toward greater LGBT visibility in the years immediately following Stonewall.

The 1960s were a transformative time for our country. A century after a brutal and polarizing civil war, our nation found itself again grappling with intense debates and struggles over equality and what exactly it meant “to be American.” Issues of race and segregation, women’s equality, debates on the place and meaning of war took center stage, and, in the background, LGBT people waited for our turn.

LGBT advocacy organizing in the U.S. had begun some 40 years prior, with Henry Gerber’s Society for Human Rights. Gerber’s group quickly disbanded under the weight of legal oppression, but by the 1950s, new groups — like the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis — stepped up. In 1965, New York and D.C. chapters of Mattachine and the Daughters, along with Philadelphia’s Janus Society, would hold the first gay protest at the White House.

That same year, they began their Annual Reminder, gathering peacefully each July 4 at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Three years prior to Stonewall, transgender community members in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco would hold their own riot, fighting with police officers who attempted to arrest them as they ate at Compton’s Cafeteria.

The Compton Cafeteria Riot would come to be largely overlooked in mainstream LGBT history, with Stonewall taking its place as the “birth” of the modern LGBT movement.

Of course, it’s obvious Stonewall wasn’t the beginning of our movement, but it did serve as sort of a flash point. As transgender community members, drag queens, street hustlers and poor neighborhood youth rioted against police harassment in Greenwich Village, the media, for the first time, took notice of the radical shift.

No longer quiet. No longer passive. No longer closeted. For the second time, this time in the nation’s largest city, LGBT people had stood up in defiance of the legal and social oppression that had marked every portion of their lives.

As news of the Stonewall Riots spread across the country, LGBT organizers took notice. Mattachine — radical in its quest for equality in the 1950s — found itself on the conservative end of the queer political spectrum from nearly day one post-Stonewall. On the third day of the riots, Mattachine posted a sign at the iconic bar: “We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village — Mattachine.” The group talked with the mayor’s office and police, working to end the protests and riots in the Village. And, while the uprising soon ended, nothing could stop the coming awakening of LGBT activism in the weeks, months and years to follow.

One week after the Riots, the Annual Reminder would be held just one more time.

That November, LGBT groups comprising the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations voted to move the Annual Reminder from Philadelphia to New York City and from July 4 to the last weekend of June, coinciding with the first anniversary of Stonewall.

That next year, the very first Christopher Street Liberation Day march was held on June 28, 1970 — giving rise to our modern-day Pride parades and other celebrations.

In the more than four decades since, our community has changed. The leaders interviewed this issue say they look back in wonder at what our community has been able to accomplish. But, that progress has given way, in some respects, to complacency. We’re less radical and we’re less committed to liberation. At times, we seem more concerned with assimilation.

Yet, the need for radical liberation is as important today as it was in 1969. Forty-five years after Stonewall, we have moved forward at breakneck pace toward full equality in marriage, equal treatment in healthcare, in housing and at our workplaces. We still have far more work to do in these areas, but others, too, deserve our attention more than ever. At the forefront and immediately apparent, our elder community members’ needs are mounting.

LGBT groups like SAGE and their various local chapters and other local organizers are turning their attention to these needs, as mainstream groups like the AARP too realize the importance of these issues.

And, more broadly, our community faces a variety of intersecting challenges and opportunities. Racism, sexism and classism plague our community. Transphobia — from both LGB and staight corners — has kicked into high gear as trans-identified members of our community finally begin to see attention granted toward and forward movement on their issues.

Our economic system has created growing challenges for those living in poverty, including our own LGBT siblings, whom the UCLA Law School Williams Institute estimates face

a variety of higher risks and find themselves much more vulnerable to poverty than their heterosexual peers.

At other intersections of prejudice, LGBT people — particularly those living in poverty and people of color — find themselves concerned with issues going largely unaddressed by the largest of our mainstream LGBT advocacy organizations.

The school-to-prison pipeline, long a concern of the African-American community, disproportionately affects LGBT young people, too. Thirteen percent or more of the youth in juvenile detention facilities identify as LGBT. Prejudice and systems discrimination still present in youths’ homes and churches, in schools, in local government agencies, in courts and elsewhere deny many of our young people the chance to succeed in their academic careers, putting them on the path toward homelessness, poverty and prison.

Undocumented immigrants who identify as LGBT — some 260,000 or more adults in the U.S. today — encounter daily legal and social challenges, many facing similar obstacles as other minority communities in accessing good jobs, affordable housing, solid educational opportunities and health care. Despite reforms on the national level offering marriage equality, and therefore legal immigration status to some, many LGBT immigrants still face the very real threat of deportation, separating their families and, for many, sending them back to home nations unfriendly or even deathly hostile to LGBT people.

For far too long, many in our community have stored our agenda and the issues we deem important in a silo. “These aren’t LGBT issues,” they might say about poverty, the criminal justice system or immigration. But, I have another view — a reborn rallying cry that renews the original liberationist spirit of Stonewall and Pride: We’re here. We’re Queer.

And we leave no one behind.

As we each reflect on Pride and Stonewall this month and this year, I’ll join in on the celebrations of our accomplishments. With you, I’ll revel in the fun of attending Pride parades and festivals and joyfully join thousands of others in an open celebration and affirmation of who we are. But, I hope you will also pause and dwell with me on a truer meaning of Pride and Stonewall. Pride certainly can be a party, but it should be far more than that, as I’m sure Pride event organizers across the state and world will tell you. Pride should serve as a reminder, not wholly unlike those Annual Reminders of the 1960s, that as a community, a nation and a world, we have a long way to travel before we can truly say each of us is liberated from oppression.

On this 45th anniversary of Stonewall, let’s recommit ourselves toward greater and grander visions of liberation. Let’s truly live out and push far and wide for the spirit of Stonewall. : :

qpoll Do you think we have lost the spirit of Stonewall?

See the options and vote: goqnotes.com/to/qpoll

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views

staff commentary

by Lainey Millen :: lainey@goqnotes.com

Leaving our mark on society Recently, I was at a bus stop and saw an image painted on the top of the garbage can lid.

At first, I thought that it was just some tagging until I looked closer.

In raised, pink-toned, glittered paint was LGBTI on the brown background.

I was not sure how I felt about this. At first, I was momentarily offended and thought that it was “trashy” to put this on a garbage can, but then began to process the whole experience.

The colors were unlike what I had seen recently on walkways, bridges and the like. It was not so indistinguishable that one could not read it. The sparkly pink paint glowed in the sunlight.

And, I became amused. Why, you ask?

Well, it seems that in our changing world, we are leaving our mark on society everywhere. From marriage equality creating a domino effect nationally, to acceptance for LGBT people in the military and in major league sports, to appreciation of TV, stage and screen stars who have come out — well, it’s all quite exciting, even as, it seems, we’re even leaving our mark in everyday graffiti!

Our global existence has seen a rush of changes over the last decade for sure (and

even longer since the days of the Stonewall riots). And, it came on the backs of many courageous men and women (and even some younger folks) who said enough was enough and raged against the system.

I remember a time when I twice helped to create gay and lesbian switchboards. I also was on the precipice with being a member of NOW’s Sexuality & Lesbian Task Force in the mid-1970s.

I’ve done other things, but I have seen so many of my friends and acquaintances do even more. They were brave enough to march on Washington, were activists on a number of issues and did not stop there. They became a voice and face for us all here in the South.

Were you one of them? How did you create a legacy for the LGBTQIA community (yes, more letters; finally, we are beginning to truly recognize our community’s amazing diversity!)? Did you go to an event that championed the cause? Did you hold a picket sign? Did you speak out to thwart the designs of those who espoused anti-LGBT ideology? And, did you embrace someone who was struggling with their sexuality, sexual identity, gender or orientation, even to the point of considering suicide?

Take some time to consider how you contribute to your community. Perhaps you can help to shape a stronger organization. Or, you may even be able to mentor someone who may need some coaching along the way. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to branch out, to even push against your own comfort zone.

Be a force for change — be the change for all of us who one day will be able to stand as true equals among the citizens of this country. Maybe it can extend to the world. One can only dream! : :

talkback

Letters to the editor and comments from goqnotes.com. and facebook.com/ qnotescarolinas. Web comments are not edited for grammar or punctuation. your sacrifices, for your dedication, and your commitment to doing your part to try make the world a better place.

— Gary Carpenter, Harrisburg, letter Cooper defends Amendment One Readers react to news of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper’s official filing asking for a stay on the latest lawsuit challenging the state’s anti-LGBT constitutional amendment (goqnotes.com/29787/).

Denied because it would “significantly alter the status quo.” Isn’t that the whole point of the lawsuit/petition?

— Dave Connelly, June 11, goqnotes.com Mr. Cooper, the interest of the state?

Really? What exactly is the interest of the state other than to discriminate? That is the worst reply you could possibly make! You know it’s discriminatory, not to mention you are only prolonging the inevitable and at a cost to the taxpayer. I usually have faith in our AG, but this has made me question you.

— Brian, June 11, goqnotes.com Gay Marriage needs to pass in NC. We are all equal. It will be great for Humanity — Nils Bundy, June 11, goqnotes.com

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Media as Medium When we think of media, we think of news, and the current events and happenings of the world near and far. It’s defined in one manner as “the main means of mass communication (especially television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively.” But there’s a second definition on the books that I think many of us take for granted.

I think the most underrated, and even more so the under-appreciated, aspect of the media is how it performs as a medium for the community. Think Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost.” Sure, her character had her own voice (with plenty of sass), but the voice that carried the movie was not hers, it was the voice she was channeling.

She made the conscious decision to forgo her own wants and desires (including a check for $4 million in one scene) in order to carry the voice of Patrick Swayze’s character and do the right thing.

It presents an interesting question: how many of our editors and writers and publishers forgo their own wants and desires and yes, sometimes even basic needs, in order to be the medium for the community by which they have sworn to do the right thing, and to protect, preserve, empower, and give their voices a Whoopi Goldberg to make them count? How many of them have given up the preverbal $4 million to do the right thing, in one way or another?

For that, I say thank you. Thank you for

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news

Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund awards more than $100K Charlotte LGBT center to get approximately 15 percent of total $19,950 grant

by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com CHARLOTTE — Celebrating its seventh The Happening luncheon with a dramatic increase in attendance, the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund paid homage to local organizations and corporations working for a fairer and more inclusive city on June 11.

The fund, a giving circle comprised of donors and stakeholders, is an endowment initiative of the Foundation For The Carolinas. The fund pools its money and resources in order to have maximum effect. Begun in 2003, the fun has been able to grant more than $700,000 to local LGBT or LGBT-inclusive organizations in the last seven years.

At The Happening, the group celebrated more than $100,000 in grants this year, with recipient organizations marking a wide diversity of groups from those serving youth to LGBT sports teams and musical groups.

Time Out Youth, the city’s LGBT youth services agency, received the largest grant this year, with $20,000 going to an operating grant, $5,000 to assist with the Carolina Conference on Queer Youth and $2,500 to support hiring a peer youth outreach worker.

Other awards included $4,500 to the Levine Museum of the New South and their continued efforts to highlight and document local LGBT history. The museum opens the first-ever local LGBT history exhibit in Charlotte next month.

One grant recipient was absent this year, however. Historically, the fund had supported the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte with more than $100,000 in grants since 2007, but the group did not receive a grant award at the luncheon this year, instead offering the center approximately $3,000 of a total $19,950 grant award. Over the past several months, the center has faced a variety of concerns and struggles over financial stability and transparency.

Luncheon grows The annual fundraising luncheon has grown in recent years. Last year, the event attracted 450 people at the Omni Charlotte, but had to move to The Westin this year with its 600-plus crowd. Leaders credited some of that growth with the increasing support of corporate partners in Charlotte, including presenting sponsors Wells Fargo and PNC Bank.

“It’s really great to see our own community in Charlotte step up and realize that the gay community matters and that we’re worth marketing to,” Fund Board Chair Jenni Gaisbauer told the audience.

Weston Andress, PNC Bank’s regional president for Western North Carolina, and Robert Dogens, a senior vice president at Wells Fargo, both spoke briefly, thanking the audience for their support and reiterating their companies’ commitment to equality and community.

“Charlotte won’t be successful until all of her citizens are equal, regardless of who they love,” Dogens said, adding that Wells Fargo’s support of equality is an “honor, privilege and responsibility.”

Sheri Lynch, co-host of the “Bob & Sheri Show” on 107.9 The Link, emceed the June 11 luncheon, which attracted a variety of elected officials and other civic leaders, including Charlotte Mayor Dan Clodfelter, City

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Jonathan Green, a former Time Out Youth client, sings the song, “Jonathan’s Song,” composed by One Voice Chorus Director Gerald Gurss and inspired by Green’s story of youth homelessness.

Councilmember Vi Lyles, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham, the Hon. Sam Ervin IV, the Hon. Shirley Fulton, the Hon. Christy Mann, former County Commissioner Jennifer Roberts and Tom Adams, a congressional candidate for South Carolina’s Fifth District.

Other civic leaders in attendance included Charlotte Observer Publisher Ann Caulkins, Johnson & Wales Charlotte Campus President Arthur J. Gallagher and his wife, Johnson C. Smith University President Dr. Ronald L. Carter and University of North Carolina-Charlotte Chancellor Philip L. Dubois and his wife.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper was also in attendance, just one day after his office entered its official response to a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s anti-LGBT constitutional amendment on First Amendment religious grounds.

Coincidentally, one of the lawsuit’s lead plaintiffs, Holy Covenant United Church of Christ Pastor Nancy Allison, gave the luncheon’s invocation, taking time before doing so to speak briefly about the lawsuit and recognizing other plaintiffs and the suit’s attorneys present at the event.

Center receives conditional support Two days after its luncheon, the fund confirmed with qnotes that it had offered conditional support to the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

In a statement through fund board member Steve Bentley, the group said it had set aside $19,950 for the center, but is withholding all but approximately $3,000. The rest of the grant award will be held “until certain financial and governance best practices have been established,” the fund said.

The center has been under increased scrutiny over its financial stability, transparency and accountability. In late May and early June, qnotes reported that the center had

failed to pay its sole employee on time and owed at least $7,000 in outstanding federal and state payroll taxes. Former center board Chair Roberta Dunn has since resigned from the board after it became clear she had failed to properly communicate with fellow board members about the center’s financial status.

The fund — which had said “transparency, inclusion and commitment” were its three guiding principles for grant awards this year — said it undertook a diligent review of the center’s status during grant deliberations this year.

“During grant deliberations by stakeholders of the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund in April, grant recommendations were made to support the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte,” the fund’s statement read. “This recommendation, along with all others, was submitted to the Board of Advisors of the Fund for approval. Subsequent to the stakeholder recommendation, and prior to board approval, additional information came to light regarding the financial situation at the Center. Representatives of the board met with former Center board chair Roberta Dunn and Center Operations Manager Glenn Griffin several times to gather additional information about the Center’s current status. All information gathered was shared with the full Fund board.”

The conditional support was offered as a result of those conversations and the fund’s information-gathering.

The fund said they wish the best for the center’s future planning.

“It is the Fund board’s great hope that the Center will regain its footing so that the grant monies can be awarded,” the group said.

If the funding criteria remains unmet, the fund will apply the center’s withheld grant monies to next year’s grant awards.

Contacted by email on June 13, new LGBT center board Chair Ranzeno Frazier said he was aware of the fund’s grant decision this year and the criteria set forth by the group. He and other remaining board members, including Jenni Richeson, are working to resolve past financial questions and redirect the center toward strategic planning and development.

“With the center in its rebirthing stage … they are working with us to make sure that we do everything the correct way,” Frazier said.

In a previously-released letter to the community, Frazier — who became chair following Dunn’s resignation — promised greater transparency and accountability.

“Though the board and the LGBT Center has had its struggles, I look at this current opportunity as a chance at rebirth,” Frazier wrote in the letter. “In the short time that I have been in this role, I’ve begun taking care of some outstanding business of the organization; meeting with our landlord to get the rent for our location lowered, settling outstanding tax debts, and reconciling relationships within the LGBT community.”

Frazier said the center is currently seeking interested individuals to serve on the organization’s board of trustees. One of the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund’s criteria is that the center increase the number of board members active with the center.

“I believe in the concept of total transparency with regards to the operations of the center and it is my personal commitment to the LGBT and greater Charlotte community that, with every step taken to move the center forward, the people that we serve will be first in mind,” Frazier wrote in his letter to the community. “I’ve hit the ground running and I’m not tired yet! I look forward to working with the LGBT Community to provide maximum impact for the greater Charlotte community!”

The Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund is a giving circle of individual donors and stakeholders and operates as an endowment initiative of the Foundation For The Carolinas. : :

CLGF Grant Awards Operating Grants Campus Pride..................................................$ 6,000 Charlotte Pride Band.....................................$ 3,500 Charlotte Pride................................................$ 2,500 Charlotte Royals.............................................$ 5,100 Gay Men’s Chorus .........................................$ 5,500 One Voice Chorus..........................................$ 7,700 One World Dragon Boat...............................$ 2,500 PFLAG Charlotte.............................................$ 2,250 Freedom Center..............................................$ 7,500 Time Out Youth................................................$20,000

Programs & Projects Campus Pride....................................................$3,000 Charlotte Pride Band.......................................$3,000 Charlotte Pride..................................................$3,000 Community Building Initiative........................$4,000 Gay Men’s Chorus............................................$4,000 Levine Museum................................................$4,500 One Voice Chorus............................................$3,850 Freedom Center................................................$4,650 Time Out Youth..................................................$7,500

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news notes: carolinas compiled by Lainey Millen & Matt Comer

Charlotte Guild rolls out new app

CHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Business Guild has announced that it has an app for its organization.

The new app allows users to have access to a host of options, including a social media hub, LGBT event notifications, membership and renewal portal, business sales/specials/ coupons notifications, member referral benefits, member benefits at a glance, contact information, upcoming events and notifications, resume repository, LGBT-friendly job board and an LGBT business directory. To download, visit cltbizguild.4yourmobile.com.

In other news, the Guild will hold its monthly dinner meeting on June 24, 6:30 p.m., at the VanLandingham Estate, 2010 The Plaza.

Tom Murray, president and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Association, will be the keynote speaker. Dinner will be served, along with live entertainment and a cash

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June 20-July 3 . 2014

bar to mark the 22nd anniversary. Tickets are available online. info: charlottebusinessguild.org.

— L.M.

Pride seeks nominees

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Pride 2014 is searching for nominees for its annual Champions of Pride Awards.

Champions are those whose work and dedication exemplify the spirit of Pride, as well as endeavor to empower and unite LGBTQ and allied people through their leadership, service and support, organizers said.

Additionally, Champions understand the importance of celebrating the past, present and future while advancing LGBTQ rights and visibility.

The four award categories are: the Harvey Milk Award recognizes an individual or couple with exceptional leadership and service to the community; the Outstanding Ally Award recognizes a straight ally individual or couple who have stalwartly supported the community; the Young Catalyst Award is given to an individual or couple who are

young adult leaders under the age of 30 who has contributed significantly to the community; the Legacy Award may be presented from time-totime by the committee honoring an individual or couple with a lifelong commitment of outstanding leadership and service.

Nominations end on June 27. Forms are available online. info: charlottepride.org/champions.

— L.M.

Museum to mount LGBTQ exhibit

CHARLOTTE — The Levine Museum of the New South will open its “LGBTQ, Perspective on Equality” on July 25 at 200 E. 7th St. Four exhibits grace the museum’s gallery as each explores LGBTQ history and other topics across national, regional, local and personal perspectives.

“Out of the Shadows: Gay America from Kinsey to Stonewall” is a traveling presentation that has been chronicled by the Stonewall Library & Archives in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. It traces the impact on American society of a new sexual openness that began to emerge after World War II. “Pauli Murray: Imp, Crusader, Dude, Priest” tells the story of a southern activist who championed human rights throughout her life as an attorney, poet, author and first AfricanAmerican, female Episcopal priest. Murray, who was born in Baltimore, Md., was raised by her grandparents and aunt in Durham, N.C., after she was orphaned at a young age. In her senior years, upon becoming a priest, she celebrated communion at Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, N.C., the same church where her

grandmother had been baptized while a slave.

“Publicly Identified: Coming Out Activist in the Queen City” illustrates through a timeline the area’s LGBT history from materials in the Charlotte LGBTQ Community Archive, which is being curated by the University of North Carolina-Charlotte’s J. Murrey Atkins Special Collections. Through this project, the directors and staff hope to amass, preserve and protect a comprehensive history of LGBT Charlotte.

The new archive, headed by historian and UNCC staffer Josh Burford, captured community members’ responses to several questions related to the local community and its history on July 12 and will be published on the archive’s new website.

“Minding the Ts and Qs: Gender Identity” explores how area artists interpret gender identity through visual cues and use of space. info: museumofthenewsouth.org. facebook.com/CharlottelgbtqArchive.

— L.M. & M.C.

Youth group names new board

CHARLOTTE — Time Out Youth Center, 2320 N. Davidson St., has announced its new leadership and board of directors for 2014-15. They took office on June 18.

The board consists of up to 20 members, four of which are held my youth. Adults commit to three years of service to the agency and youth to one year.

The following were selected after a sixmonth nomination, interview and approval process: Steve Wilson, chair; Michael Condel, vice

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chair; Stacy Crickenberger, secretary; Tommy Truman, treasurer; Samantha BurroughsThomas; John Layton Campbell III; Brandon Cole; Erin Goldstein; Malone Lockaby; Ian McCanless; Richard Huggins; James Minton; JR Joaquin; and Barry Pettinato. Youth board members are: Adara Linares-Aponte; Kayla Fierson; Brandon Perez; and Scout Rosen.

Rotating off were: Jeremy Carter; Josh Lemke; Nathan Gedney; Dean Hill; Michael Holmes; Brandon McAllian; and Lisa Swayne Proud.

“We were excited to have such a qualified group of candidates for board membership,” stated Steven Wilson, incoming chair of the board of directors. “Our center is so important to the community and having a solid board of directors is key to meeting the needs of our youth.”

Wilson added, “Developing youth leadership is a core focus of our agency. Youth board members serve a one year term and have full voting rights. For our agency to stay relevant to our clients, youth voice has to be held at the highest level in leadership of the organization.” info: timeoutyouth.org.

Trans group begun

CHARLOTTE — Sacred Souls Community Church, 2127 Eastway Dr., has started a transgender support group.

Dedicated to providing support to transgender community members, it also welcomes gender-variant individuals, as well as straight allies. The secular group meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. for one hour in the church’s lounge.

Organizer Bree Catlin shares that the environment provides a safe zone that is part support group and part social in nature.

The church was founded by Bishop Tonyia Rawls. It holds worship services on Sundays at 11 a.m. info: BCatlin@gmail.com.

— L.M.

Triad Foundation opens grant cycle

GREENSBORO — The Guilford Green Foundation has announced that its 2014 grant application season is now open to prospective grant seekers.

Instructions and forms are available online at bit.ly/1q4qk8C. Since it’s inception, the foundation has awarded over $750,000 in grants to area LGBT programs, projects and organizations. info: ggfnc.org. info@ggfnc.org.

— L.M.

Triangle Triangle YMCA employees to receive benefits

CHAPEL HILL — Employees at the forthcoming merged YMCA of the Triangle (YOTA) and Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA (CMCYMCA) will have access to employee and family health benefits regardless of sexual orientation, reports writer and former qnotes columnist Brett Webb-Mitchell.

Webb-Mitchell shares the news in a column on June 9 for Chapel Hill News, writing: “On June 3, at an open meeting discussing the upcoming merger of CHCYMCA

and YOTA, YOTA CEO Doug McMillan shared the good news that both LGBTQ eligible employees and their families will receive the same benefits non-LGBTQ employees and families currently receive. The winners in this new arrangement were not only the LGBTQ eligible employees and their families at CHCYMCA and YOTA’s other branches, but also an opportunity to embody one of the four cardinal virtues of YMCA: Respect for one and all.”

The issue of employee and family health benefits has been an ongoing concern since the two YMCAs began merger discussions in 2011 (“Protections top concern in merger,” July 9, 2011, goqnotes.com/11730).

— M.C.

Network launches safety net

RALEIGH — The Gay Christian Network (GCN) has announced that they have launched Sanctuary, a new ministry program to help create safe spaces in local congregations for LGBT Christians and those who care about them.

GCN said that this was created because pastors know they need to do something to support their LGBT congregants, but stay silent out of fear of dividing or losing their congregations.

The initiative is the brainchild of longtime GCN members James and Rebecca Farlow and others supporters who passionately work for bridge-building. It will operate as a ministry of GCN and will be based in California. The Farlows will serve as co-directors.

Contributions to the program are welcome.

In other news, GCN is searching for someone to work in their marketing and public relations department. Applicants should have strong writing, speaking, and organizational skills; strong knowledge of social media; and a knack for using just the right words at the right time for any given audience. More information is available online. info: gcn.org. sanctuaryforall.org.

— L.M.

Western Org staff search on

HICKORY — ALFA’s Executive Director Kevin Gwynn has tendered his resignation and the board of directors is in the process of identifying opportunities to fill new leadership position.

In process is a plan developed to address both fundraising and operational activities during the transition period.

The board has asked that the community have patience with ALFA as it continues to service its client base and provide HIV/AIDS services. info: alfainfo.org.

— L.M.

Party time for Pride

ASHEVILLE — Blue Ridge Pride will hold its White Party Soirée 2014 on June 27, 7 p.m., at the Renaissance Hotel, Top of the Plaza, 12th floor, 31 Woodfin St. Don upscale white attire and enjoy a champagne bar, wine and beer, plus hors d’ouevres. Attendees can also bid on both silent and live auctions.

Monies raised go to support Blue Ridge Pride and Supporting Loving Food Resources.

Tickets are $65, single/$120, couple. info/tickets: blueridgepride.com.

— L.M.

MCC has new home

HENDERSONVILLE — MCC Sacred Journey moved into a new location at 1st Congregational Church, 1735 5th Ave. W., in the Felix Building on May 31 and held its first worship service there on June 1.

For more information on services and other programs, visit the congregation’s website. info: mccsacretjourney.org.

— L.M.

Regional Carolinas high in HIV/AIDS rates

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Census Department and the Department of Commerce just released its top cities’ and metro areas’

news

rates of HIV and AIDS. The results show that a lion’s share of the ones who made the list were from the South. Of these cities, only six were not in the South.

The formula is rates per 100,000 per cumulative number of cases.

Tops in the Carolinas are: (6) Columbia, S.C., 23.5/3,949; (18) Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, N.C./S.C., 15.7/4,123; (20) Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., 14.4/2,423; and (21) RaleighCary, N.C., 14.3/2,632.

Rates are alarmingly high, despite preventative measures and public service announcements. And, in some cities, the rates “rival the most atrocious numbers in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the Atlanta Daily World reported.

— L.M. Have news or other information? Send your press releases and updates for inclusion in our News Notes: editor@goqnotes.com.

news notes: u.s./world.

AMA: No surgery for transgender people’s new birth certificates Questions over transgender students, sports and birth certificates recently raised in North Carolina

by Matt Comer :: editor@goqnotes.com CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA), the nation’s largest doctors association, adopted new policies at their national meeting on June 9, clarifying that transgender patients should not be forced to undergo sex reassignment surgery before obtaining new birth certificates.

Most states across the country require some sort of sex reassignment surgery before a new birth certificate reflecting a transgender individual’s new gender is issued.

In a report, the AMA said patients should be able to obtain identification documents consistent with their gender identity, rather than their birth anatomy. Such processes “are essential to basic social and economic functioning,” the Associated Press reported.

“The AMA’s support for eliminating surgery requirements to update their birth certificate will send a strong message to states that lag behind on these policies,” Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said in written statement reported by The AP. “Currently only five states and the District of Columbia have modernized their policies to make it clear that surgery is not required to update a birth certificate.”

Keisling added, “Transgender people

should not be required to have any specific, costly medical treatments in order to carry the accurate and consistent ID we all need to function every day in the United States.”

Questions over gender identity and birth certificates were highlighted recently in North Carolina, where the statewide high school athletic association adopted new rules saying students could only play on gender-segregated sports matching their birth certificates.

Advocates with the National Center for Transgender Equality and National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Sports Project called the new North Carolina High School Athletic Association rules troubling — especially considering the overwhelming international medical standards which prohibit sex reassignment surgeries for minors.

— Read more on the new transgender athletics rule at goqnotes.com/29224/.

QUICK HITS —————————————————————————————— A London man may never see again following an anti-gay attack outside a London club on The new president of the Southern Baptist June 8. London police are looking for one man Convention says the denomination won’t and two women in connection with a chemirelax its position on same-sex marriage and cal attack on three men in the Vauxhall area, transgender identity, even as courts across the London’s gay district, early on June 8. country are striking down gay marriage bans more: bit.ly/1l9NwfV in record numbers and the convention tries to bolster its membership.

The New York State Assembly on June more: bit.ly/1qvBwe5 10 again approved the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), a bill to The U.N. General Assembly has elected prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender Uganda’s Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa to be identity and expression. It is the seventh time its next president amid controversy over his the measure has passed in the Assembly, but country’s anti-gay laws and allegations that he has never come to a vote on the floor of the abused his office and accepted bribes from State Senate. foreign companies. more: bit.ly/1hJF3Fx more: bit.ly/1ioSgOV

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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Charlotte Black Gay Pride returns in July Events to be held July 17-20 The Queen City’s annual celebration of the LGBT African-American community returns in July with the group’s traditional community expo and town hall, as well as other exciting events. Check out a list of events below and mark your calendars.

For more information about these events and more, visit charlotteblackgaypride.org.

July 17 Town Hall LGBT Community Center of Charlotte, 2508 N. Davidson St., Charlotte Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the town hall running from 7-9 p.m. Black Pride’s annual town hall offers the community an opportunity to discuss important and critical issues facing the community today.

This year’s town hall discussion is “The -isms,” addressing racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, genderism and more. A mix and mingle will follow from 9-10 p.m. Open bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres.

July 18 Meet and Greet Charlotte Crowne Plaza, 5700 Westpark Dr., Charlotte, 7 p.m.

Sponsored by the Center for Black Equity, come get to know Charlotte Black Gay Pride organizers and other community leaders and members.

July 19 Pride Expo Charlotte Crowne Plaza, 5700 Westpark Dr., Charlotte, Noon-6 p.m.

Charlotte Black Gay Pride’s annual community expo, with vendors, entertainment including the annual drag show, workshops, door prizes and a kids zone.

July 20 Mardi Gras Jazz Brunch Celebs Restaurant, 445 W. Trade St., Charlotte, 1-4 p.m.

A Mardi Gras-inspired jazz brunch to close out the weekend of activities and fun.

— Matt Comer

Free HIV testing on National HIV Testing Day In recognition of National HIV Testing Day, Catawba Care (CC) will be hosting a free event from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday, June 27 at 500 Lakeshore Pky. in Rock Hill, S.C. The organization will be offering free HIV, gonorrhea and chlamydia testing to anyone. Those who are tested will receive a free gift and the group plans on also having free food, drinks and educational games.

The community event will commemorate National HIV Testing Day, a national mobilization effort designed to encourage everyone to take the test, take control and get tested for HIV. This national awareness day was developed because of the growing number of new HIV infections in rural communities, communities of color and other groups.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV — and nearly one in six of those are not aware that they are infected. Each year over 50,000 people continue to become infected with HIV. Catawba Care is a United Way funded, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote optimal health by providing medical care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS and by educating the community to prevent the spread of HIV. For more information about Catawba Care, visit catawbacare.org or call 803-909-6363 (ext 234).

Free testing will also be available on June 27 from Carolinas CARE Partnership. Walk-in testing is available that day from noon-5 p.m., with no appointment needed, at Carolians CARE Partnership’s office at 7510 East Independence Blvd., Suite 105. For more information, call Antwine at 704-531-2467.

In Asheville, free testing will be available courtesy of WNCAP at the Deaverview Apartments, 275 Deaverview Rd. For questions, call Cameron at 828-252-7489, ext. 321.

Golf tourney benefits ALFA The Second Annual Red Ribbon Classic Golf Tournament will be held on June 27, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Rock Barn Golf & Spa, 3791 Club House Dr. NE in Conover. The event raises awareness and funds benefiting ALFA’s mission to improve the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS in the Hickory and Catawba Valley areas.

Single players can enter the tournament for $60, with teams of four entering at $240. A hole sponsorship is $200 and includes two golf tickets, signage at your assigned hole, recognition at the awards luncheon and a sponsor recognition plaque.

For more information on the event and to register, visit redribbonclassic.com.

Holly Haven rededicated AIDS Care Service of Winston-Salem will hold a rededication of Holly Haven, a family care home for those suffering from advanced HIV disease, on June 25, 5-8 p.m., at 127 Poplar St. S. The group will also celebrate Holly Haven’s 15th anniversary. For more information or to RSVP, call 336-777-0116 or email rmeder@aidscareservice.org.

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June 20-July 3 . 2014

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life

LGBT elders: The facts Hard numbers show discrimination, disparities As a growing number of LGBT people age, they will enter retirement homes, assisted living facilities, other long-term care facilities, as they, their families, friends and other community members face a range of new issues largely unaddressed. Some organizations — Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE) and even

22% The percentage of LGBT older adults who feel they can be open about their sexual orientation or gender identity with the staff of a nursing home, assisted living facility or other long-term care facility.

Within the next two weeks I will be going into assisted living. Due to my financial situation, I will have to share a room with another man. The thought of going back into a closet is making me ill. Frankly, I’m afraid of telling anyone that I’m gay.

— Anonymous, 73 years old, Sylmar, CA

the AARP — are picking up the mantle and advocating for necessary changes. In 2011, SAGE joined with several other organizations in a landmark report, “LGBT Older Adults in LongTerm Care Facilities: Stories from the Field.” Some select statistics and other information from that report below.

43% 23% The percentage of LGBT older adults, caregivers, family members and staffers reporting instances of mistreatment because of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

The percentage of those reporting mistreatment in the form of verbal or physical harassment from other residents, the most common form of reported mistreatment.

A gay couple moved into my mother’s facility. The residents kept talking about: “Which one is the man and which one is the woman?” They moved out in a couple of months.”

—Frances C., Pima, AZ

1.5 million At least this many or more adults 65+ identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual

46% 72%

80%

The percentages of “Area Agencies on Aging” staffers who predict that “LGBT people would not be welcome at our senior centers” and the percentage of elder LGBT adults reporting worry about using such services due to lack of trust.

The percentage of U.S. long-term care provided by family members, though LGBT elders are twice as likely to be single and threefour times as likely to be without children when compared to their heterosexual peers

— From “LGBT Older Adults: Facts at a Glance” by the Movement Advancement Project, SAGE and Center for American Progress, September 2010.

— Information compiled from “LGBT Older Adults in Long-Term Care Facilities: Stories from the Field” co-authored by the National Senior Citizens Law Center, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, SAGE, Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights and National Center for Transgender Equality, with the support of the National Council on Aging, AARP, Family Caregiver Alliance and Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, funded by the Arcus Foundation. See the full report at lgbtagingcenter.org/resources/resource.cfm?r=54.

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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The Greatest Gayest Generation Three longtime leaders share stories of the past, thoughts on community today

by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com

Tom Brokaw forever enshrined the World War II-era generation as the “Greatest” of them all. They sacrificed much during a worldwide outbreak of violence and the uncertainty caused by the Great Depression.

But, like Brokaw’s Greatest Generation, our LGBT community has its own. For the first time in history, our community is seeing a full generation of proudly out men and women aging gracefully into their older years and retirement. Our own “Greatest Gayest Generation” witnessed the uprising at Stonewall and countless other similar “firsts” in the mid-20th century and they made history in early liberationist organizing of the 1970s, while shepherding the community through its darkest challenges during the 1980s AIDS Crisis.

Three leaders shared their journeys, memories and thoughts with us — about what it was like as gay people in the 1970s and beyond. One, 81-year-old Ed DePasquale, remembers life as a closeted, heterosexually-married gay man in the 1950s.

Together, their reflections provide a peek into our history — one they say should not be forgotten today or in generations to come.

‘It wasn’t easy’ Ed DePasquale, 81

At 81, Ed DePasquale has spent the past 57 years living in Charlotte. At 37, he separated from his wife, with the divorce final when he was 41 in 1973. Afterwards, DePasquale would become involved in several leadership roles in the local LGBT community — most notably as a board member of Metrolina AIDS Project and a co-founder of Carolina Celebration, a former fundraiser which provided support directly to gay clients served by the AIDS service organization.

Today, DePasquale is as active as ever — meeting friends from church for occasional lunches and meeting once a month with Prime Timers, an organization which welcomes men of all ages.

“When you get old, you have to draw straws and see people,” he remarks.

He’s in great health, too. One could be forgiven for thinking DePasquale’s in his 70s.

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“I wish,” he’ll reply jokingly.

In the 1950s, DePasquale served as a staff sergeant and military police officer in the U.S. Air Force. It was during the Korean Conflict, though he stayed assigned here at home at Barksdale Air Force Base in Shreveport, La. He married young. DePasquale had known his wife since he was 15 and married shortly after joining the service and says he realized he was gay when he was 23. Nonetheless, he remained married. With their oldest daughter, he and his wife moved from their native Albany, N.Y., to Charlotte, where their youngest daughter was born.

As he navigated a married life as a closeted man, DePasquale says he would occasionally meet other men — always quietly, always secretly.

“It wasn’t easy, buddy,” he says.

The rise in acceptance of LGBT people is among the community’s greatest achievements, DePasquale says, remembering the fear and isolation that plagued his gay male peers, in particular.

“The things we did years ago just to meet another person was ridiculous, but we did it,” he recounts. “Some of us got busted. Some of us went to jail. It was just one of those things where you had to be careful when you went out messing around, because you never knew who was a cop. By the grace of God, I got away with it all those years. I never got busted.”

Those who did get busted faced serious personal and professional repercussions — criminal charges and the loss of family and their jobs. When men were arrested, they tried desperately to keep it under wraps.

“They called their best friend they could find that they knew would back them up and help them get out of jail and did everything they could to cover up the situation,” DePasquale says. “In

June 20-July 3 . 2014

some cases, they weren’t able to and they had to fess up to their families and their bosses what they really were, that they were gay.”

He adds, “Gay Pride wasn’t even something we heard of back in those days. No one was proud they were gay. They were scared to death somebody’s going to find out, that they’d lose their jobs and families.”

In the decades since, DePasquale says he’s grateful society has grown in its affirmation of gay people.

“In the past, people wouldn’t even talk to someone if they knew you were gay,” he says.

“That’s the best thing about today — the ability for younger people to socialize and get together with other people. It’s not a case of ‘What street corner am I going to work this week?’

Back in the old days, people used to pick up tricks on the streets, off of 36th St. and The Plaza. Today, it is more about private groups of people getting together just as friends and sex doesn’t have to be involved. You just accept each other as gay men and go on with it.”

But, even with growing acceptance, DePasquale remains passionate on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. In the 1980s, he felt a calling to get involved in battling the disease at the height of the AIDS Crisis. Medicines and

other treatments, increased awareness and prevention have made strides in reducing the once fatal disease to a manageable, chronic condition, but DePasquale says more should be done.

“It’s a major problem we refuse to accept,” he says. “There’s still a situation today where young men today are taking the attitude, ‘Oh to heck with it. If I get AIDS, I can take a pill,’ which is dead-ass wrong. Instead of AIDS being on the downstroke, it’s on the upstroke now.”

In addition to his work with Metrolina AIDS Project and Carolina Celebration, DePasquale also volunteered as a leader of Acceptance, a more inclusive outgrowth of an earlier 1977 chapter of Dignity, a gay Catholic organization.

DePasquale and his peers put in decades of work — through groups like Dignity, Acceptance and Metrolina AIDS Project — to build the growing affirmation LGBT people experience today. Of all the progress — on marriage, on anti-discrimination laws — DePasquale is adamant that social acceptance is the community’s single-largest achievement.

“We have more acceptance now than we’ve ever had,” he says. “The difference now compared to years ago is just unbelievable.” : :

A place for friends

a local counseling and support group, PERSAD, or Personal Sexuality Adjustments.

“It was started by two men who were therapists,” she explains. “They did it to help people — back in the early ’70s — help them deal with sexuality and come out. It was kind of like a counseling center and pseudo-community center.”

It was there where Lawyer got involved in “PERSAD Friends,” an informal social networking group for women. She and other leaders of the group would meet up with lesbians just coming out, take them to the local women’s bar and introduce them to others in the community.

When she moved to Charlotte, Lawyer looked for similar ways to get involved. She found the Gay & Lesbian Switchboard and immediately jumped in, along with involvement in Queen City Quordinators. At the switchboard, she helped take calls and direct people to resources.

“It was huge. There was no place to go to get information,” she says. “You had the switchboard and you’d have the Damron guides and other gay guides, but those things were sometimes so far out of date. There was also [leader Don King’s] Friends of Dorothy Bookstore, but the switchboard was huge.”

For a while, the switchboard operated at Park Road Baptist Church, where volunteers had access to couch, a phone and a filing

Linda Lawyer, 66

A native of Pittsburgh, Linda Lawyer, 66, made her way to Charlotte in 1982, where she worked in information technology for Duke Energy until her retirement last year.

In Pittsburgh, Lawyer had been involved in

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life

cabinet, Lawyer says. At the time, the resource book was all typewritten. Lawyer says she helped modernize it, for the period anyway.

“It was hard to keep updated because it was all type-written,” she recounts, noting that a single correction would require retyping an entire page. “I took that book to Duke Power and converted it to VesiCalc, a forerunner of Excel. I took the whole book, typed it in the various fields and printed out one page at a time. It made it easier to update it.”

It was at the switchboard where Lawyer got the inkling to begin doing more outreach for women in particular.

“As I got more involved, more women were calling the switchboard,” she recounts, saying women wanted places to meet other women outside of the bars. “I had a friend and I starting bouncing ideas off of her.”

Lawyer turned to her old Pittsburgh involvements for inspiration, too. In 1986, Queen City Friends (QCF) was established. Less than a dozen attended their first dinner meeting, held twice each month. Eventually the biweekly group grew to 30-40 regular attendees and settled in at Godfather’s Pizza at Park Road Shopping Center.

“They asked us what we were. [I told the restaurant managers] we’re a professional

women’s group,” she says. “This was 1986 or 1987. We couldn’t very well say what we were.”

To spread the word, Lawyer and other QCF organizers distributed information through the switchboard and in qnotes.

“This was before internet and email,” she says with a laugh.

In 1987, Lawyer joined the board of the newly-established Metrolina Community Service Project, founded by longtime leader John Quillin. The project took the switchboard under its wings, protecting volunteers and staffers.

“A volunteer on the switchboard was talking to a guy coming out who happened to be married,” Lawyer says. “His wife found out about it and called and threatened to sue the volunteer for alienation of affection. John got scared and said, ‘You know, any of us could get sued and we could lose everything.”

The project was formed to protect them, and QCF, too, was brought under its umbrella.

“He had good foresight, because it probably kept us out of a lot of trouble,” Lawyer says.

Despite her multiple community involvements — later singing with One Voice Chorus — Lawyer remained closeted at work. She says she lived a “double life.”

“It was hard,” she says. “You couldn’t tell people anything you did on the weekend. You couldn’t talk about any of your friends.”

Co-workers, she says, might have gotten “one-dimensional” views of their closeted gay colleagues.

“Oh boy, this person is not very interesting,” Lawyer mimes what some might have thought.

“She doesn’t do very much. She doesn’t have much of a life.”

But, Lawyer adds, “That wasn’t the case at all. We were just hiding.”

Only the last 14 years of her 31 years with Duke Energy were spent living honestly and openly.

“They were extremely conservative,” she says. “Because they were a public utility, they tended to be more conservative than, say, a bank.”

Her involvement in One Voice Chorus — where many members had long listed only their first names or initials in concert programs — gave Lawyer the impetus to come out. Working on marketing efforts for a memorial and remembrance concert in 1997, she interviewed with The Charlotte Observer.

A few days later, her name appeared in print, alongside the word “lesbian.”

“One Voice Chorus gave me the courage to come out,” Lawyer says. “I knew when I joined in 1992 that One Voice would be what would cause me to come out publicly.”

Today, Lawyer remains involved in the community, serving on the board of advisors for the Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund.

She says it’s important for people to know community history and where we’ve come from, but she’s proud of all the progress the community has made.

But young people, she thinks, haven’t had the same struggles.

“One thing they don’t have is the fight that we had,” she says. “It pulled us together as a community. We became closer because of what we faced. It was kinda like us versus them. I don’t know if younger people have that as much or if they have the same sense of community.”

Perhaps they dynamic for younger generations is simply different, Lawyer muses, with increased opportunities and support with groups like Time Out Youth and PRISM, along with public events like Pride.

“I think it’s so much easier to be gay now,” she says. “There’s a lot more organizations out there.” : :

A chronicler’s legacy

ily political at the point. My eyes were wide open and I was just soaking everything up.”

Luckily for North Carolina, Baxter found college life in D.C. “miserable,” he says. He transferred to Guilford College in Greensboro for his sophomore year of college.

“That meant going back into the closet, I was pretty sure,” he says. “The after-effects of Stonewall had not exactly hit North Carolina in 1972 or 1973.”

As a student in Greensboro, Baxter saw the state’s first gay newspaper, the Charlotte Free Press, come alive. They worked hard, he says, but the state hadn’t really yet had an explosion of community organizing.

“I’d come home to D.C. and meet people and go to Lambda Rising,” he says of the nowclosed, iconic D.C. bookstore. “I’d get all excited about being out of the closet, with gay Pride and then go back to North Carolina and shove it all in the closet, literally and figuratively.”

By his senior year at Guilford, Baxter was fed up and ready to come out. Instead of having one-on-one conversations over and over again, Baxter planned to come out loud and proud. He contacted the local alternative underground newspaper, the Greensboro Sun and pitched them a column as a gay writer on gay issues.

“In August of 1974 I wrote my first column,” he says. “The issue came out just as school was starting up at Guilford. I took a big stack of newspapers and shoved them under the door of everyone I knew. I was done. No drama. No tears. Just done.”

With his column and newly-public status

as an out gay man — having started one of the area’s earliest gay activists groups, the Guilford Gay Alliance — Baxter would later take on the reins of what would become a lifelong career of journalism serving North Carolina’s LGBT community.

By 1977, Baxter had taken a job at an advertising firm based in Raleigh. In 1979, he and the owner, after conversations about the direction of the state’s community and the folding of Charlotte Free Press, teamed up to create The Front Page, the state’s longestrunning newspaper until its merger with qnotes in 2006. The problem with LGBT organizing in North Carolina, the two mused, was the state’s lack of a central, powerful metro area. Other states — New York, Georgia, Illinois — each had large metro areas serving as central bases for organizing. A statewide gay newspaper could bridge North Carolina’s disparate and growing metro cities.

The agency’s owner loaned Baxter a couple thousand dollars to get the fledgling community newspaper company off the ground and gave him access to the agency’s typesetting and production equipment.

“We’re talking about the dark ages here,” he recounts. “To do photos and typesetting, you needed a machine that cost $75,000, which was completely out of the reach of what I was going to be doing and the money the paper could bring in.”

Baxter says there still wasn’t a lot of LGBT community organizing in the state, even after the Free Press’ four-year run. The Front Page,

he thought, could help bridge the gaps, provide information and be a catalyst for change.

But, it wasn’t until 1981 that Baxter began to see a major turning point for the state. That year, some gay and lesbian folks planned a Pride march in Durham. It was never intended to be a statewide event, but that’s exactly what it became — and still is today.

“The big surprise was that people came from all over the state,” Baxter says. “No one planned that. Suddenly, there was people from Asheville, from Charlotte, from Greensboro, from everywhere. It became a much bigger event.”

The state turned the corner at that point, Baxter says, with organizing picking up steam.

In Charlotte, community members began the non-profit Queen City Quordinators. It’s newsletter — “Q-Notes” — was founded in 1983 and would later morph into the newspaper published today since 1986.

Baxter remained publisher of The Front Page until its merger with qnotes in 2006.

Afterward, Baxter returned to school, where he received a master’s degree from Syracuse University. Today, he’s wrapping up his Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. Still devoted to journalism and media, his dissertation will focus on media in transition, using the early days of television and its status as a disruptive technology as a case study. : :

Jim Baxter, 60

In 1971, Jim Baxter was a college freshman in Washington, D.C. Two years after Stonewall, Baxter witnessed some of the first organizing of early post-Stonewall liberationist activist groups, even attending meetings of the Gay Activists Alliance.

“It was mostly their social events,” Baxter, now 60, recounts. “I was 18 and not necessar-

more: Read a special online-only feature exploring local LGBT aging issues and solutions at goqnotes.com.

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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life

SPORTS

Playing the Field Match-ups from across the Carolinas: Summer leagues sizzle

by Jon Hoppel :: qnotes contributor Welcome back to your monthly LGBT sports digest. Summer is here, even though it seemed to take its time arriving, and with it brings a whole slew of tournaments, events, and activities that could be fun for you and yours.

Dragon boat On May 17th, the One World Dragon Boat team from Charlotte competed in the Asian festival’s annual Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival Races on Lake Norman at Ramsey Creek.

The team was able to capture the bronze medal in their division.

Last year they won Silver, however they improved their time this year by almost five seconds.

One World Dragon Boat took home a silver medal during the Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival Races on May 17 at Lake Norman’s Photo Credit: John Chen Ramsey Creek.

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June 20-July 3 . 2014

Next, the team competed in the 7th Annual Lure of Dragon Race and Festival held on Lake Lure in Rutherford County. It took place on June 14th. At the end of the day, the One World Dragon Boat team walked away with Gold in the Mixed Open Division.

The team encourages any and all to come out to see what the world of Dragon Boat racing is all about by attending a race or other events where the sport is featured.

Also, the team is looking for sponsors to help fund their plan to buy their very own dragon boat. Donations, big and small, are welcome! To find out how to help, visit oneworlddragonboat.org.

Softball On Memorial Day weekend, Atlanta hosted their annual Big Peach Softball tournament. This event saw 50 teams come from all over the United States to compete in one of the largest softball tournaments in the Southeast. Unlike the previous month’s Southern Shootout in Birmingham, Ala., this tournament was extremely well-run and organized, with much better fields to play on.

In the C Division, the home town Atlanta Sharks took home the championship over the Boston X-Factors, with the Dallas Woody’s Wrecking Crew coming in third place. For the D Division, the Tampa Osos barely edged out the Knoxville Cyclones for the title, with the Ft. Lauderdale Village Pub Underdogs taking home third place.

The next big softball tournament in our region is the MNSA Classic being held in Nashville, Tenn., July 5th and 6th. Following that, Knoxville, Tenn., will hold their own tournament called the K-Town Klassic August 2nd and 3rd. For registration information and other details, check out their websites: mnsasoftball.com/ and sites.google.com/site/ktownklassic/home, respectively.

The Gastonia G*Force battle against the Marietta Derby Darlins during a bout on June 8.

Photo Credit: Derby Retina

Roller Derby The ladies of the Gastonia G*Force scored a big win June 8th when they hosted the Marietta Derby Darlins. The team was dominant throughout, holding a 33-91 point lead at half time. They continued to hold the gas pedal down and routed the team from Georgia 166-107.

That same weekend the Charlotte Roller Girls went to Charlottesville, Va., to take on the Derby Dames. The bout was much closer than Gastonia, but in the end, the Charlotte team was able to edge Charlottesville 157-150. This puts them at 6-2 on the season with bouts against Crime City and Long Island in the East Coast Derby Extravaganza June 21st and 22nd in Philadelphia.

For more information about squads, check out Carolinabased teams’ Facebook pages at facebook.com/gforcederby and facebook.com/pages/Charlotte-Roller-Girls/137193442969676.

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a&e

tell trinity

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

Being young, being loved, being gay and getting dumped Dearest Trinity, I’ve always been promiscuous, but now I have a boyfriend whom I love. However, I’m having a much harder time with monogamy than I thought. I’m only 23 and it’s only been three months. What can I do?

Endless Appetite, Detroit, MI Dearest Endless Appetite, Needing sex outside a relationship comes from three things: feelings of being too tied down, feelings of not being in the right relationship or feelings of just not being the type to be mo-mo-monogamous (it’s a hard word even for me)! So, for now, allow yourself to quietly look at others, while making more “play dates” with your boyfriend. If after two-months time you still need “more,” then you’ll have to do one of three things: a) get permission to play around, b) accept that this relationship may not be what you need or c) end this relationship and go “play” until you truly want monogamy.

Honey, learning about yourself while learning responsibility and balancing both is what life’s all about!

Dear Trinity, I’ve been told my whole life that the church hates me for being gay. Does God really hate me?

Not So Chosen, Charleston, SC Dear Not So…, On the contrary! After years of theology training, I can truly say that not every church speaks clearly or honestly on the unconditional love God had in mind. Not only is being gay God’s will and gift, but, pumpkin, it’s also His/Her way of making the world a perfect place! (See what I’m talking about when you gain insight after looking at my cartoon.)

Hello Trinity, I’m young and interested in how gay men ended up looking like we do today? Can I have a short gay history lesson?

Gay His-Story 101, Sacramento, CA

Hello Gay His-Story 101, Forty-five years ago, when Judy Garland died and a drag queen at the Stonewall Bar, NYC said, “Get off my back!”, the perfect gay man was skinny, mustached, wore bell-bottoms and had long hair. Thirty-two plus years ago the AIDS virus emerged and gay men started hitting the gym, using hair gel and pushed their way into tighter jeans, cowboy boots and tank tops. Ten year later, gay men began embracing long-term relationships (hey, someone had to pay the condo fees) and at that time they cut their hair short, took to looser fitting jeans and three-piece suits.

Today, darling, if you can get a gay man off the chat rooms and pull the steroid needle out of his butt, you’ll find him commonly wearing almost anything depending on the type of “bear,” “twinkie” or “muscle” (gay) bar he frequents. His hair is back to being long or shaved and he’s wearing tighter jeans again just like he did 30 years earlier. That’s fashion!

Dear Trinity, My lover of three years recently broke up with me. I thought I was doing well, but after four months I’m still fighting depression! Help?

Trying To Move On, Kansas City, MO Dear Trying to Move On, Splash some water on your face and start practicing: Trinity’s Sobering Tips For After You’ve Been Dumped 1. Hunt him down and make him suffer eternally. Just kidding!

2. Get support from a close friend, talk show host or a professional counselor.

3. Start dating ASAP! Sweetie, get back on that horse now!

4. Exercise, diet, sleep and eating dark chocolate are the four rules for beating desperation, I mean depression.

5. Stop playing our favorite song, visiting our favorite restaurant or playing the messages just to hear his voice.

6. Keep busy with projects, work or social activities. Time heals!

7. S talking, revenge, punishment or meaningless lawsuits only make things wonderful, I mean worse!

8. Y ou choose many of your thoughts.

Choose not to think about it!

9. T ake a fabulous vacation, have an expensive makeover, be naughty and have fun!

10. L astly, remember some people are born selfish, sour, sex-hungry animals. Surprise! 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.

hey! what’s happening?

We want your news and event notices today. Be sure to send them to editor@goqnotes.com. Thank you!

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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life

Games without frontiers With the recent news of the NFL drafting its first openly gay player, we look at Charlotte’s LGBT-friendly sports leagues

by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com

O

n May 17, a couple shared a kiss, and boy, was it an emotional one. There was crying and hugging — even some cake.

Yes, the couple had cake to celebrate their momentous occasion!

There wasn’t a wedding, though you’d be forgiven for thinking it was. But it was a celebration of a union.

When Michael Sam learned over the phone that he had been drafted by the St. Louis Rams, ESPN cameras rolled as he leaned into his college boyfriend and kissed him. As the first openly gay man to be drafted by a professional American football league, Sam’s pick is historic.

Some praised Sam for his achievement.

Some didn’t. “’My brothers are 7 and 11 and saw that!!!” tweeted former Ole Miss basketball player Marshall Henderson of the kiss.

After receiving some backlash, Henderson responded. “I’m sorry, but I DO NOT AGREE WHATSOEVER that should be shown to where innocent eyes can see!!!”

Others weren’t as eloquent. “Horrible” and “OMG” tweeted Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones.

While folks like Jones and Henderson shuddered in disgust, other professional athletes played it cool long before Sam was even drafted.

Weeks before the draft started, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said their teams would accept Sam should he end up in Charlotte or California.

“His job is a linebacker,” Newton said of Sam in the February interview. “The main focus is, we’re football players. We’re here in this organization for one reason and one reason only.

And if you’re able to help us attain that winning success, your personal life is your personal life.”

“I think when he steps into that locker room everyone’s going to know that he’s there to help us win games,” Kaepernick said. “And that’s why you’re in the NFL — to help us win games.

No one cares if you’re black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Jewish, whatever it may be.

When you step on that field you’re a member of, in my case the 49ers, or the Carolina Panthers, that’s your job. That’s your occupation.”

That sense of acceptance, exhibited by professional players like Newton and Kaepernick, is new — and growing. But local gay sports teams have been changing attitudes since the day they formed.

BJ Smith, 34, is president of the Charlotte Royals Rugby Football team, one of several gay sports teams that are on the rise locally.

“You have this team that is mostly gay men,” he says. “You have them coming out and

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Photo Credit: www.James Dockery.com

being competitive and being a strong force.

Especially with rugby. Even people who play sports say you have to be crazy to play rugby.

It’s awesome that we are doing as well as we are these last couple seasons.”

Being a gay athlete in such a rough-andtumble sport as rugby has its advantages.

“They think they can just run all over us,” Smith says of straight competitors. “It’s a much better feeling when we can walk away either triumphantly beating them or making them have a hard game, and they walk away realizing they just played rugby with a gay team.”

Smith says Sam’s now-legendary kiss — and, more importantly, his impending professional play — will break down even more stereotypes and usher in more acceptance for LGBT athletes.

“People have this idea that we’re not masculine or we don’t fit into the typical stereotypes or conventions of being athletic,” he says.

Over the past several years, campaigns for LGBT inclusion have made their way to a variety of sports arenas. College athletes, including football and basketball players at Chapel Hill, Duke University and other schools, have filmed videos for the national “You Can Play” project.

So, too, have Charlotte’s and Raleigh’s National Hockey League teams.

It’s all in an effort to create more affirming spaces for athletes of all varieties — something local LGBT sports teams have been doing in Charlotte for years.

June 20-July 3 . 2014

Along with the Royals, the Charlotte region is home to gay softball teams, bowling league, tennis matches, dragon boat racing and volleyball teams.

For those who play, the affirming teams offer opportunities to connect with like-minded LGBT people and straight allies and provide space for life-long athletes to simply do what they love.

Jon Hoppel, who writes a local sports column for qnotes, has been interested in sports since he was 3, when he started playing soccer. He was a letterman all four years of high school and played in college for a year.

Since 2006, Hoppel, 35, has played with the Carolina Softball Alliance, a local LGBTaffirming softball league with several teams, and he is a veteran player with the Royals.

“I’m a very competitive person,” Hoppel says. “This gives me an outlet to do that and sports are a great way to meet people and the bond that you have doing something physical with one goal — winning a game or tournament or championship — that’s a very strong bond you make with people.”

Rosemary Gardner, 32, has played with the Charlotte Roller Girls, a local women’s flat-track roller derby league, since 2007. Like Hoppel, she’s enjoyed a life-long involvement in sports, playing soccer as a kid and running through college. She says athletics offers an outlet to relieve stress and be involved.

“It wasn’t until I found roller derby that I had that same fulfilling team sport and activity,” says Gardner, whose Roller Girls nickname is

“Rosie Cheeks.” “I really missed being part of a team and I missed the physical fitness.”

The Charlotte Roller Girls also offers Gardner an affirming environment. Gardner, who identifies as a lesbian, was out to some friends before joining the Girls in 2007. She says the team has allowed her to compete without worry of rejection.

“A lot of times, people wonder why Roller Girls are so accepting, why does it seem so many people from the LGBT community are involved in it,” she says. “I don’t even know that there are a larger percentage from the LGBT community in roller derby. I just think that no one cares what your orientation is, so it’s open and it’s easy to just be who you are without any pretense.”

Gardner also thinks the sports world has made strides in inclusion. She points to increasing visibility from pro athletes like Michael Sam. “It’s exciting to see so much awareness in pro-level sports,” she says. “I think for the wider society to start being more accepting, we have to have those people in pro sports, high-profile people coming out.”

As the NFL takes a big stride, other pro sports leagues are also taking notice. The NBA welcomed its first openly gay player, Jason Collins, last year. The WNBA recently announced a new marketing campaign to reach out to LGBT fans. It’s the first pro league to actively recruit gay and lesbian fans, with each team in the league committing to some sort of outreach initiative, including attendance at LGBT Pride festivals and parades.

The pro teams might be playing catch up, though. Gardner says non-traditional sports like roller derby have always been open.

“From its very beginning, because so many people already broke the mold of what a traditional female athlete might look like, act like, be like, it laid a really solid groundwork for the organization — not just in Charlotte, but worldwide,” she says. “It’s so much more open and accepting of the LGBTQ spectrum.”

Zach Anderson became involved with local LGBT sports teams after accepting a challenge.

The 24-year-old had competed as a high school athlete on soccer and football teams. When he moved to Charlotte, his roommate ribbed him about his strength.

“One of my roommates was on the rugby team for a long time,” Anderson says. “I had never heard of it. He told me, ‘You probably wouldn’t be cut out for it. It’s a rough sport. I don’t think you’d last.’”

Anderson asked him when practice was and showed up.

“I love being on the field,” he says. “You

see LGBT-friendly on 18

Meet the Staff of Rosedale ID Making a Difference in Healthcare!

8 years prior to joining us at Rosedale. She has an adorable Maltese named Nicco. She loves oldies music and musicals. Her life motto is, “Just because we have to grow old, doesn’t mean that we have to grow up.”

HIPAA Compliance So what is HIPAA? HIPAA is the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs.

We are excited to bring you the most up to date information and share our experiences with you through our“Meet the Staff” columns in QNotes in addition to our already popular “Ask Dr. C” column.

Featured Team Member: Leigh Bedard, Medical Records Management Leigh Bedard manages medical records at Rosedale Infectious Diseases. She also works as a research assistant to our clinical research trials. She is an avid reader and has a passion for teaching. She ran a learning center for children for

At Rosedale, the protection and safety of our patients’ personal and medical information is of the upmost importance. We treat and protect your identity and information as if it was our own.

This information is never given out without written permission from the patient. At Rosedale, you complete a HIPAA form at the front desk that lets us know you can receive your medical information.

Only those people listed will be able to call in and receive information. It’s important to note that no one has to be listed on that form. It is your medical information and you don’t have to share it. In addition, we have a release of information form for you to sign if you would like your medical information sent to a case manager or other provider. Signatures and dates on all of these documents are always verified to ensure patient safety.

Leigh is here to help you manage your medical health information. She will do all that she can to obtain medical information

for you as a service to you for being one of our patients. You can always reach out to her by calling our office at 704-948-8582, sending her an email to lbedard@rosedaleid.com, sending her a fax to 704-948-8572, or even come by the office to speak to her in person. She works diligently to send patient medical records within 24 hours of request for transfer, referral, or consult. In addition she can assist you with paperwork, including, but not limited to, FMLA forms, SSA forms, and NC DDS forms. She is very knowledgeable and will assist you with such documents within Rosedale’s required time frame. She also works hard to make sure that case managers receive updated medical records on a regular basis to best manage your healthcare.

By abiding by HIPAA guidelines, we are able to protect your health information and maintain a comfortable and confidential environment for you to access your infectious disease healthcare needs. Your medical records are kept safe under lock and key in our medical records department. Your privacy and quality healthcare is our goal.

Call us today to become a new patient and have the opportunity to become part of the Rosedale family!

Don’t forget to visit our website at www.rosedaleid.com, friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for community and clinical updates!

— Sponsored Content —

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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LGBT-friendly sports leagues continued from page 16 can’t buy that experience. You just have to be a part of it and know what it feels like to have all 15 people on your team. They are there for the same reasons you are. [Those are] your brothers on the field. They are there to shed blood, sweat, tears, everything — all in the name of getting a victory.”

Being “part of the team” is important for LGBT folks, who regularly experience being left out. It’s one of many reasons Anderson, Smith and Hoppel say they enjoy their primarily LGBT teams.

“There have always been gay athletes; they’ve just not been able to be open about it,” Anderson says, noting that the need for athletes to come out still exists.

Ron Tessner, commissioner for the Carolina Softball Alliance, says plenty of gay players are still closeted, but some decide to begin their coming-out journey in sports, a familiar world.

“It gives everyone the opportunity to be themselves and have fun and make friends while doing so,” Tessner says. “It’s an open-door policy.”

Smith has witnessed firsthand the power of affirming athleticism. He’s seen people use the teams to network, come out and grow.

“One of the guys, he identified as straight when I first met him and he was very introverted,” Smith says, noting how the team experience produced camaraderie and led to the player coming out. “Now he has grown in being confident. It’s quite awesome to see people go through those stages and being part of that. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of somebody’s growth and development in a positive way?”

LGBT-affirming teams not only provide space for LGBT people. Straight allies are welcome, too,

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June 20-July 3 . 2014

and many of the teams face off against primarily straight teams in primarily straight leagues.

Tessner recently started a small volleyball team with a group of friends in Gastonia. There, he and his team members are the only openly gay team in the league. When they go up against a team, their stereotype-breaking game play will be front and center for straight competitors and audience members.

Playing against and beating a straight team is an empowering feeling for many Royals players.

“Whenever we are going in to play predominately straight teams, our guys kind of get it in their head that they are stronger than us,” Smith says.

“It’s really hard to shake off what most gay people have been told or fed into, so it’s really nice when we do well against a straight team.”

As LGBT acceptance grows in mainstream sports, one might think the need for LGBT-inclusive community teams could dissipate. Local athletes don’t think that will happen. Anderson says the teams create community, at home and across the region, as teams travel to play with other athletes in LGBT communities in Nashville, Atlanta and other cities.

“Michael Sam was just drafted,” says Anderson.

“Eventually the stereotypes will be broken down and eventually it won’t matter as much. Terms like gay or straight while playing on the field will dissolve, but for now they are still here. We’re still fighting for inclusive change.” : : — This article is provided in partnership with Creative Loafing and was originally published in Creative Loafing’s May 29, 2014, print edition. Learn and read more at clclt.com.

Creative Loafing is a qnotes news partner.

life

LGBT-friendly sports leagues Carolina Softball Alliance Spring and fall seasons. Sunday games Revolution Park, Remount Road carolinasoftball.org Charlotte Rainbowlers Several teams. Year-round play.

Summer league, Mondays, May-August Centennial Lanes, South Boulevard charlotterainbowlers.com Charlotte Roller Girls Annual new skater clinics and try-outs each spring charlotterollergirls.com Charlotte Royals Rugby All home matches at Tuckaseegee Park charlotteroyals.org One World Dragon Boat Races throughout year Saturday practices Ramsey Creek Park, Nantz Road, Cornelius oneworlddragonboat.org Queen City Tennis Club Competitive and social tennis matches Sundays, April through October Park Road Park and Veterans Park qctc.org Stonewall Kickball Inaugural season this fall facebook.com/stonewallkickballcharlotte

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augusta

Augusta Pride: June 26-29

by Takya Browning, President, Augusta Pride, Inc.

SPONSORED CONTENT This is the fifth year of the Augusta Pride festival! As we move forward in our community’s fight for equality, I want to take this time to acknowledge the fact that we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

This is a time of reflection for those who remember and a time of learning for those who don’t.

I’m a firm believer that in order to know where you’re going, you have to know where you came from.

There was a time when law enforcement would raid lounges and bars that were frequented

by LGBT patrons. The patrons were regularly harassed and arrested. We live in a world where gay bars have gone from a safe haven to a party place for all. We live in a world where it was unheard of that two people of the same sex would be married. The ban against same sex marriage is being struck down one state at a time.

The tide is turning.

For the young people and for those who want to have a better understanding of what our LGBT brothers and sisters have gone through in the past, do your research and get involved. Know that we don’t march just to be seen and have a party. We march to bring awareness to the fact that while much has changed, there is still much work to be done.

As we stand at the door of the five-year anniversary of Augusta Pride and the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, let’s not forget the shoulders that we stand on. Thank you to Audre Lorde, Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Edie Windsor and countless other people who have lent their voices to fight for equality. It is up to us to continue their work. : :

Augusta Pride Schedule Friday • June 27 On Friday night, the public Festival will begin in the Augusta Common with Beats on Broad Augusta’s hottest outdoor dance party!

6 p.m. Gates Open 7 p.m. DJ KAOS 9 p.m. Miss Augusta Pride 2014 Vonnajae Couture 9:30 p.m. Evonne Santoni 10:15 p.m. Latrice Royale From Ru-Paul’s Drag Race 11:15p.m. Chad Michaels From Ru-Paul’s Drag Race 11:59 p.m. Park closes Saturday • June 28 Saturday kicks off the Main Event, an all-day Festival downtown. The Festival begins with the Pride parade at 10 a.m. Arrive early to get the best view. Parking is available on Reynolds are on Broad St. itself if you get there before the streets close for the parade.

10 a.m. Augusta Pride Parade, Broad St. 11 a.m. Festival opens with President Augusta Pride Takya Browning and Invocation 11:05 a.m. Barclay Bishop and Jay Jeffries Welcome to Augusta 11:10 a.m. Nicole Roberts performance 11:25 p.m. SC Equality Ryan Wilson 11:30 p.m. Allison Foster

12:00 p.m. Chad Michaels, 1st performance 12:05 p.m. HRC Joey Triana 12:10 p.m. Latrice Royale, 1st performance 12:15 p.m. Synergy 12:35 p.m. DJ set, VIP Meet and Greet with Chad Michaels 12:55 p.m. GA Equality Jeff Graham 1:00 p.m. Mr. Augusta Pride Orlando Boom 1:07 p.m. Miss Augusta Pride Vonnajae Couture 1:15 p.m. Headliner Taylor Dance 1:50 p.m. SC Pride Jeff March 1:55 p.m. Chad Michaels, 2nd performance 2:00 p.m. DJ Set, VIP Meet and Greet with Taylor Dayne 2:30 p.m. Latrice Royale, 2nd performance 2:35 p.m. Atlanta Pride 2:40 p.m. DJ Set, VIP Meet and Greet with Latrice Royale 3:10 p.m. Nicole Roberts, 2nd performance 3:15 p.m. False Flag set 4:00 p.m. Local Talent until 6 p.m.

5:30 p.m. Beer sales close 6:00 p.m. Festival closes Sunday • June 29 The “Ain’t Misbehavin’” Pool Party! Co-ed Pool Party at Parliament Resort of Augusta.

— For more information, visit prideaugusta.org.

Information above provided by Augusta Pride.

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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a&e Celebrating Stonewall @ 45 goqnotes.com/to/arts

Grab your friends and make a toast at your local gay bar The weekend of June 27-29 marks the 45th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn. On June 28, 1969, LGBT patrons at the now-iconic New York City bar took to Greenwich Village’s streets as they revolted against legal oppression and fought back against police harassment and brutality. In the years immediately following, Stonewall served as a rallying point for our community. In 1970, the first Christopher Street Liberation Day march would be held, spawning our modern-day LGBT Pride Parades and other Pride events.

Read more about Stonewall, its history and its legacy in our editorial on page 4, and check out the list of local LGBT nightlife establishments here. Grab your friends, head out to your favorite gay watering hole and make a toast to the great history and celebrations of the last 45 years!

The Stonewall Inn, following the riots on June 28, 1969. The sign on the window reads, “We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village—Mattachine.”

Photo Credit: Diana Davies/New York Public Library

Charlotte LGBT nightlife establishments The Bar at 316 316 Rensselaer Ave. thebarat316.com Cathode Azure 1820 South Blvd. cathodeazure.com Central Station 2131 Central Ave. facebook.com/central.station.5 Chasers 3217 The Plaza facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008238948447 The Hide-A-Way 405 Baskins Rd., Rock Hill facebook.com/hide.way.1 L4 Lounge 2906 Central Ave. facebook.com/L4Lounge The Nickel Bar 2817 Rozzelles Ferry Rd. thenickelbar.com Petra’s Piano Bar 1919 Commonwealth Ave. petraspianobar.com The Scorpio 2301 Freedom Dr. thescorpio.com Sidelines 4544-C South Blvd. thesidelinesbar.com The Woodshed Lounge 4000 Queen City Dr. woodshedlounge.com

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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Q SEP JUN

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C A L E N DA R JUNE-JULY 2014

To see more upcoming events, visit goqnotes.com/calendar/ Submit your event at goqnotes.com/eventsubmit/

Micah’s Rule in concert New Life Metropolitan Community Church Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 1900 The Plaza, Charlotte 7 p.m.

Southern Gospel band Micah’s Rule, comprised of an openly gay man, transgender woman and lesbian, will perform a free concert at New Life Metropolitan Community Church at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The trio includes Greg McCaw, Chasity Scott and Mary Ann Hewett. Each grew up singing in the church. McCaw performed bass with Southern Gospel stars like Bill and Gloria Gaither and the Gatlin Brothers.

Scott has a doctorate in music education from Harvard. Hewett has enjoyed the inspiration of music her entire life. A love offering will be collected. micahsrule.com newlifemccnc.org Salisbury Pride Downtown Salisbury 110 Lee St., Salisbury 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Salisbury Pride returns for its 2014 festival and celebration.

Event details available online. salisburypride.com

SEP JUN

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Fashion Show SEP JUN 301 East 301 E. 9th St., Charlotte 7 p.m.

Sophisticated Lyfe Entertainment and Inclusive Marketing & Events hold the fourth annual Sophisticated Lyfe Entertainment Anniversary and fashion show, “i AM!” The show features runway models from the LGBT and straight ally community to promote inclusion and diversity. The event also raises awareness on the issue of human trafficking. Tickets range from $15 for early bird and children’s admission to $250 for a VIP table of eight. slefashionshow2014.ticketleap.com/nc/

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Shelby Pride Episcopal Church of the Redeemer 502 W. Sumter St., Shelby 6 p.m.

Pride Splash Day SEP JUL U.S. National Whitewater Center 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy., Charlotte All-day Join Charlotte Pride for a day of fun, sun, fitness and music. Take in the Whitewater Center’s various outdoors activities and stick around for their eveCommunity members in Shelby host ning RiverJam, featheir first-ever Pride event celebrating turing LGBT-friendly “love, inclusion, justice and respecting Chapel Hill bluegrass everyone’s dignity.” The special event is band Mipso, who a picnic with a bring-your-own set up. helped to campaign Event will include kid-friendly activities, against Amendment photo booth, information and referrals.

One. Information and Discussion will also be had over the for- instructions on how to get Whitewater mation of a local PFLAG chapter. Event Center tickets supporting Charlotte is rain or shine.

Pride available online. facebook.com/events/1427272930880135/ charlottepride.org/splashday/

Moral Monday for All North Carolina Legislative Building 16 W. Jones St., Raleigh Equality North Carolina invite members of the community to join them for the final Moral Monday of the season as they show pride for our collective movement for equality for all North Carolinians. equalitync.org. facebook.com/events/ 736502339735195/

SEP JUN

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Miss Charlotte Pride Pageant The Scorpio 2301 Freedom Dr., Charlotte 10 p.m.

The Scorpio hosts the annual Miss Charlotte Pride Pageant, with categories including Gown, On-site Question and Talent. No cover before 10 p.m. Pageant begins at 10:30 p.m. To participate in the pageant, register by 7 p.m. on June 27.

Pageant registration is $40. thescorpio.com charlottepride.org

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Generational Diversity SEP JUN Summit North Carolina Central University, Durham Alfonso Elder Student Union 8 a.m.

The Triangle event, “Leadership Across the Generations,” is a half-day training and panel discussion on generational differences in the workplace. Guest leaders will share their experiences with attendees. ndccarolinas.org

June 20-July 3 . 2014

Celebrate 28 Stonewall

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Submit your event to our calendar!

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–––––––––––––––––––– Drag Queen Car Wash Washington Park 228 W. Acadia Ave., Winston-Salem 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Get your car washed by the best divas in town. Supporting Pride Winston-Salem. $10. pridews.org

SEP JUN

Grab your friends and head out to your favorite LGBT-owned bar or night club!

June 28 is the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

Photo Credit: EricaJoy

SEP JUL

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Men’s Night Out SHU 1426 S. Tryon St., Charlotte 6-8 p.m.

SHU hosts a “Men’s Night Out,” with vendors from a variety of local retailers, including SilverFly, Jeffre Scott Apothecary, Carolina Tactical Gear, Eat The Bear nutrition products, Breathe Massage and Breathwork, BRIEF and others. Organizers also hope to include a bourbon and craft beer tasting.

SEP JUL

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QList Awards Reception ByDesign Furniture 2130 South Blvd., Charlotte 5:30-7:30 p.m.

LIST

Best of LGBT Charlotte - 2014

qnotes holds its very first QList-Best of LGBT Charlotte Awards Reception, hosted by ByDesign Furniture. Come mix and mingle with this year’s QList winners, including Best Non-Profit, Best Bar/ Club, Best community leaders and more.

Complimentary wine and other refreshments. An RSVP is required. Admission is free; in lieu of ticketed admission, gifts to help support the work of local independent LGBT journalism are encouraged.

RSVP and information available online. goqnotes.com/qlist/ Continues through July 20 SEP JUL Charlotte Black Gay Pride City-wide Charlotte Black Gay Pride returns to the Queen City with a town hall, meet and greet and annual extravaganza. See page 10 for more details. charlotteblackgaypride.com

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Recurring Charlotte Events: PRISM Young Adults: Weekly discussion held each Monday, 5 p.m.-7:30 p.m. For young adults ages 18-25. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte. lgbtcharlotte.org.

Men’s Yoga: Weekly yoga sessions for men hosted by certified instructor. Each Monday, 7:30-8:30 p.m. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

Time Out Youth Center: Weekly support and discussion groups, Tuesday-Thursday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monthly group for youth ages 11-14. timeoutyouth.org.

MeckPAC: Monthly meeting of local LGBT political action committee. First Tuesdays of each month, 6:30-8 p.m. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

StillOut Photography: Local LGBT photography club. Meets monthly on fourth Tuesdays, 7-8:30 p.m. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte. facebook.com/StillOutPhotography.

Friends Indeed: Men’s depression support group. Every other Tuesday, 6:30-8 p.m. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

Weekly HIV & Syphilis Testing: Hosted at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte each Wednesday, 5-7 p.m.

HIV Support Group: Open support group for men and women who are HIV-positive.

Hosted second Wednesdays of each month, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Different Roads Home. differentroadshome.org.

LGBTQ Adult Education and Discussion Group: Weekly on Thursdays, a safe place for LGBTQ adults to meet and discuss important issues and topics. Hosted at LGBT Community Center of Charlotte. Each Thursday, 6-8 p.m.

Men of all Cultures Together: Local chapter of National Association of Black and White Men Together. Every other Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

PFLAG Charlotte: Monthly support group meeting. Second Thursday of each month, 7 p.m., Time Out Youth Center. pflagcharlotte.org.

Tradesmen: Monthly social meeting first Saturday of each month. 10 p.m.-2:30 a.m. The Woodshed Lounge. charlottetradesmen.org.

Have a recurring weekly or monthly event, social, support or discussion group? Let us know. Submit your event at our online calendar at goqnotes.com/eventsubmit/.

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

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OUR PEOPLE:

Q&A with Penny Craver Co-owner of Plaza Midwood’s DISH

by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com Penny Craver is like a local institution — she’s had her hands in just about everything cool and hipster. From her days at the Milestone Club to Tremont Music Hall and now DISH, Craver says she loves music, the arts and the neighborhoods in which she now works and lives. Craver is coowner of DISH with Maggie McGee-Stubbs and Lawrence Stubbs. The restaurant opened in 2002, attracting rave reviews in “Best of” contests across the city, including our annual QList-Best of LGBT Charlotte. qnotes sat down for a short, casual Q&A with Craver recently — this writer having quite the laugh with Craver’s great humor and, in the process, learning quite a bit about some uncanny and unexpected similarities between Craver and himself. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Personally, what’s your most favorite dish here at DISH? I don’t like spicy, so it’s not the meatloaf (laughs). I don’t do heat and spice. If I could eat anything, I’d eat the chicken and dumplings, but I’m diabetic. It’s probably not the wisest choice on my part. I do like the BLGT — which the staff and some customers have told me I should change to LGBT (laughs). It’s the bacon, lettuce and green tomato, with a little horseradish dill sauce. I enjoy that and I just love vegetables.

Since you’re an old concert venue person, I have to ask. What’s your favorite genre?

Obviously, alternative. I was in a band in the late 1980s. There was three of us — three women ‚ and we were one of the first all-women alternative bands in the state. It was called the Blind Dates, with Gina Stewart and Deanna

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Lynn Campbell, and we played all over. We do like to get together every once in a while and do a reunion show.

Do you go out to many concerts now?

No! (laughs) When you are required for the most part to be out every weekend for 14 or 15 years, it’s a joy to stay home and maybe cookout or do something.

What’s your favorite season of the year?

Summer. I love the ocean and the beach. My favorite thing to do is to sit out on the beach with a good book and just read listening to the ocean.

Go in when it gets hot or swim in the ocean and ride the waves back in on a boogie board.

Anything else? Did I miss anything?

I’m single!

Matt Comer: When did you open DISH? We’ve been here 12 years. We opened July 17, 2002.

What did you do prior?

I was a dishwasher at 300 East. I went from starving to medium starving to “Let’s see how I can get out of starving” (laughs). From there, I went to Tremont. I opened Tremont Music Hall in 1995 — March 17, 1995. I had the Milestone from ’91-’94. That was not a paying gig (laughs). During that period of time, I was washing dishes at 300 East. I’ve done a bit of everything. I was a probation/parole officer. I worked retail a lot, particularly in record stores. I worked at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, in their physical education department.

I went to UNCG for college.

That’s my alma mater — undergraduate and graduate. I love UNCG. Are you from the Triad area?

I grew up in a small town outside Winston-Salem called Clemmons.

Oh, I grew up in Winston!

Where’d you go to school?

Reynolds.

I’m so, so sorry (laughs). I went to West Forsyth.

It’s okay. I had lots of friends at West.

Of course you did!

When did you move to Charlotte?

After I got out of college, I went to Florida and played with a band and then moved to Charlotte.

Owning a restaurant, how different is it from owning a music venue?

It’s totally different. I like the hours compared to nightclub hours. You’d think it’d be somewhat similar, but I have not found that to be the case at all.

What’s the best thing about Plaza Midwood?

Obviously, the popularity helps. People realize this is a cool neighborhood. You can come here and get just such a cross-section of Charlotte. A lot of arts. It’s the reason why I like this area — it’s artsy. Lots of musicians and artists and selfemployed people like make-up artists and yoga instructors.

Do you live nearby, too?

I live in Merry Oaks — the most convenient place in the entire city to live.

I love it.

When you’re not working, what do you do with your free time?

I don’t have a lot of free time, but I do like to save it up and I like to travel. I love just going anywhere. In the last couple of years, I’ve been able to go to Paris and I’ve gone to London and I’ve been to New York several times.

I love to go to St. Augustine in Florida, which is one of my favorite places.

My next trip will probably be D.C. or Nashville and Memphis.

June 6-July 3 . 2014

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June 20-July 3 . 2014