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q-notes.com

Not for Reproduction
Noted . Notable . Noteworthy . LGBT News & Views
Volume 23 . Number 03
Candidate
announces
Sutkowski runs for
Charlotte council
page 7
June 13 . 2009
Printed on Recycled Paper
A memoir
filled with joy
page 21
FREE
q-notes.com
Exec appointed
Pols ‘outed’
N.C. native takes
office helm
Linda Ketner
apologizes
page 14
page 15
T A B L E
O F
C O N T E N T S
Front and center:
www.q-notes.com
Volume 23
Number 03
PO Box 221841 • Charlotte, NC 28222 • 704.531.9988 . 704.531.1361
June 13, 2009
Publisher: Jim Yarbrough
Drag Rag
26
A memoir filled with joy
21
Editor’s Note
05
General Gayety
25
News Notes: Domestic
09
Articles:
07
News Notes: Global
08
Associate Editor: David Stout
Conference builds bridges
04
News Notes: NC
10
Special Assignments: Lainey Millen
Exited about Pride
20
On being a gay parent
24
Jennings appointed to post
14
Out and About
30
Ketner makes apology
15
Out in the Stars
29
Sneak peek: Next issue
14
Q-Poll
15
Triad Pride attracts 1,000
12
Tell Trinity
28
editor@q-notes.com
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01
Candidate embarks on council run
Editor/New Media: Matt Comer
JUNE 13 . 2009 • QNotes
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Love song no one knows is gay
22
‘Phantom’ returns to Queen City
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Robinson, David Stout, Trinity,
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& Queer
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3
R E L I G I O N
Conference builds bridges
for gay evangelicals
Editor’s Note
Evangelical Network holds annual
event in Gastonia
Reported originally at Q-Notes Online on
June 3, news of Linda Ketner’s so-called “outing”of three Palmetto State Republicans spread
like a wildfire through the liberal and LGBT blogosphere. Ketner, a lesbian, 2008 candidate for
South Carolina’s First Congressional District, told
FireDogLake blogger Howie Klein that U.S. Sen.
Lindsey Graham, S.C. Sen. Glenn McConnell and
Lt. Gov.André Bauer were all closeted gays.
Much like the premiere of the film
“Outrage,” which explores several high-profile
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
When most people hear the word “evangelical,” they immediately think of people like the
late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson of “The 700
Club” or Focus on the Family’s James Dobson.
Far-right fundamentalists, it seems, don’t have
a monopoly on the word.
Over the last weekend in May, LGBT
Christians and evangelicals from around the
nation convened in Gastonia, N.C., for a
weekend of fellowship, worship, community
building and guidance. The Evangelical
Network’s annual conference was held here
on the east coast for the first time in the
group’s 10-year run.
“We had never done a conference on the
east coast,” says Ed Ness, The Evangelical
Network’s media director.“We’d predominately
been in the midwest and southwest.”
Ness says that the cost of travel is a challenge to many of his group’s members.
Holding conferences in different parts of the
country each year helps those who can’t
always travel far. Over 100 people attended the
conference. Many of the attendees were from
the Carolinas and the South, including
Georgia and Kentucky. Some came from as far
away as California and Canada.
David Thomas, pastor of Abundant Grace
Church near Hickory, was one of several local
leaders who helped to organize the conference
and assist with logistics. He told Q-Notes that
he was excited to bring the conference to the
state and help heal some of the rifts between
LGBT people and their faith.
“Evangelicals have given the word ‘evangelical’ a bad rap,” he said.“The word comes from
a Greek word meaning ‘good news.’ It is the
good news of Jesus Christ. We believe the
gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that he
came to bring love, peace, deliverance and salvation to liberate peoples’ lives.”
Thomas was a speaker during one of the
conference’s several worship experiences. He
said he wanted to give people the message that
they shouldn’t ever let anyone look down on
them for any reason.
“If you are a person who believes in God,
loves God, don’t let people look down on you,”
he said.“Live a life that exemplifies what
Christ’s life was about: love and caring for
other people.”
Thomas, who has been together with his
partner, a pastor at a gay-welcoming church in
Winston-Salem, for 13 years, founded
Abundant Grace Church in 2003. Prior to the
church’s founding he had helped to lead a
small Bible study for LGBT people.
“Our church is created to be a place for all
people,” he said,“but we notice in the gay
community they were not finding what they
were looking for.” He said many LGBT-affirming churches didn’t have enough of an evangelical feel for many folks who grew up in
Baptist or Pentecostal traditions.
Candace Chellew-Hodge, associate pastor
at Columbia’s Garden of Grace United Church
of Christ, was a featured speaker and work-
4
P E R S P E C T I V E
Ketner’s ‘outing’ spree
shop discussion leader at the conference. Her
workshop, along with several essays written
over several years, is the basis of her book,
“Bulletproof Faith,” which came out in
October 2008.
“The workshop gives folks tools and
ways to respond to attacks from other people who say you can’t be LGBTQ and
Christian,” she said.
Chellew-Hodge has been fighting to heal
LGBT Christians’ faiths for years. In the days
when the internet was still some newfangled
toy most folks had never used, she founded
seen us use quotation marks around the word
and describe her statements in other ways.As
Charleston City Paper Gay Charleston blogger
Greg Hambrick said, all Ketner really is guilty of
is spreading “cocktail chatter.”
Unfortunately,“cocktail chatter” can get you
into a load of trouble. Trust me, I know. I once
got into similar hot water after participating in
online rumor-mongering about North
Carolina’s Rep. Patrick McHenry and some of
his colleagues and peers.
Ketner has apologized for her remarks (as I
once had to do). Hopefully her statements
won’t come back to haunt her if she ever runs
for office again. Here’s to looking forward to
2010 and her next possible candidacy and second attempt at giving Henry Brown the boot. Q
Enter for FREE tickets at www.q-notes.com.
Jeff Smith, of Louisville, Ky., worships
with other Evangelical Network
conference-goers.
Whosoever, the world’s first online magazine
for LGBT Christians.
Publishing new material each and every
month, Whosoever covers all sorts of issues
and provides resources for those seeking to
reconcile their faith and sexuality.
“The most popular topic, by far, is
homosexuality and religion,” ChellewHodge said.“Whosoever has been an amazing resource for people who are looking for
ways to talk to family members and friends
about being gay and Christian and reconciling their faith and sexual orientation. That
can be difficult.”
Chellew-Hodge said she’s had “more people than I can count” tell her how much of a
change in their lives the online magazine’s
resources made for them. She thinks that the
Bible is still the LGBT community’s biggest
stumbling block.“We want to know that we
are okay, that we are not condemned.”
Chellew-Hodge says the stories she hears of
others coming to terms with faith and identity
are enough to break her heart.
“It is the reason why I wrote the book,
trying to give people a road map on how I
got to where I am,” she said.“I’m where I
don’t have to fight with anyone anymore, or
argue with anyone. I’ve stopped taking it
personally, because I know that I am okay
with my god.”
Ness said the conference was a success.
Next year, they’ll head off to Irvine, Calif., right
in the middle of Orange County — heart of
conservative California. Q
outings, the news of Ketner’s statements has sparked a controversy over
outing and its merits, or lack thereof.
I support the outing of closeted,antigay elected officials,but certainly not just
the Republicans — anti-gay Democrats
and those from other parties are just as
much at risk.I’ve always believed that the
main issue is hypocrisy: How dare an elected official vote against the LGBT community when he
or she is engaging in some of the same-sexual
behavior they work to eradicate? Hypocrisy has
no place in public service.None.
But, like blogger and activist Michael Rogers,
I also believe that outing should be done wisely,
with facts and solid evidence.What Ketner did
really wasn’t “outing.” In our reporting you’ve
5
P O L I T I C S
Gay candidate embarks on
Charlotte council run
Owen Sutkowski is ‘first viable’ gay
man on a Charlotte ballot
CHARLOTTE — For the first time in
Charlotte politics, an openly gay man might
have a viable chance at winning election to
city council. Owen Sutkowski, 26, assistant
director of Student Life at Queens University,
announced his run for the District 1 seat on
Owen Sutkowski will face a popular
incumbent in a September Democratic
primary.
the Charlotte City Council at the end of May
with an official kickoff party at Dilworth
Neighborhood Grille.
Since his announcement, Sutkowski has
been making the rounds at community meetings, neighborhood associations and social
functions. He’ll have a tough, uphill climb, facing popular District 1 City Councilwoman Patsy
Kinsey in a Democratic primary on Sept. 15.
Sutkowski, who is openly gay and who is
been in a relationship with his partner for two
years, isn’t the first openly gay or lesbian person to run for city election — for days after
his initial announcement, community members and media, including Q-Notes reported
that he was.
Robert Sheets, a president of the 1980s-era
Queen City Quordinators, the former non-
6
profit publisher of Q-Notes, ran unsuccessfully
in 1987 and 1989. Openly lesbian Sue Henry
ran a write-in campaign in 1995.
Despite the initial inaccuracies, veteran
campaign manager Henk Jonker — who has
worked on several successful area campaigns
— says Sutkowski is the first viable, openly
gay candidate in Charlotte’s political scene.
Sutkowski is portraying himself as a fresh
change for Charlotte and his district.
“I am excited to begin connecting people
and ideas for change in Charlotte,” he said in
a press release.“Your voice is more than a
vote. With the election of President Barack
Obama, communities across the nation,
including Charlotte, expressed a hopeful need
for a fresh outlook on public service.
Whether you have lived here for two months
or 20 years, your vision and voice matter to
me and our community.”
Sutkowski has never held public office
before, but has worked with several city government and private agencies, including serving as a member on the city’s Competition and
Privatization Advisory Committee, the programming chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Community Relations Committee and a mediator with the Charlotte Housing Authority.
Sutkowski earned his undergraduate degree
from Indiana University. He recently completed
a Master’s of Science in Organizational
Development degree at Queens University.
His campaign issues focus on openness
and transparency in local government, public
safety and city planning.
“Today’s economic and social realities call
for new and effective public servants,” he said
in a press release.“These individuals must
proactively work with a variety of communities in the creation of sensible and practical
strategies for change.”
In past elections, the LGBT-friendly Kinsey
has received endorsements from MeckPAC,
the county’s LGBT political action committee.
It remains to be seen who the committee will
endorse this year.
For more information, visit
www.owensutkowski.com.
Online Only
See Q-Notes’ video report from Sutkowski’s
campaign kickoff at www.q-notes.com/
multimedia/. Q
7
G L O B A L
International News Notes
Parliament supports school ban
VILNIUS, Lithuania — Parliament has
voted in favor of a bill that would ban discussion of homosexuality and LGBT issues in
public schools. The ban includes prohibitions
against references to homosexuality in any
public information that can be viewed by children. The bill is entitled,“Law on the
Protection of Minors against the Detrimental
Effect of Public Information.”
Not yet passed fully into law, the amend-
Lithuanian activists marched in Baltic
Pride on May 16, 2009. Lithuania has seen
an increase in violence, discrimination and
intimidation against LGBT people.
Photo Credit: Amnesty International
ment places homosexuality alongside portrayals of physical or psychological violence, the
display of a dead or cruelly mutilated body of
a person, and information that arouses fear or
horror, or encourages self-mutilation or suicide, as information unsuitable for children.
“By voting to move forward with this bill,
the Seimas has reinforced discrimination
based on a person’s sexual orientation,” said
Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia
program director for Amnesty International.
“The amendment denies the right to freedom of expression and deprives students’
access to the support and protection they may
need. The Lithuanian parliament must respect
everyone’s full rights and reject this amendment when it comes to the final vote.”
— by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
Controversial bill passed
EDMONTON, Canada — The Legislative
Assembly of Alberta passed a controversial
LGBT rights and parental choice bill at the end
of May. Bill 44 officially protects the rights of
LGBT people but also allows parents to pull
their children from classrooms when lessons
on human sexuality, religion and sexual orientation occur, The Calgary Herald reported.
Alberta Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett
8
said a “silent majority”supported
the bill.The most controversial
aspect of the bill was the parental choice section.
“For those people around the country that
think that’s somehow wrong, we in Alberta
believe in family values, because the family’s
at the core of what makes a great community,”
Blackett said.“We’re taking a lead, here.”
Blackett said it took courage to pass such a
bill. Other politicians scoffed at the idea.
“It takes courage to give our children an
uneven educational experience,” EdmontonClare representative Laurie Blakeman asked.“I
takes courage to write crappy legislation
where you take something that belongs in the
School Act and ram it into human rights (legislation)? That’s not courage.”
Blakeman was among several liberal politicians who sought to have the parental opt-out
options stricken from the bill.
Calgary-Buffalo representative Kent Hehr
said the parental opt-out clause was a compromise, used to pass protections for LGBT people.“I think, at the end of the day, it was a dirty
little trade,” he told The Herald.
— M.C.
Priest to defy ban
BRISBANE,Australia — A Catholic priest
says he will not be “bullied” by the Roman
Catholic Church. He has vowed to continue
holding services despite a church edict banning him from performing ecclesiastical
duties anywhere in the world.
Archbishop of Brisbane John Bathersby
imposed the ban on Father Peter Kennedy
after the priest established a rival church
when he was dismissed for allowing women to
preach and for blessing same-sex couples.
Kennedy says up to 1,500 people attend his St.
Mary’s in Exile services.
Kennedy says he will continue his quest.
“It’s not so much me that I’m concerned
about, it’s the community,” he told the
Australian ABC News. “But the community
will stand strong. I know that.”
Under the archbishop’s ban, Kennedy cannot say mass, officiate at weddings, preach or
hear confessions. Kennedy says the ruling is
“ruthless and vindictive.” He says he’ll ignore it.
“I will continue to celebrate liturgies and
eucharist,” he said.“Certainly it will make a difference about children wanting to be baptised,
and certainly about weddings. I’ll have to get a
marriage celebrant’s licence. But this man may
be the Archbishop, but he has made, in the
opinion of many of us, a very unjust decision.”
— M.C. Q
D O M E S T I C
because of the anti-gay marriage measure.
Serving as co-counsel on the case are
Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, the
by David Stout . Q-Notes staff
attorneys who argued Bush v. Gore on
N.H. legalizes gay marriage
opposite sides in 2000.
CONCORD, N.H. — On June 3, Gov. John
Olson, a former U.S. Solicitor General, repLynch signed legislation that will give the legal
resented George W. Bush in the historic case
protections of marriage to gay and lesbian
that decided the presidential election. Boies
couples in New Hampshire. Lynch signed the
represented Al Gore in the proceeding. This is
bill only an hour after the legislature took the
the first time they have served alongside each
final vote on the issue. The state Senate voted
other as co-counsel.
14-10 in favor of the bill earlier
The suit calls for
in the day. The state House folan injunction
lowed later in the afternoon, votagainst Prop. 8 until
ing 198-176. The law will take
the case is resolved,
effect January 1, 2010.
which would imme“Today is a historic day for all
diately reinstate
Granite Staters,” said Mo Baxley,
marriage rights for
executive director of the New
same-sex couples.
Hampshire Freedom to Marry
The case is a project
Coalition.“We applaud Governor
of the newly created
Lynch, Speaker Norelli, President
American
Larsen and the leadership of the
Foundation for
General Court for making sure
Equal Rights, which
that all loving, committed couis dedicated to proples have the freedom to marry.
tecting and advancToday, our shared values of indiing equal rights for
vidual liberty, freedom, and fairevery American
ness have been upheld.”
through legal, poliNew Hampshire is the sixth
cy and political
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch
state to extend the freedom to
advocacy.
marry to gay and lesbian couples.
National News Notes
Federal court challenge for Prop 8
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The day after the
California Supreme Court upheld the validity
of Proposition 8, a federal lawsuit was filed by
two same-sex couples who wish to be married
but have been denied marriage licenses
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force’s National Religious
Leadership Roundtable and the Center for
American Progress have each released
groundbreaking reports analyzing religious
and secular advocacy of marriage equality
School victory, part one
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dozens of
schools in the state have restored access to
LGBT websites, after the ACLU filed suit
against two Tennessee school districts for
unconstitutionally blocking student access
to them. The company that provides internet filtering software to as many as 107
Tennessee schools has adjusted the software
to allow access to a variety of educational
and political LGBT websites that were previously blocked.
“All we ever wanted was to be able to get
information out about LGBT issues, like
what our legal rights are or what scholar-
ships are available for LGBT students, so I’m
really happy that the schools are finally making our Web access fair and balanced,” said
Bryanna Shelton, a 16-year-old student at
Fulton High School in Knoxville and a plaintiff in the case.
On May 19, the ACLU filed the case in the
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of
Tennessee against Metropolitan Nashville
Public Schools and Knox County Schools on
behalf of two high school students in
Nashville, one student in Knoxville and a
high school librarian in Knoxville who is also
the advisor of the school’s Gay-Straight
Alliance (GSA).
School victory, part two
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On June 1, a
Superior Court here dismissed a lawsuit
seeking to invalidate SB 777, the California
Student Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against students on the basis of
race, religion, disability, gender, and sexual
orientation. The lawsuit was brought by a
right-wing group that specifically objected to
protections for LGBT students. The court
held that the plaintiffs had failed to show
any way in which the statute was even
allegedly unlawful.
The lawsuit was filed on Nov. 5, 2008. State
Superintendent Jack O’Connell, represented by
California Attorney General Jerry Brown, filed
a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on Jan. 8,
2009. On Mar. 19, the National Center for
Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, the
Transgender Law Center, Equality California,
and Gay-Straight Alliance Network filed a
friend-of-the-court brief supporting the
motion to dismiss. Q
Studies find faith alliances crucial
ballot initiatives in California and Michigan.
Although examining different campaigns in
different states in different years, the two
reports draw remarkably similar conclusions
about the need for partnerships between religious and secular supporters of equal rights
for LGBT people.
The Task Force’s report examines last fall’s
Prop. 8 battle, highlighting religious-secular
partnerships relevant to marriage equality.
The Center’s report examines the role that religious groups played in support of and opposition to Proposal 2, the ballot initiative on marriage equality in Michigan.
Both reports find that anti-LGBT ballot
initiatives are often rooted in conservative
religious rhetoric. Effective responses require
faith voices and messages to counteract
these claims in order to show religious diversity in support of marriage equality and to
disprove the notion that conservative religious voices are the sole guardians of morality on these issues.
9
N O R T H
C A R O L I N A
N O R T H
North Carolina News Notes
Bob Williams and Stephen Heavner are
serving as the DFF Honorary Co-Chairs for
2009.Williams is the co-owner of Mitchell
Gold + Bob Williams, and Heavner is the
bookkeeper for the well-known furniture
company.
Club Cabaret will host the afterparty,
themed “A New Way of Living.” All attendees to
ALFA’s Pr[EVENT] will receive free admittance
to this afterparty by showing their Pr[EVENT]
ticket stub. Funds raised during the afterparty
will be donated back to ALFA’s mission.
For more information, call 828-322-1447
ext. 224, email alfadirect@charter.net or visit
www.alfainfo.org.
on both individuals and
families. It draws from a
by Lainey Millen & Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff rich history of writings about
war and peace across both
CHARLOTTE Western and Eastern spiritual and faith traditions and features pipe organ, small concert
Kennedy to speak to Guild
ensemble and male and female guest soloists.
The text is drawn from the words and teachCHARLOTTE — The Charlotte Business
ings of Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Christ, Mother
Guild will hold its monthly meeting on June 16
Teresa, the Dalai Lama, the Prophet Isaiah,
at 5:30 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 201 S.
President Jimmy Carter, Confucius, Buddha
McDowell St. Guest speaker for the evening will
and the Qur’an.
be Elke Kennedy, founder of Sean’s Last Wish.
Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the
Kennedy is known for her tireless work to
door.
combat hate crimes as a result of her gay son’s
For more information or to purchase tickmurder. She has spent much of her time since
ets, visit tmgchorus.org.
his death working with initiatives within the
legislative process and sharing her story to raise
It’s good ole summer time!
public awareness as a way to educate the public.
TRIANGLE — The Geeks and Gaymers of
The Foundation was established to be the conNorth Carolina are set to have a rad time over
duit for achieving these aims. To find out how to
the next couple of months.
make a contribution to the Sean’s Last Wish
On June 27, the will hold their 2nd
Foundation, email assist@seanlastwish.org.
Anniversary Party in Raleigh. The next
The event will be sponsored by Bill Clarke
month, on July 18, get out your communica& Associates, Inc. and Keller Williams Realty.
tors and enjoy a Trekkies viewing in Durham.
Cost is $15 for CBG Members and $25 for
On July 25, hold your arms high while reveling
guests and non-members ($5 added for memin a Torchwood Series 3 viewing in Research
bers without reservations). Reservations were
Triangle Park.
due by noon on June 12 by email to businessAll get-togethers are held in private memguild@yahoo.com or by phone to 704-565bers’ homes.
5075. Individuals making reservations who do
For more information, email
not attend will be charged for the event.
ggnc@nc.rr.com. To join this group, visit
For more information, visit
groups.yahoo.com/group/ggnc.
www.charlottebusinessguild.com.
TRIAD
ALFA to host fundraiser finale
WINSTON-SALEM — A county in the
Piedmont-Triad area of North Carolina is
number one for syphilis cases, The WinstonSalem Journal reported on June 5.
Forsyth County, whose county seat is
Winston-Salem, reported 70 cases of the
infection from January 2009 to May 22, 2009.
That’s a significant jump from 2008’s 48
reported cases and 2007’s 31.
The 2009 number are preliminary figures
from the North Carolina Department of Health
and Human Services epidemiology division.
Dr. Tim Monroe, director of the Forsyth
County Health Department, told The Journal
that infection rates usually rise and fall in
cycles.According to the daily paper, a national
syphilis-elimination projected resulted in a
2002 drop to just one case.
“It’s not necessarily abnormal to see these
kinds of cycles,” Monroe said.
County officials have met to discuss ways
to curb increased spread of the infection. They
will be targeting the most at-risk populations,
including prostitutes and gay and bisexual
men and men who have sex with men.
HICKORY — AIDS Leadership Foothillsarea Alliance (ALFA) will hold Dining for
Friends Pr[EVENT] of the Season on June 19
at Market on Main from 8 p.m.-midnight.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $25.
Proceeds from Dining for Friends will directly
support the mission and services of ALFA.
Over the past couple of months, individuals, couples, churches, businesses, schools, etc.
have invited friends, family members and
community leaders to parties they’ve hosted
all over ALFA’s service area. The hosts and
guests have made donations to ALFA as
admittance to the parties, and in return,
receive a ticket to the finale. Party hosts are
eligible for titles, including Most Creative
Theme, Most Attended Party, and Most Funds
Raised.Winners will be announced at the end
of the Pr[EVENT] evening.
Guests at the Pr[EVENT] will enjoy a variety of heavy hors d’oeuvres, one complimentary adult beverage, cash bar, and soft drinks.
In addition, the event will feature DJ entertainment by DJ Supafly, dancing and several
raffles. Hal Row from WHKY 1290 AM will
serve as emcee.
For $5, enter to win a four-day, three-night
stay at a beach house in Holden Beach,
Lifestyles Meal package from Market on Main,
compliments of John Duke and Market on
Main, jewelry from Gold & Silver Recycling
Co, Inc., flatware from Belks at Valley Hills,
photography sitting by Judy Willis
Photography, and more.
Enter for a chance of winning a fully furnished dining room, complete with sideboard
table, courtesy of Mitchell Gold + Bob
Williams, and lighting courtesy of Robert
Abbey, Inc. Single tickets are $15, three tickets
will be sold for $50.
TRIANGLE
RALEIGH/DURHAM — The Triangle Gay
Men’s Chorus will hold its end-of-season premiere concert performance of “BraveSouls
and Dreamers” on June 20 at Pullen Memorial
Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St. at 8
p.m. (Raleigh) and June 21 at First
Presbyterian Church, 305 Main St. at 3 p.m.
(Durham). Text is by Robert Espindola and
music by Robert Seeley.
“BraveSouls and Dreamers” reflects on the
human and spiritual consequences of war,
contrasting a prevailing hope for peace with
the devastating realities of war and its effect
10
Ten-minute test now available
HICKORY — During the week of June 22,
ALFA will be providing free, confidential doorto-door and walk-in HIV testing to the general
public.ALFA’s rapid HIV test is 99.7 percent
accurate and provides results in 10 minutes.
These events are in observance of National
HIV Testing Day, an annual campaign that
encourages individuals to receive voluntary
HIV counseling and testing. By providing this
service,ALFA is able to reduce the spread of
HIV and combat the negative stigma surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS. This is
achieved by allowing individuals to know their
status, connecting those who test positive with
the necessary medical care and providing
accurate and up-to-date HIV/AIDS education.
Walk-in testing will be available at ALFA,
located at 1120 Fairgrove Church Rd. SE, Suite
28, on June 22-25 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and
June 26 from 10 a.m.-7 p.m.Walk-in testing
WESTERN
County tops syphilis cases
TGMC are ‘BraveSouls’
C A R O L I N A
will also be available at Slades Chapel AME
Zion Church, located at 306 Bouchelle St.
(Morganton) on June 24 from 4 p.m.-7 p.m.
For those who are unable to make it the week
of June 22, call ALFA at 828-322-1447, ext. 232
to schedule an appointment for a free test.
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.alfainfo.org.
STATEWIDE
Blogger digs in for long haul
STATEWIDE — North Carolina’s own Pam
Spaulding has been getting a bit
of press lately.According to
gaynewsblog.net’s Jose Antonio
Vargas, the voice behind one of
the most respected gay political
blogosphere sites, Pam’s House
Blend, has given rise to a particular growing political influence.
North Carolina is the only
state in the south that has not
banned same-sex marriage.
An IT manager by day and a
24/7/365 blogger, Spaulding said
that “all eyes are on North
Carolina now.” Florida,Arizona
and California in November passed marriage
amendments.
Vargas said in late May/early June,“after
reports that groups such as NC4Marriage and
Christian Action League are organizing a rally
in Raleigh to support ‘traditional marriage,’
Spaulding wrote on her blog:‘As predicted, the
professional anti-gay forces plan to descend
on NC.’”
“What she doesn’t write is that, so long as
she’s blogging, what happens in North
Carolina won’t stay in the Tar Heel State,”
Vargas continued.
The blogging community has been responsible for staging Join the Impact rallies and
other successful initiatives across the country
to bring attention to the injustices toward the
LGBT community.
“In the past, someone like Spaulding
would have been relegated to the sidelines. She
doesn’t work for national gay rights organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or
the Gay & Lesbian Alliance
Against Defamation. She
lives with her partner, Kate,
an audiologist, in Durham,
far from San Francisco, New
York or Washington, where
gay activism has been historically based. But now
she’s helping shape the agenda, one voice in a chorus of
sometimes dissonant, sometimes harmonious, often inyour-face voices that is
pushing established gay
groups and redefining the meaning of grassroots action in this new media age,” Vargas
concluded.
Joe Solmonese, HRC’s president, reads
Spaulding’s blog regularly.
To read the entire story, visit gaynewsblog.net/2009/06/gay-bloggers-voices-rise-inchorus-of.html. Q
info: Announce your community event in NC News Notes.
email: editor@q-notes.com.
see next page >
11
P R I D E
0 9
Triad Pride attracts 1,000
Festival is third annual event in
Greensboro
people attended the event throughout the
day. Dozens of vendors including non-profit
organizations, businesses and media
packed the small park as festvial-goers listened to singers, watched drag performancGREENSBORO — Community members
es and heard activists speak on important
from across the Triad — and some as far
pieces of legislation.
away as Fayetteville — convened in
Equality North Carolina, the statewide
Downtown Greensboro’s Festival
LGBT advocacy
Park for a day of entertainment,
organization, was at
networking, community building
the festival collectand fun at the third annual Triad
ing signatures for a
Pride Festival.
postcard campaign
Organized by the more than
to state legislators.
20-year-old Alternative Resources
The group is pushof the Triad, the festival was the
ing hard to pass
culmination of almost a week’s
comprehensive sexworth of events designed to foster
uality health educommunity, build awareness and
cation and fullyprovide social outlets for the
inclusive anti-bulTriad area’s LGBT communities. Photo Credit: Matt Comer
lying policies for
Organizers estimated that 1,000 or more
the state’s public, K-12 schools.
12
Other non-profits present
included the Guilford Green
Foundation, PFLAG Greensboro,
several churches and the
Leathermen’s Club.
Greensboro Mayor Yvonne
Johnson was one of several speakers, including Addison Ore of
Triad Health Project, Triad Pride
co-chairs Richard Gray and Joshua
McCoy,Alternative Resources of
the Triad president Paul Marshall
and transgender community
activist Janice Covington.
Event sponsors included
Warehouse 29, YES! Weekly,
American Express, The Q, the
Guilford Green Foundation and
PFLAG. Q
Triad Pride co-chairs Joshua McCoy (left) and Richard
— See more Triad Pride photos at Gray (right) with Alternative Resources of the Triad
Q-Notes Online’s photo galleries, president Paul Marshall.
Photo Credit: Matt Comer
www.q-notes.com/photos/.
13
C O M M U N I T Y
S O U T H
Ketner apologizes for ‘outing’
S.C. Republicans
Kevin Jennings, former GLSEN exec.
joins Safe Schools office
The founder and former executive director
of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education
Network (GLSEN) has
been appointed to a
position in the Obama
Administration’s
Education Department.
Decided on May 19
and announced by the
White House on June 1,
Winston-Salem, N.C.native Kevin Jennings
will become the assistant deputy secretary of
education for the
department’s Office of
Safe and Drug-Free
Schools. The office oversees financial assistance
for drug and violence
prevention and is in charge of developing program policy for the Department of Education.
Eliza Byard, GLSEN’s executive director,
Openly lesbian pol says U.S., state
officials are gay
praised her predecessor’s achievement.
“This appointment is a tribute to Kevin’s
many contributions to education in this country and his commitment to the safety and well
being of all students,” she said.
Conservatives have expressed their outrage
over the appointment.As reported by The
Washington Blade,WorldNetDaily,
a conservative news website,
quoted Linda Harvey of the antigay Mission America; she said it
was a “tragedy” that an openly
gay person would be appointed to
the position.
Harvey said Jennings has “had
an enormously detrimental
impact on the climate in our
schools,” The Blade reported.
Jennings grew up right outside
of Winston-Salem, in small town
Lewisville, N.C. He is the son of a
Baptist preacher. His memoir,
“Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son,”
recounts his life growing up in
conservative North Carolina. He
later went to Harvard College, graduating
magna cum laude, and moved to New
England, where he founded GLSEN. Q
Sneak peek: Next issue
Be sure to pick up Q-Notes’ 40th
Anniversary Stonewall issue,“Red,
White & Queer: 40 years of fighting
for equality,” on June 27, for an indepth look at Carolinas-centric
LGBT history, from where we came
from to where we’re going:
• Carolinas LGBT movers and
shakers: The ones who got us
where we are today.
• At the ballot box: Openly gay
politicians and elected officials
throughout the Carolinas
• The Carolinas’ MCCs and gayaffirming churches: The past, the
present and future
Photo Credit: Johannes Jordan, Wikimedia
Linda Ketner, an openly lesbian 2008
South Carolina Democratic candidate for
Congress, issued an apology on Friday,
June 5, for comments she made claiming
three Palmetto State
Republicans were closeted gays.
The bombshell statements were made in a
FireDogLake interview on
June 1.
“We have more gay
people serving in South
Carolina than probably in
any place in the United
States; they’re just not out
of the closet,” she told
blogger Howie Klein.“We
have an awful lot of people
in the closet — Lindsey
Graham, Glenn McConnell
who’s our Senate president
pro tem, our Lt Governor [André Bauer].”
Later in the comment section of the website, Ketner clarified her remarks,“By the way,
in Howie’s intro, he quoted me as saying several members of state and U.S. government
were gay,” she said.“I don’t know that for sure,
having never been intimate with any of them.
Those are the rumors.”
On June 5, Ketner wrote on her blog:“I’ve
always been resolute about never outing anyone, believing strongly that every person gets
to decide when or if he or she comes out. I let
myself and others down in a recent off-therecord chat with a reporter. I obviously don’t
have knowledge of the sexual orientation of
any individuals mentioned.What I do have is
respect and appreciation for their service to
this state.”
She added,“My sincerest apologies to any
of you rightfully upset with me.”
Graham, McConnell and Bauer have all
been the subject of rumors claiming they are
gay. Those rumors have never been confirmed
and the three have either denied it or stayed
silent.All three are single. In 2002, a divorce
action between Bauer and his wife allegedly
accused the official of having an affair with
another man. No documents ever surfaced to
confirm that rumor.
Q-Notes contacted the offices of each of the
elected officials and left messages for their
spokespersons. Those calls remained unreturned at press time.
Washington, D.C., blogger and activist
Michael Rogers, who has
worked for years outing antigay, closeted politicians, said
individuals should be careful
making accusations without
certainty or proof.
“As always, I support the
reporting on closeted, anti-gay
politicians who work against the
interest of the gay community,”
he told Q-Notes.“I am careful to
only report on cases of which I
have 100 percent confidence
and encourage others to not use
rumors, whether longstanding
or recent, as a basis for outing.”
Rogers, whose work is showcased in the 2009 film “Outrage,”
said South Carolinians should do the appropriate research into allegedly closeted politicians’
records and actions and have all the facts
before going public with any evidence.
Ketner’s race against Brown was historic. If
successful, she would have been the state’s first
openly gay or lesbian elected official, along
with Charleston’s Nick Shalosky, who won a
seat on a constituent school board through a
write-in candidacy. Ketner lost her race 52
percent to 48 percent. She is being encouraged
to try again in 2010. Q
Vote at www.q-notes.com
Does openly gay Charlotte City Council candidate Owen
Sutkowski have a chance at beating incumbent Patsy Kinsey?
C A R O L I N A
Winston-Salem native
appointed to Education
department
14
15
2 0 0 9
Y
ou asked for it. We gave it to you. You voted. The results are
in. Q-Notes’ first annual QList — Best of the Carolinas,
Readers’ Pick garnered hundreds of submitted ballots and
nominations for some of the best restaurants, bars and clubs,
community organizations, business and community leaders
across the Tar Heel and Palmetto States.
CAROLINAS-WIDE
Best gay dance club
Winner: Scorpio (Charlotte)
Runner-up: The G&G Club (Charlotte)
Best gay bar
Runners-up:
The Cabaret (Columbia), Woodshed Lounge (Charlotte)
Best lesbian club/bar
Winner: Hartigan’s (Charlotte)
Runner-up: The L Word (Cayce/Columbia)
Best Leather/Levi club/bar
Winner: Eagle (Charlotte)
Runner-up: Woodshed Lounge (Charlotte)
Best straight, gay-friendly club/bar
Winner: Art Bar (Columbia)
Honorable Mention:
G&G Club (Charlotte),
Night Owls (Gastonia),
Noma’s Bar & Grill
(Winston-Salem),
Tutto Mondo (Charlotte)
Club/bar with best drink value
Winners:
Hartigan’s Irish Pub (Charlotte),
Scorpio (Charlotte)
Honorable Mention:
Central Station (Charlotte),
Night Owls (Gastonia),
Woodshed Lounge (Charlotte)
Club/bar with hottest bartenders
Winners: The G&G Club (Charlotte),
Scorpio (Charlotte)
Club/bar with hottest dancers
Winner: Chasers (Charlotte)
Runner-up: Scorpio (Charlotte)
Best place to hook-up
Winner: Online
Several nominations were given for
various hook-up websites. They all tied and included a general
answer of “online,” Craigslist and Manhunt.
Best place to meet a husband
Winner: Online
Again, several nominations were given for various websites.
Combined, the internet was the best place to meet a husband.
Nominations included a general answer of “online,” ruOnQ.com,
MySpace and Craigslist.
Best place to meet a wife
Winner: Hartigan’s Irish Pub (Charlotte)
Runner-up: Night Owls (Gastonia)
Best drag show
Runner-up: The Cabaret (Columbia)
Best overall club/bar in North Carolina
Runner-up: Hartigan’s Irish Pub (Charlotte)
Q L I S T
Best overall club/bar in South Carolina
Winners: Art Bar (Columbia), The Cabaret (Columbia),
The Castle (Greenville, SC), Hide-A-Way (Rock Hill)
All four winners tied.
Best LGBT non-profit, North Carolina
Winner: Equality NC
Runners-up: Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, RAIN (Charlotte),
Metrolina AIDS Project, MAP (Charlotte)
Best LGBT non-profit, South Carolina
Winner: South Carolina Pride Movement
Best HIV/AIDS service organization, North Carolina
Winner: Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, RAIN (Charlotte)
Runner-up: Alliance of AIDS Care Services-Carolina (Raleigh)
Best HIV/AIDS service organization, South Carolina
Winner: Palmetto AIDS Life Support Services, PALSS (Columbia)
Most effective grassroots advocacy
Winners: Equality NC (Raleigh),
Charlotte Rainbow Action Network for Equality, CRANE
(Charlotte)
Runner-up: Mike Nelson (Carrboro)
Best Pride celebration
Winners: NC Pride Fest and Parade (Raleigh/Durham),
Pride Charlotte, SC Pride (Columbia)
All three winners tied.
Best LGBT-specific store
Winner: White Rabbit (Charlotte, Raleigh)
Runner-up: Paper Skyscraper (Charlotte)
Best LGBT-friendly department store
Winner: Target
Runners-up: Nordstroms, Belk
Best gay-friendly, mainstream specialty store
Winner: Paper Skyscraper (Charlotte)
Best adult-oriented store
Winner: White Rabbit (Charlotte, Raleigh)
Runners-up: Our Place (Raleigh), Adam and Eve
Best pet store
Winner: Petsmart
Runner-up: Dogma and Fetch (York, S.C.)
Qlist
the
16
Best of the LGBT
C a r o l i n a s
Most effective youth outreach efforts
Winner: Time Out Youth (Charlotte)
Best LGBT young adult leader (under 30)
Winner: Ricky Burns II (Charlotte)
Runner-up: Ryan Wilson (Columbia)
Best LGBT leader (Male)
Winner: Ian Palmquist (Raleigh)
Runner-up: Ryan Wilson (Columbia)
Best LGBT leader (Female)
Winner: Mandy Carter
Honorable Mention: Pamela Jones (Charlotte), Janet Joyner
(Winston-Salem), Addison Ore (Greensboro), Terri Pheonix
(Chapel Hill), Tonyia Rawls (Charlotte)
Best LGBT politican/elected official
Winner: Wade Boyles (Winston-Salem)
see next page >
LOCAL/REGIONAL: CHARLOTTE
Best LGBT-friendly, locally-owned restaurant
Winner: Dish
Runner-up: 300 East
Best LGBT-friendly, late-night
restaurant
Winner: Skyland
Runner-up: Hartigan’s Irish Pub
Best LGBT-friendly cheap eat
Winner: The Penguin
Best LGBT-friendly, locallyowned coffee shop
Winner: Smelly Cat Coffee House
Honorable Mention: Caribou Coffee
(East Blvd.)
Caribou Coffee actually received
more votes than Smelly Cat.
Technically, Caribou isn’t
locally-owned, but it got so many
votes, it definitely deserves an
honorable mention.
Best gay/lesbian club/bar
Winner: Scorpio
Best drag performer
Winner: Roxy C. Moorecox
Runner-up: Tiffany Storm
Best LGBT non-profit
Winner: Regional AIDS Interfaith Network, RAIN
Runner-up: Time Out Youth
Best LGBT young adult leader
(under 30)
Winners: Ricky Burns II, Clay Smith
Winner: Clay Smith
Winners: Pamela Jones, Debbie Warren
Best LGBT-affirming faith institution
Winners: Metropolitan Community Church of Charlotte,
New Life Metropolitan Community Church
17
2 0 0 9
Q L I S T
continued from previous page
LOCAL/REGIONAL: TRIANGLE
(RALEIGH, DURHAM, CHAPEL HILL)
Winners: Blue Corn Café (Durham),
The Burough (Raleigh),
Mad Hatter’s Bake Shop (Durham),
Rue Cler Restaurant and Bakery Café (Durham),
Frazier’s Bistro (Raleigh)
Best LGBT-friendly, late-night restaurant
Winner: The Borough (Raleigh)
Runner-up: Dain’s Place (Durham)
Winner: The Borough (Raleigh)
Runners-up:
Elmo’s Diner (Durham),
Mediterranean Deli (Chapel Hill)
Best LGBT-friendly, locally-owned coffee shop
Winner: The Third Place Coffee House (Raleigh)
Winners:
CC (Raleigh),
Steel Blue (Durham)
Runner-up: Legends
Best drag performer
Winners:
Liliana, Dana St. James
Winner: Equality NC
Winner: Justin Smith
Winners: Brian Ammons, Ian Palmquist
Winners: Mandy Carter, Terri Pheonix
Winners: Pullen Memorial Baptist Church (Raleigh),
St. John’s Metropolitan Community Church (Raleigh)
Runner-up: Calvary United Methodist Church (Durham)
18
LOCAL/REGIONAL: TRIAD (GREENSBORO, WINSTON-
SALEM, HIGH POINT)
Winner: West End Café (Winston-Salem)
Best LGBT-friendly, late-night
restaurant
Winner: Jan’s House (Greensboro)
Winner: Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers (Winston-Salem)
Winner: Caffe Prada (Winston-Salem)
Winner: Club Odyssey (Winston-Salem)
Runner-up: Warehouse 29 (Greensboro)
Best drag performer
Winner: Cass Westbrook
Runner-up: Paisley Parque
Winner: PFLAG Winston-Salem
Runner-up: Triad Health Project
Winner: Kate Mabe
Winner: Wade Boyles
Runner-up: Thomas Farmer
Winner: Susan Parker
Winner: Wake Forest Baptist Church (Winston-Salem)
Winner: Adriana’s Café and Gelateria
Winner: H20
Runner-up: The Cabaret
Best drag performer
Winner: Patti O’Furniture
Runner-up: Prince Dryden
Winner: Impact Columbia
Runner-up: South Carolina Pride Movement
Best LGBT young adult leader
(under 30)
Winner: Santi Thompson
Runner-up: Ryan Wilson
Winner: John Dawkins
Runner-up: Ed Madden
Winner: Beth Sherouse
Runners-up: Harriet Hancock, Nekki Shutt
Winner: Garden of Grace United Church of Christ
Runner-up: Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia Q
— Results compiled by Q-Notes staff
from qualified online ballots
collected April 3-May 13.
•••••••••••
Local/Regional: Columbia
Winner: Hunter Gatherer
Best LGBT-friendly, late-night restaurant
Winner: The Whig
Runner-up: Pop’s NY Pizza
Winner: The Whig
Thanks...
...to Q-Notes production intern Tim Dill, who has diligently
worked with our staff for the past eight weeks. The QList
logo you see gracing the pages of this issue — and so many
other behind-the-scenes accomplishments — are the result
of Tim’s imaginative work and creativity. Thanks so much,
TIm, for all your hard work!
19
P R I D E
0 9
Excited about Pride
Pride Charlotte organizers plan for
record event, anti-gays plan counter
CHARLOTTE — Organizers of one of the
largest LGBT Pride festival between
Washington, D.C., and Atlanta are gearing up
for what they anticipate as another record year
of growth.
Kicking off at the end of July, Pride
Charlotte brings with it a host of activities and
events. The mainstay of each year’s Pride celebrations, the Pride Charlotte
Festival, will take place on
Saturday, July 25 at Uptown’s
Gateway Village.
Anti-gay religious organizations are also gearing up. The
Coalition of Conscience, led by Dr.
Michael Brown of FIRE Church
and School of Ministry in
Concord, N.C., is planning a 1,000strong “God Has a Better Way”
worship and prayer event.
“What we hope to accomplish
is to send another message to the
city and to the lesbian and gay
community, in conjunction with
the gay pride event, that is really a
message of God’s love and God’s
goodness,” Brown told Q-Notes.
Brown said his group doesn’t plan on
doing any public preaching, as has been the
case with past anti-gay protests of Pride
Charlotte and other LGBT events.
“We plan to be engaging primarily in worship and prayer,” he said.“We do not plan on
being disruptive of the event itself. The goal is
to send a message that God does have a better
way and to surround the event with an atmosphere of worship and God’s presence.”
Clay Smith, one of Pride Charlotte’s 2009
co-chairs, told Q-Notes that Pride is about celebration and shouldn’t be about the conflict it
might create among certain portions of the
Charlotte community.
“We want everyone to be excited about
Pride and not necessarily the conflict that it
brings,” he said.“We aren’t necessarily making
a political statement.We are putting on a festival to celebrate who we are.”
Brown, whose group is the sole organizer
of the counter “God Has a Better Way” event,
said he will be getting the word out however
he can. He said those participating in his event
are churches and individuals who “share a
heart of love for the gay and lesbian community,” adding that,“under no circumstances
will anyone be allowed to participate who
does not share the same heart.”
Smith said the Pride Charlotte festival is a
family-oriented event and that anti-gay protesters really have no reason to be offended by
the festival.“You won’t see nude artists or
nude art.You won’t hear vulgar language from
the stage. Those are things to celebrate.”
He added,“We are there to have a good
time. I encourage everyone to come out and
have fun.”
Organizers have already planned to counter any resistance they receive from protesters.
As in years past, the “Partners in Peace” will
help to keep anti-gay protesters from interrupting the festival, which is being held on
20
private property.
“Speaking as someone who attended the
festival last year, the Partners in Peace handled
the protesters very smoothly,” Smith said.“I
can only imagine that it will be handled with
the same professionalism and grace this year.”
Smith said last year’s festival set record
attendance and that organizers “would love to
see that surpassed this year.”
Entertainment at the day-long festival
includes musician and poet Amy Steinberg,
singers Brendan Velasquez, Chrys Matthews,
Rodie Ray and Joshua Klipp, dancers Daniel
The
phantom’s
return
page 23
A memoir filled with joy
Aging N.C. writer revisits his youthful adventures at Oxford, his journey home
DURHAM — In a world crowded with
day, he taught a class on John Milton and finlittle more depressed than I am, but I can’t
memoirs recounting every sort of human
ished his daily physical therapy, required to
quite manage it.”
trial, Reynolds Price’s new book,“Ardent
stimulate blood circulation in his legs. Later,
He crossed his legs — grabbing a pants leg,
Spirits,” stands out
lifting, resting ankle on oppobecause of what it’s not.
site knee — and explained
It’s not a tale of adverwhy he wrote his new memoir:
sity or pain or loss. It is,
“I had loved those years of my
like its author, full of stolife so much.”
ries funny and wise. The
A new life at Oxford
book brings alive a time
“Ardent Spirits” begins in
in post-World War II
1955 as a 22-year-old Price,
England when a promisN.C. born and bred, says gooding young scholar could
bye to his widowed mother
have coffee with poet
and brother, boards an ocean
W.H.Auden, then run
liner and heads to England.
into J.R.R. Tolkien as he
Once there, he moves into
strolled to the bus stop.
Merton College and finds, to
Price, 76, has taught
his dismay, that 40 degrees
English at Duke
constitutes a reasonably warm
University, his alma mater,
room in midfor 51 years. He has pubwinter Britain.
lished more than three
He invests in
dozen books, won awards,
sweaters and
been inducted into the
spends huge
Reynolds Price speaks at a 2007 ceremony awarding him the Thomas Wolfe amounts to run
American Academy of
Prize at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Arts and Letters.
a space heater,
Photo Credit: Allie Mullin/UNC Department of English and Comparative Literature
He has also survived
causing a friend
spinal cancer, though the treatment that saved
he would teach a seminar on the gospels of
to quip that he’s growing
his life in the mid-’80s left him in a wheelchair,
Mark and John.
orchids and iguanas.
a paraplegic, dependent on live-in assistants.
Nearby, Price’s assistant, a recent Duke
“My prodigality kept me at
Now,North Carolina’s venerable man of letgraduate, waited until needed.
least from perishing of cold,” he
ters returns to some of the most colorful years in
Each year Price hires a new assistant, makwrites,“and I took a certain
his life — from 1955,when he begins studies as
ing it clear the job will last only 12 months “so
pleasure in being something of
a Rhodes scholar,to 1961,when he completes
they don’t get trapped in some old man’s illan outrageous college pet —
his first novel,“A Long and Happy Life.” The
ness and heartbreak.”
the Man Who Craves Heat.”
book,out Tuesday,is getting good reviews.James
Price lives with physical pain. But despite
“Ardent Spirits” is full of
Schiff,author of “Understanding Reynolds
the pain, the wheelchair and his quip about
such gems, evocative stories about friends,
Price,” calls it Price’s most compelling work since
heartbreak, he’s a man with a glass-half-full
professors and his landlady,Win, whose colorhis award-winning 1986 novel,“Kate Vaiden.”
disposition, full of gratitude and good cheer.
ful expressions would provide Price rich mateOn a recent spring afternoon, Price took a
“I love to laugh, love my friends, my famirial for his fiction. (When Price once combreak in his Duke office between classes. That
ly,” he said.“There are times when I try to get a
mented on a homely woman,Win quipped:
Gray and the Beledi Beat Dancers and the Gay
Men’s Chorus of Charlotte and One Voice
Chorus, among others. The event will feature
more than 100 vendors including businesses
and non-profits, food vendors, a children’s
area, DJ tent, beer and other refreshments and
two stages for entertainment.
Pride Charlotte organizers have been holding several Pride Charlotte Pageantry System
preliminaries. The winners of the preliminaries will compete at a final pageant at Scorpio
on July. The winner of the final will be
crowned Miss Pride Charlotte.
Sponsors and a full slate of official events
have yet to be officially announced; Q-Notes
plans on being an event sponsor.
In-depth: ‘God Has a Better Way’
Dr. Michael Brown of the Coalition of
Conscience will hold “God Has a Better Way”on
July 25, from Noon to 3 p.m.According to the
event’s website, those who will be a part of the
group’s prayer and outreach teams will meet at
First Baptist Church on Davidson St. in Uptown
at 11 a.m. Others will meet there at Noon for
prayer and instructions and walk to their final
destination for worship and more prayer.
Brown told Q-Notes he was unsure of the
final destination for the event.As this story
was being completed at press time, Q-Notes
was unable to reach city officials in charge of
event and protest permitting.
Their website says the group is looking for
“worshipers, intercessors, musicians, soulwinners, walkers, talkers and believers.”
The Coalition of Conscience is expecting
1,000 or more participants.
More information on the event and
Coalition of Conscience can be found online
at www.godhasabetterway.com and
www.coalitionofconscience.org. Q
— For more on Pride activities in Charlotte
and across the Carolinas visit Q-Notes’ Pride
2009 website at www.q-notes.com/pride/.
“Well you don’t look at the mantel while you’re
poking the fire, now do you?”)
Through connections, location and luck,
Price also runs into famous people regularly.
Brigitte Bardot turns up in front of him in a
movie theater. The room he rents from his landlady is just down the road from Tolkien’s house.
British writer Sir Stephen Spender accompanies him to a 1957 production of “Titus
Andronicus,” starring Vivien Leigh and husband Laurence Olivier.Afterward, as they
greet Leigh backstage, she encourages them to
say hello to Larry, still in his dressing room.
They knock, and one of world’s great actors
opens the door,“naked as jay.”
Like “Clear Pictures,” a memoir of his
childhood, and “A Whole New Life,” the story
of his cancer and recovery, Price’s new book
benefits from his potent memory for conversations and details.
Price isn’t a journal keeper,
but when he checked recollections against letters he sent his
mother during his Oxford
years, he found only tiny discrepancies. This cheered him,
he said, because he remembers the scandal over James
Frey’s memoir fabrications in
“A Million Little Pieces.”
“Oprah had made such a
deal about that guy a few
years ago, I thought,‘Don’t tell
a single lie.You’ll get caught.’”
A ‘fervent erotic relation’
In “Ardent Spirits,” Price
also writes about being a gay man, though he
prefers the term “queer.”
He held off until now, he said, because “I
wanted to be very careful about not invading
see Writer on 27
www.q-notes.com/qliving • QNotes
by Pam Kelley . The Charlotte Observer
Q - L I V I N G
A love song no one knows is gay
“Jersey Boys” — It is a classic American
tale, straight out of the 1960s. Recounting the
life and times of the hit group the Four
Seasons, this musical is a favorite among old
and young alike.
The musical will run in Raleigh June 24
through July 18 at Progress Energy Center. QNotes had the opportunity to speak to
Jonathan Hadley, who plays the Four Seasons’
bisexual producer Bob Crewe.A Charlotte
22
native and Myers Park High School graduate,
the openly gay Hadley attended the University
of North Carolina School of the Arts in
Winston-Salem and has been performing live
for two decades now.
Tell us a little bit about you. How’d
you get involved in theater?
It all started when I was five years old. I
worked with the Charlotte Children’s Theatre
and the Central Piedmont Summer Theatre. I
Q - L I V I N G
‘Phantom’ returns to the Queen City
did all that through high school and in college did a lot of classical training, which was
fantastic. I moved to New York and just
started auditioning. One of my first jobs was
in the original tour of “Into the Woods.” I got
to work with Steven Sondheim and
Charlotte Ray and all these wonderful people right out of school. That was a real gift.
When did you join up with the
“Jersey Boys” tour, and how is life
Actor DC Anderson on
Monsieur André
For the first time since 2001,the longest-running Broadway musical makes its triumphant
return to Charlotte:“The Phantom of the Opera”
Photo Credit:
Joan Marcus
Jonathan Hadley (left) as Bob Crewe
on the road?
I’ve been on the road now almost a year. Right
now I’m in Ft. Lauderdale — I’m forcing
myself to enjoy it. It has been a nice little
change. It is great being on the road, though,
and interesting to see how the show plays in
different cities. That’s been fun.
You play Bob Crewe in the musical.
Most people who maybe grew up listening to the Four Season or folks
who hear them now have no idea
who Bob is. What is it that drew you
to the character?
I knew probably about as much as you do or
anyone else — which was nothing (laughs).
Immediately after I got the script, though, I
was connected to the writing. It is such a great
script. The writers have done a wonderful job
creating and telling the stories of these characters. They are real people. Bob Crewe was
their lyricist, manager and producer. He was
really instrumental in creating that signature
Four Seasons sound.
Bob is described as the group’s “flamboyant” producer. Come on, we all
know that’s a big code word for gay.
Back in April, a writer for The South
Florida Blade, said Crewe’s character
is “the diva of Jersey Boys.” Does
Bob’s identity as gay or bi show
through in the musical at all?
Absolutely, it does.And as how Bob would
identity himself is up to him. There is an
accompanying book to the musical they sell in
the lobby. It tells the story of the Four Seasons
and the making of “Jersey Boys.” In that, Crewe
identifies himself as bisexual. Perhaps if we
saw him today, we’d probably immediately
identify him as a gay man, but this was 1963.
Perceptions were quite different.
I was reading an interview you gave
with InsideOut in Nashville this past
March. You talked a little bit about the
origin for “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”
Tell our readers about that story.
I love that story! I found out about it once I
joined the company.Personally,I have not met
Bob Crewe,but we have emailed.Others have
related this story to me,though.“Can’t Take My
Eyes Off You”was probably the most successful
pop song in the history of pop music and no one
even knows it was a gay love song! Bob Crewe
was trying to figure out the lyrics,pacing the
floor at night in his apartment and turned and
saw his young lover lying in the bed.The words
came to him immediately.He wrote the whole
thing that night,to a young lover.I just love it.
What do you think is the underlying,
compelling human story told by
“Jersey Boys” through the story of its
real life characters?
That’s a good question (laughs). Ultimately, it
is a story of perseverance. Frankie and Bob
Gaudio were just so struggling. It is also a
story of friendship — you see these guys’
friendship get them through a lot. Q
Bruce Winant as Firmin and D.C. Anderson
as André in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
will run at the Blumenthal Performing Arts
Center in Uptown,June 10-July 5.
Q-Notes had the opportunity to speak to
actor D.C.Anderson, who plays one of the two
theatre managers, Monsieur André. Born in
Chicago and raised outside of Cleveland, Ohio,
Anderson has been performing and acting for
decades. The veteran is more than excited to
come down to Charlotte for his first ever visit
to the Queen City.
How did you get started in acting
and musicals?
When I was in the sixth grade, I just knew that
I wanted to be an actor.At the time I was pretty much taken up with the idea of the attention an actor gets or something. I remember
cutting out a picture of an Academy Awards
winner from TV Guide and I put it on my
dresser. My mom asked about, why I had cut it
out. I told her,“It’ll sit there until the real one
takes its place.” (laughs)
So your parents were supportive of
your performing ambitions then?
Yes, my parents were supportive.When I was
in seventh grade I auditioned for a community
play. I was horrible. It was “Gideon” by Paddy
Chayefsky. I played the little boy with Gideon.
In the play, God is a character but the only person who sees him or hears him is Gideon. The
man playing the voice of God had this loud,
booming voice and every time he spoke, I
shook. It kind of got rid of the idea that God
couldn’t be heard by anyone else. (laughs)
In “Phantom” you play the character
Monsieur André. He and the other
manager are two characters that
audiences come to kind of love and
hate. You just can’t help but love
them, because they can be so funny.
What do you see in your character,
from the other side of the stage?
I think he is a lot like me. I kind of put together
this back story of him, that isn’t really a part of
the play. (laughs) His mother was a voice
teacher and she used to teach opera singers and
put me in my baby basket under the piano so
she could keep an eye on me when she was
teaching. I grew up to love the opera and had
this dream of owning the Paris Opera. Low and
behold, I meet this other guy, Firmin, who has
the resources to take over a theater.We form a
partnership when the old owner vacates his
position. Of course, we don’t know why he is
leaving, but it is certainly a boon for me. But the
place is haunted and people are dying and we
are just trying to keep the performances alive.
The two characters are just two people working
very hard to keep opera alive in Paris, while the
performers are dying all around them.
So, you’ve never been to Charlotte?
No, but I’m really looking forward to it. I have
a friend who performed there. He liked it so
much that he actually purchased a condo and
is planning to return there for retirement.
Well, you’ll be here for four weeks.
You’ll definitely have to get out and
see the town.
That’ll be great! Q
23
Q - L I V I N G
Q - L I V I N G
On being a gay parent
General Gayety
by Brett Webb-Mitchell
by Leslie Robinson
Contributing Writer
Gay Parents’ Day?
I was mesmerized by the conversation around the
Church’s governing board as we discussed what we would
give the men of the congregation for Father’s Day.As a pastor
for over 25 years, I’ve heard this conversation many times,
always with the same formula being used: the “mothers” —
a.k.a., all women in the church regardless of whether or not
they have children — will get a carnation on Mother’s Day.
Fathers — meaning all men in the church — will get an
industrial drafting pencil for their workshop. This discussion
focused on a charming deviation from the norm: giving men
a small pocket size carabiner that would possibly have the
church’s name printed on them.“Nice gift,” I said with an
almost imperceptible measure of incredulity in the tone of
my voice. No one seemed to notice this around the table.
As I thought about this inaugural column, it was this
awkward event that sprung to mind: being in the middle of
this conversation and feeling out of place with these gifts for
Mother’s and Father’s Days, even as a dad of two children. I
wouldn’t have minded the carnation myself. I like a live
flower or a small bouquet of wild flowers on my desk,
kitchen windowsill, dining table, on a bedside table to look at
in the morning when first rousing. The last thing I need is a
small carabiner or many of the other token gifts associated
with men in a congregation. In our society — in and out of
communities of faith — we fall easily to the preconceived
notions and ideas of what it means to be a mom and a dad,
regardless if we are gay or straight.And gifts on these days
reflect the assumptions of both gender and parenting we live
with daily, passing them down from one generation to the
next.
It was at this church meeting that it struck me: What is it
that we who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender who are
moms and dads want on these specially carved out days of
the American hit parade of holidays? How do we want to be
recognized? Should we establish a Gay Parents’ Day? What are
the cards we would purchase for one another or that our children would purchase? What would be the image on the front
of a card? Would it play into stereotypes of gay dads going to
Broadway shows with our children in hand? Lesbian moms
and children all wearing matching flannel clothes?
As Mother’s and Father’s Days were created in the early
part of the 20th century as society’s way of honoring our parents, consider what it would mean to carve out and honor
LGBTQ parents with a Gay Parents’ Day. Perhaps, for a short
time, we would honor those LGBTQ parents in our society for
being pioneers in a day and age when the only visible role
models of parenting were straight parents.While there will
be some commercialization of the day — with appropriate
cards for the occasion — it would be a day of telling our
story of what it was and is like being a gay parent in a world
largely populated by straight parent images.We would tell of
how we are singled out in public schools as the “lesbian parents” while no one describes the others as “straight parents.”
We would describe the small jabs our children live with in
their social groups when others find out that their parents
are gay. And, we would describe the joys and often the normalcy of simply being family.
As more states pass equal rights marriage bills or legislation for domestic civil unions, I hereby propose one day of
the year in which we honor LGBTQ parents and families.
Happy Gay Parent Day to one and all! Q
Fighting the good fight
against DADT
only online
• Men’s Health & Wellness
• Keeping it ‘Real’ –
Vanessa Williams
• Money Matters
more at q-notes.com!
24
It feels like a whole lot of nothing is happening in
Washington to rid us of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The President
hasn’t rushed to fulfill his campaign promise to kick the policy to the curb. Some administration officials can’t even see
the curb. On Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy
has been unable to find a Republican colleague to cosponsor
a bill lifting the ban.
It’s time for the gay community to adopt a new approach.
Let’s stop arguing that allowing gays and lesbians to serve
openly in the United States military is a matter of civil rights
or fairness. Let’s abandon logic and cease pointing out how
harmful it is to our national security that the military keeps
ejecting, for instance,Arab linguists.
Let’s emphasize that this policy makes the U.S.A. inferior.
To Uruguay.
Yes, that petite Latin American country is now ahead of
us, having moved to lift its ban on gays in the military.
It’s a blow to our national pride.We’re lagging behind a
country that, on a map, looks like the buttocks of South
America.
Uruguay’s gay ban was a relic of the 1973-85 military dictatorship. The law included homosexuality among the “mental illnesses and disorders” that made a person unfit for the
armed forces.
The new decree says sexual orientation is no longer
grounds to keep people from joining the military.
Altogether now, I want to hear every red-blooded American
chant,“We’re not number one! We’re not number one!”
We’re not number two either. Scads of countries have
leaped ahead of us. It’s just plain embarrassing.
Earlier this year another South American nation,
Argentina, jettisoned its ban on gays in the military. Days
later the Philippines did the same.What a week. Not one, but
two countries outdistanced us.We earned ourselves a double
helping of humble pie.
Really, that week should have been enough to get
Americans hopping mad over being trumped by countries
that don’t have the decency to revere football.
The gay community played it wrong.We shouldn’t have
calmly pointed out that nations around the world are making
the sensible choice for their militaries. Instead, we should’ve
harangued our fellow Americans, shamed them, demanded
to know how they can put up with being left in the dust by
countries no one can spell.
After attacking their patriotism, it might’ve been advantageous to question their bravery, too. These podunk countries aren’t afraid of change.Are Americans so lily-livered
that we’re paralyzed by homos serving openly? Is the
strongest military in the world actually made up of a bunch
of wusses?
In addition to Uruguay,Argentina and the Philippines,
other countries that have shot ahead of us include Canada,
Israel,Australia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and more.
My favorite is Bermuda. The Bermuda Regiment doesn’t
discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and Regiment
members aren’t allowed to harass gay soldiers. In actuality, discrimination within the ranks is tolerated, but at least the teeny
island nation has seen fit to put an affirmative policy in place.
Which means that we’ve been bested by a military whose
fiercest enemy is persistent seagulls.
There’s another way of looking at this issue.Instead of
focusing on those nations that allow gays to serve in the military,we could focus on those that explicitly ban them.“Don’t
Ask,Don’t Tell”isn’t precisely a ban,but it’s close,so we have
much in common with Egypt,Syria,Peru,Singapore and others.
The others include Cuba, Iran and North Korea.Axis of
Evil party boys.“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has us keeping company with the enemy. Blech. Q
info: LesRobinsn@aol.com . www.GeneralGayety.com
25
Q - L I V I N G
Drag Rag
by Miss Della . Contributing Writer
Pageant news, wisdom and sentiment abound!
Oh, kids, here I go again — rounding up
the tea from coast to coast and we have so
much to cover in such short time and space.We
have two new national titleholders to welcome,
as well as a plethora of local contests as well.
Digging right in,congrats are in order for
LaWanda Jackson,our newest Miss Classic
U.S.ofA.LaWanda,as you know,is a former Miss
Scorpio.Her runners-up were Amber Nixx,Kofi,
Nicole DuBois,Sharde Ross (a former Miss NC
America),Penny Holiday,Dina Jacobs (not Dena
Cass as I mentioned in the last Rag,thank you),
Alexis LaRue,Camille Lamour,Christiana
Sinclair,Jewel Holiday and Christina Chase.
The following Friday night, a fierce Stasha
Sanchez delivered a talent production worthy of
the Miss Gay U.S.ofA. crown. She wore it out
that night and got a standing ovation to boot.
Her RUs included Natasha Braxton, Coti
Collins, Dorae Saunders and Dominique
Sanchez. The others in Top 12 were Leyla
Edwards O’Hara, Sahara Davenport, Taryn
Taylor, Naomi St. James, Tiffany Richards,
Amaya Mann and Teonia Steele. Dorae and Coti
got perfect scores in Interview. The Best NonFinalist and Most Beautiful was Angel Cavalli.
Winners of prelims in other systems
include Visa D’Kline, the new
Eastern Michigan Regional EOY and Miss
Iowa U.S.ofA. at Large Melissa Monet with RU
Nova Starr. Tiffany McCray is the new Miss
Southeast Continental held in Orlando at
Revolution and some old news that I forgot to
mention — Malaysia Black is Miss Atlanta
World International. On the same night, Monte
St. James won the Mr. and Tahjee Iman won
the At-Large contest. Her RU was Amaya. Miss
Heart of America, the most recent prelim to
Miss Gay America, was won by Coco
Montrese. Her RU was Sasha Leigh Chambers.
On the local scene, Jessica Jade is the new
Miss Triad Pride and her RUs were Malayia
Chanel and On-stage winner was Janice
Covington. That same night, the Mr. contest
was held and Mystic Parque won with RU
Gemini Walker. Miss Mecklenburg County
America is Starla DaVinci with RU Detra
Penucci. Miss Raleigh is Vanessa Cottrell. The
new Miss Scandals is Vivica Dupree with RUs
Manhattan and Forbidden. Recent winners to
Miss Zodiac include Miss Aries Adrian Griffin
and her RU Natalie Rodriguez and Miss
Taurus Sierra Leone with RU Carmendy.
Felicia Monet won Miss Scorpio Pride.
In closing, I wanted to mention a conversation I had with our Miss NC U.S.ofA., Brooke
Divine, on her first trip ever to a national contest. This young queen has been performing
for eight years, and while she has come a long
way and achieved many dreams, as it turns
out, she was not quite ready for what she
would be thrust into at Miss Gay U.S.ofA.As it
ends up, winning wasn’t what she thought it
would be — it ended up being a “headache
and a broken heart.” Regardless, she says it’s
still a job and she has goals and views on how
to help the system return to it’s former glory.A
reference she has made in an interview before
would be that of The House of NC. She doesn’t
want to tear down what has been built by the
former winners and promoters, she wants to
build and make it stronger and go in and
clean or gussy things up.Another aspect she
wants to focus on would be to help the
younger impersonators reach the very goal she
has attained. She considers herself approachable and humble and wants to inspire others
because people always “speculate and exaggerate.” She advises young queens to be strong so
they can reach their goals.As for her experience on the national level, she says it was completely different from watching it on YouTube
or a DVD.Without the support team that most
girls in the Top 12 had, she says the experience
was overwhelming. Her fears were alleviated
by meeting wonderful, caring people who
seemed to care and wanted to see others do
Q - L I V I N G
well. She also thinks in hindsight that one
needs years of experience, planning and promoting, too. She also says she had a blast!
Brooke has asked me to thank several folks
who have helped her possibly in the past, present or maybe even in the future, like NC
U.S.ofA. pageantry, all former Misses NC,
Zodiac Entertainment,Augusta II, Teresa,
Jerry Bird, U.S.ofA. system, myself, Tamisha
Iman, Erika Norell,Alyssa Edwards, Tommie
Ross, Shae Shae LaReese, Tanisha Cassadine,
Tajma Hall, Ron Tankersley and the national
office for helping her reach her dreams.Also,
to Amber Rochelle, Tracy Morgan (RIP),
Sasha, Petite de Jonville,Amaya and to all of
her friends who go unnamed for the love and
support through the years that all of them
have given in so many different ways. Brooke
will be travelling as Miss NC U.S.ofA. until her
step-down and afterwards plans to move on to
the next phase in her career. She’s planning on
moving eventually and returning to college.
The move would be to allow her to spread her
wings and succeed.
Finally, it is with heavy heart that I learned
of the passing of a legend in our own time,
Miss Farrah McCrae of VA. She was probably
one of the winningest female impersonators in
the industry ever. Outside of the hundreds of
crowns that she won in her career, probably two
of the most popular would be Miss NC U.S.ofA.
and Miss Classique. Lord, rest her soul. Q
info: Drop me a line, OK? . The TeaMissD@yahoo.com
Writer revisits youthful adventures at Oxford
from page 21
anyone else’s privacy or making anyone more
unhappy than seemed necessary.”
Now that many in his past are dead, he
treats the subject straight on. He had known
he was attracted to men since he was teenager,
he writes, though as a young man, he was
hardly promiscuous. His total number of sexual acts was so low it “would have shamed a
robust Chaucerian friar.”
In Oxford, he had his first “quite fervent
erotic relation” with a man eight years older.
“Despite the fact that I’d turned 25 in
February, it was my first experience of employing my body in one of its grandest jobs.”
Later, back in North Carolina for his military
draft physical, he fills out a questionnaire asking,“Do you now have or have you ever had…?”
followed by a list that includes measles, epileptic
seizures, syphilis, nervous breakdown, prison
sentence, homosexual relations.
He checks all appropriate boxes, prompting a young Navy doctor to point to “homo-
sexual relations” and ask:“Have you consulted
a psychiatrist about this problem?”
“Sir,” Price replies,“I’ve never felt the need.”
Then, in a comic moment of overkill, he
hands the Navy man a letter from his family
physician attesting to his “lifetime history of
serious respiratory allergies.”
Minutes later, the doctor tells him he’s
unfit for military service.
To this day, Price said, he’s not sure if it
was homosexuality or allergies that kept him
out of the service. Either way,“I don’t think
I’ve ever heard a sentence that I more
enjoyed hearing.”
From England to Durham
The subtitle of “Ardent Spirits” is “Leaving
Home, Coming Back.” As it suggests, Price’s
story comes full circle.
He leaves North Carolina to see the world,
but comes home to make a career at Duke. He
sails to Oxford to study Milton, then returns to
teach in Durham for the rest of his career.
On a recent morning, Price sat before more
than 20 undergraduates who spent the spring
studying Milton with him.
Price was a Duke student himself when he
fell in love with Milton’s ornate language.At
Oxford, he wrote his thesis on “Samson
Agonistes.” (And, in a tidbit of interest to his
students, he explains in his memoir how illness and procrastination nearly caused him to
miss his thesis deadline.)
In class, Price spoke Samson’s lines in his
rich baritone — “This one prayer yet remains,
might I be heard, No long petition — speedy
death” — sounding, indeed, like an Oxfordeducated intellect.
But that formidable persona didn’t linger.
The discussion grew lively as Price lobbed
questions and students offered answers on the
motivations of Dalila, Samson’s estranged wife.
Price, too, had a few thoughts about the
couple.“Apparently,” he said,“they were good
sexual partners.”
More to accomplish
On days he’s not teaching, Price usually
writes; but with a book tour beginning, he’s
taking a break. He plans to return to his desk
midsummer.“I haven’t finished accomplishing
what I want to accomplish.”
He wants to write, especially, about surviving 25 years of chronic pain. He still hears from
readers inspired and encouraged by “A Whole
New Life,” his memoir of cancer and recovery.
He continues to live by a bit of wisdom
learned at Oxford, from a professor quoting
his mother on her deathbed.“I only regret my
economies,” she told her son.
Price’s interpretation is this: Do what you
want to do, love the people you want to love.
Splurge when you can.
“Few things I’ve heard,” he writes,“have ever
been wiser or of greater use in my own long
life; and I pass the story on, every chance I get,
to my younger friends and students – the story
and the words it embodies (with a pronoun
change): You’ll only regret your economies.” Q
— Originally published in The Charlotte
Observer, May 10, 2009.
Reprinted with permission.
Triangle Area
Around The Carolinas
26
27
Q - L I V I N G
Tell Trinity
by Trinity . Contributing Writer
items from your life
together. It also takes
finding new friends or
connecting with old
(pre-war relationship)
ones. Being single, then
a couple then back to
single again is like being Miss Scarlet then
Mrs. Scarlet O’Hara-Butler then just Miss
O’Hara alone, with a whole plantation to care
for. (Check out my cartoon and see how to
grab a handful of dirt from Tara and dig in,
oh, I mean, move on.)
Dear Trinity,
I just started dating someone who’s into
leather and uniforms. I’m not “vanilla,” but I’m
really not into all that stuff. Do you think this
could work out or am I wasting my time dealing
with someone else’s fetishes?
Yours, Fetish Foes, Chicago, Ill.
Dear FF,
Doesn’t it seem like everyone’s either into
something, getting out of something or getting handcuffed to something? Now, just
before you say “no” to cottons, leathers or
polyesters, I must tie you down to a few questions. First, could you try being open to his or
her desires if it was just once in a while, knowing that everyone has some “thing” wild about
themselves and most people only practice
their wild side once in a while? Second, could
he or she be allowed to have a “fetish” while
you’d be allowed to not have one? Besides
opposites do slap, I mean attract.And, lastly,
darling, are you a fool for not wanting to date
a cop, soldier, sailor and/or cowboy all rolled
into one?
Hello Trinity,
My boyfriend drives too fast. We fight about
it all the time. Do you have any witty suggestions
to get him to slow down?
Thanks, Driving Hell, Portland, Ore.
Hello Driving Hell,
Besides reading a book or laying down in
the backseat while he drives, you may also
want to take your own car. Otherwise, pumpkin, try reading him:
Get married first! Live together!
Help!
Hey Trinity,
My boyfriend wants to live together first
before getting married. I was raised differently.
Should people live together before marriage?
Marriage Tryouts, New Haven, Conn.
Hey Marriage Tryouts,
Unless your parents are generously
wealthy and religious and bribing you to
marry first, why not start by living together?
Gay couples in most states are not allowed to
marry, yet live together with lots of success.
It gives great insight into what you’ll be fearing, I mean facing. Honey, in the days before
Woodstock and free love, couples were
expected to marry first. Now, the opposite is
not only acceptable, it’s respectable. Before I
say,“I do,” I always try living together first
just to make sure I’m not getting an oversexed musclehead. Hey, that doesn’t sound
so bad!
Dearest Trinity,
After five years together he moved out. I’m
trying to move on with my life, but everything I
own has memories of our relationship. We even
share friends. Any ideas on moving on?
Forward March, Columbus, Ohio
Dearest Forward March,
Moving on after a relationship of any
amount of time and emotional value takes
Trinity’s Speedy Tips For Knowing
When You’re Driving Too Fast
(You’re on the highway and…)
weeks, months, sometimes even a year or
more (if you’re crazy). Moving on takes
endurance, self-esteem and most importantly,
sweetie, it takes removing all memorable
28
1. Everyone appears to be driving real slow.
2. The passengers in your car are shaking
and crying.
3. People are waving at you to slow down.
4.You’ve changed lanes over five times in the
last minute.
5.You can see the hairs on the back of the
neck of the driver ahead.
6.Your heart’s racing, your palms are sweating and you’re punching the dashboard
screaming,“Move it! Move it!”
7.You’re passengers are on their cell phones
with their next of kin saying goodbye.
8. There are four cop cars behind you with
their sirens on.
9. Everyone in front of you is pulling over so
you can pass.
10. Lastly, your passengers are ripping the
airbags out of the dashboard. Q
— With a Masters of Divinity, Reverend Trinity
was host of “Spiritually Speaking,” a weekly
radio drama, and now performs globally.
info: www.telltrinity.com . Trinity@telltrinity.com
Tell Trinity, P.O. Box 23861 . Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33307
Sponsored by: Provincetown Business Guild
800-637-8696 . www.ptown.org
Q - L I V I N G
Out in the Stars
by Charlene Lichtenstein
June 13-26
Jupiter, the planet of luck and expansion retrogrades.Anything that is over the top will spill over
in a flood. When does too much become too, too
much? Just wait and see.
GEMINI (05.22-06.21) Hold off on any travel
plans if you can, pink Twin. Not only will you find
yourself embroiled in some international incident, you can also find yourself in situations that
require a herculean effort to undo. Kick up your
feet closer to home and revel in the simple pleasures of take-out and foreign movie rentals to
quell your exotic tastes.Anyone we know?
CANCER (06.22-07.23) A simple flirtation can
turn into much, much more, so be careful where
you point your gaydar. Queer Crabs are apt to go
head over claws for the wrong type. (Do you actually have a “wrong type?”) Before your heart is
used as a welcome mat, take note of what you are
really looking for in a love match.When in doubt,
check their pay stub.
LEO (07.24-08.23) Partnerships may have their
amazingly great times and their very stressful
times over the next few weeks. Try to maneuver
through these high highs and low lows with a
practical perspective. Proud Lions can often be
too dramatic for their own good. This is the time
to tamp down on excessive displays and maintain
a cool and calm mien. Too late!
VIRGO (08.24-09.23) A little job that, at first
blush, seems easy enough will wind up not being
easy at all. So avoid volunteering for any task at
work. In fact, if you can avoid work altogether it
might be worth the vacation days.But,if you are tied
to your desk, try to be inconspicuous, stay in the
background and appear to be busy as a bee.Let others have the buzz.
LIBRA (09.24-10.23) Proud Libras may find
that a little fun suddenly turns into way too
much fun. You can be sucked into the vortex of
the party-hearty life. While there are worse pitfalls in life, how high do you have to fly before
your wings get clipped? Moderation is key but it
may be difficult to tell when you have crossed
the line. You test the outer limits of your consumption. Burp.
SCORPIO (10.24-11.22) What seems easy is
not. Home-based chores become out-of-control
giant projects before you realize it. So, avoid
starting anything on the domestic. Queer Scorps
might also avoid any important family discussions now. Nothing you say can be contained
and emotions can run high. Why not escape
while the escaping is good? Air fares are low.
SAGITTARIUS (11.23-12.22) Watch what you
say, how you say it
and who you say it
. Contributing Writer to. Gay Archers have
ho of in mouth.
Snide comments and raw opinions find their
way to the front page. Anything you say can and
will be held against you. So, instead of fanning
the air, let your actions speak louder and prouder than your words. That is until you knock
something over.
CAPRICORN (12.23-01.20) Budgets are made
to be broken.At least, that is what you think. Pink
Caps are not usually spendthrifts, but now you
splurge on anything and anyone. While this has
some immediate positive impact on your popularity, it is a bad long-term strategy for personal
success. Too, too soon the bills will come due and
then who will be there to feed you peeled grapes
and man the fans?
AQUARIUS (01.21-02.19) Aqueerians make a
huge splash on the social scene. So much so that
they displace water in the pool. Is this the best
first impression that you can make on the high
and mighty? Rather than boss the course, try to
blend into the background and make your mark
in soft shades of gray. There is plenty of time to
move into the forefront and wow the masses. Just
not now.
PISCES (02.20-03.20) Guppies with a need to
keep quiet will be unable to do so. There are no
secrets around you as you inadvertently spill the
beans. But, maybe this is a good thing. There
shouldn’t be too many deep and abiding secrets
to suppress. Intuitively you know that unloading your baggage is good for your long-term
peace of mind. Pull off the bandaid and let the
healing begin.
ARIES (03.21-04.20) If rambunctious friends
begin to get under your skin, expect to have to
scratch the itch. Proud Rams fall in with a
loud, proud crowd and allow themselves to be
carried off on a wave of mischief and pure
recklessness. Will you ride this massive flowe
like an expert or eventually wash off on the
shore like so much wreckage? I suppose it
could be worse.
TAURUS (04.21-05.21) Tread carefully in your
career lest you take a small step off the ladder.
Queer Bulls don’t realize the power of their
actions and the implications of their decisions at
this time. But, there is a lot you can accomplish
behind the scenes where your ambition can be
controlled. Simply plan your course of action and
let the scheme simmer for a while before you
implement it. Q
© 2008 Madam Lichtenstein, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Entertainment.
info: Visit www.TheStarryEye.com for e-greetings,
horoscopes and Pride jewelry. My book “HerScopes: A Guide
To Astrology For Lesbians” from Simon & Schuster is
available at bookstores and major booksites.
29
Q - L I V I N G
Out and About . compiled by Q-Notes staff
Events and happenings across the Carolinas
Community Centers
Charlotte Lesbian & Gay
Community Center
annual spring concert. UNC School of the Arts,
Watson Chamber Music Hall, 1533 Main St. 8 p.m.
$12 advance/$15 at the door. 336-589-6267.
www.triadpridemenschorus.org.
704-333-0144
www.gaycharlotte.com
June 21 • Durham
Harriet Hancock Center
See June 20 for details. First Presbyterian Church, 305
E. Main St. 3 p.m. $15. www.tgmchorus.org.
803-771-7713
www.scpride.org
BraveSouls & Dreamers.
June 21 • Folly Beach
OutWilmington GLCC
Big Gay Beach Day
910-762-4717
www.outwilmington.com
Organizers guarantee it’ll be the biggest beach
party in South Carolina. Presented by Charleston
Area Mpowerment Project (CHAMP), festivities
include dancing, DJ, prizes, volleyball and the
group’s annual “tug ‘o’ war” pitting the lesbians
against gay men. Donations acccepted. No pets
allowed on beach. Alcohol is permitted. 1600 E.
Ashley Ave. Free. For more information call Stoo at
843-744-4062.
The Center Project
843-626-4953
www.thecenterproject.com
Upcoming Events:
June 13 • Greensboro
Our Favorites and Yours
June 27 • Charlotte
The Triad Pride Men’s Chorus celebrates its 10th
annual spring concert. Greensboro Day School Sloan
Theater, 5401 Lawndale Dr. 8 p.m. $12 advance/$15 at
the door. 336-589-6267.
www.triadpridemenschorus.org.
Join RuPaul and other live acts for great drinks, fabulous food and wonderful fun, celebrating Pride on the
day of Stonewall’s 40th anniversary. NoDa neighborhood, N. Davidson St. and 36th. 4 p.m. Q
June 13 • Winston-Salem
‘Pedro’
Winston-Salem’s OUT at the Movies will screen
Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black’s “Pedro,”
a film depicting the life of openly gay, HIV-positive
MTV “Real World” star Pedro Zamora. Proceeds benefit UNCSA School of Filmmaking and the Adam
Foundation.ACE Theatre Complex, UNCSA, 1533 S.
Main St. 8 p.m. $5.
June 18 • Columbia
‘Rocky Horror’
Trustus Theatre presents a special SC Pride stage performance of “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Proceeds
benefit the Harriet Hancock Community Center.
Trustus Theatre, 520 Lady St. 7:30 p.m. $40 in
advance. shop.scpride.org.
Rainbow Fest
info: Announce your community event in Out & About.
email: outandabout@q-notes.com.
Upcoming Pride Festivals
June 18-21 • Columbia
SC Black Pride
Featuring Mr. and Miss Pride pageants, welcome
reception, Black LGBT film fest and town hall,
HIV/AIDS awareness events and community expo.
www.southcarolinablackpride.com.
June 20 • Spartanburg
Upstate Pride
Featuring a parade and community festival.
upstatepride.homestead.com.
July 3-5 • Myrtle Beach
Grab the Mic!
Myrtle Beach Pride
Sing Out! Youth Chorus, the Gay Men’s Chorus of
Charlotte, Time Out Youth and Charlotte Coalition for
Social Justice present “Grab the Mic!,” a LGBT-friendly
talent competition for youth ages 15-21. Unitarian
Universalist Church of Charlotte, 234 N. Sharon Amity
Rd. www.gmccharlotte.org.
July 16-19 • Charlotte
Invincible Summer
One Voice Chorus presents their concert,“Invincible
Summer,” celebrating heroes of all types and featuring
a welcome reception and silent auction.
Booth Playhouse, 130 N. Tryon St. 7 p.m.
www.onevoicechorus.com.
June 20 • Raleigh
‘BraveSouls & Dreamers’
Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus presents the North
Carolina premiere of “BraveSouls & Dreamers,” a dramatic cantata about the physical and spiritual consequences of war and the need for peace. Pullen
Memorial Baptist Church, 1801 Hillsborough St.
8 p.m. $15. www.tgmchorus.org.
June 20 • Winston-Salem
Our Favorites and Yours
The Triad Pride Men’s Chorus celebrates its 10th
Featuring a pageant and happy hour, day festival
and nighttime activities.
myrtlebeachpride.com.
Charlotte Black Gay Pride
Featuring a town hall meeting in conjunction
with Time Out Youth, diva party, Pride parties
and community expo.
www.charlotteblackgaypride.com.
July 25 • Charlotte
Pride Charlotte
Featuring a day-long festival with local and
regional entertainment, several pre-Pride events
including Miss Pride Charlotte pageants, mass
choral concert and more. Festival entertainment
includes musician and poet Amy Steinberg,
singers Brendan Velasquez, Chrys Matthes,
Joshua Klipp and Rodie Ray, dancers Daniel Gray
and the Beledi Beat Dancers, and more.
www.pridecharlotte.com.
Visit Q-Notes’ Pride 2009 website at
www.q-notes.com/pride/ for more on
upcoming Prides and the Pride Charlotte
Pageantry System.
Don’t Miss This
Charlotte • Live at the Caribou
Join your friends at one of Charlotte’s favorite LGBT-friendly coffee
houses, Caribou Coffee on East, for live entertainment every
Saturday night starting at 8:30 p.m. The fun kicked off on June 6
and continues through the summer. Caribou Coffee, 1531 East Blvd.
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Transcription

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