Q-NOTES
Switchboard, Charlotte 704/525-6128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte 704/333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte 704/364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia 803/779-PALS
Call Linp. Wilmington 919/675-9222
August 1988 ^
PRIDE IN PRINT I
TO ADVERTISE: 339-0679
BEST BETS
Aug. 11
VIDEO Drag Returns -
Charades
Aug. 12
Pizza Party - Stevens
Aug. 19
PWA Benefit - Scorpio
Aug. 21
Bingo at Stevens
Aug. 26
Grand Prix, Tracy Morgan
- Oleen's
Aug. 27
MCC Charlotte Pot Luck
Supper
INDEX
Page 2
Calendar and
Organizations
Page 4
The Soft Spot
Pages
Steve Madison looks for
Gay Theater
Page 6
Miss Lillian and Mr. Gay
Charlotte
Page 7
A Reflective Look at
Leonard Matlovich
Page 7
Business Cards and
Q-Notes Classifieds
Man Walks
For AIDS
Research
By Chris Barkley
Q-Notes Staff
In an effort to raise ten million dollars for
AIDS research over the next three years, Bill
Mole is walking around the world - 25,000
miles. The journey which has already brought
him over six hundred miles is sponsored by
the World Health ORganization for AIDS
Research.
Mole's campaign, aptly dubbed "The Race
Against Time," began on May 22 in New
York City and will take him through 35
countries in the next three years.
To organize local fundraising Mole has
appointed "goodwill ambassadors" in each
of the 125 cities worldwide where he plans to
stop. Local ambassador, Ed Klaven, is al
ready recruiting participants and soliciting
sponsors for Charlotte's first fundraising
event, a bike-a-thon to Winston-Salem on
August 21. Other activities will include a
10k walk/mn in March 1989.
Mole would like to raise $25,000 pei city
between now and 1991 to reach the
$10,000,000 goal. All funds raised will go to
the World Health Organization.
Leonard Matlovich, Gay Leader, Dies
By Richard Epson
Q-Notes Staff
Leonard Matlovich, 44, a prominent na
tional gay rights activist and war hero, died
June 22, due to complications from AIDS.
Matlovich enlisted in the Air Force in
1963. During the Vietnam War, he was
awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
He said that one of the medals was awarded
after he killed two Viet Cong fighters while
on sentry duty. After the war. Technical
Sergeant Matlovich was assigned duty at
Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. While
there he openly declared his being gay and in
1975 was pictured on the cover of Time
magazine next to the words, "I am a homo
sexual."
Ina widely publicized courts-martial, the
Air Force responded by awarding him a
general discharge, but Matlovich sued and in
1980 received an honorable discharge along
with a $160,000 settlement. He then became
0
■wpi
an outspoken gay rights activist and in recent
years spent his time lobbying on behalf of
AIDS victims as well as speaking out on
numerous other gay-related issues. He was
also host of a radio weekly discussion pro
gram in Guemeville, California. Matlovich
and Ken McPherson, another gay rights ac
tivist, recently formed the Never Forget
Foundation, which erects monuments to gay
community leaders.
Matlovich's life was the subject of a tele
vision movie and a biography has been writ
ten by San Francisco writer Mike Hippier.
Matlovich was diagnosed with Acquired
Immune Syndrome (AIDS) in 1986. He died
at the home of a friend in North Hollywood,
California, where he had moved in April
from San Francisco. He was buried with full
military honors in Congressional Cemetery
in Washington, D.C., on July 2.
Editor's Note: Articles in The Charlotte
Observer, The Washington Post, and Time
Magazine, and Associated Press wire re
ports were used in preparation of this story.
2000 Plus March In Raleigh
By Joel N. Smith
Q-Notes Staff
Over two thousand marchers bravely
chanted and sang their way through the streets
of Raleigh, NC, on Saturday, June 19. The
North Carolina Lesbian and Gay Pride March
'88 was sponsored by the Triangle Lesbian
and Gay Alliance (TLGA). Pride Marches
were held in Durham in 1986 and 1987 but
neither covered the scope of gays and lesbi
ans in North Carolina as did this year's march.
The participants personified the march theme
of diversity and unity.
Men, women, children, pets, and a few
unaware passersby mingled in Pullen Park
before the marchers began falling into place
shortly before noon. The anxiety caused by
the unknown whch awaited the marchers
along the planned route was visible on many
faces. Softly and with an uncertainty the
chants of "gay rights...now" and "homopho
bia's gotta go" began to rise, followed by
hymns from the gay and lesbian religious
organizations.
The anxiety and timidity of the crowd
dispersed the march's first and most visible
adversaries: an angry evangelist shouting
to:
m
LA
condemnations and a self-styled martyr
bearing a fifteen-foot wooden cross. Pard-
leling the route of the march, at a respectable
distance, he bore his burden the duration of
the march aided by a small wheel at the
bottom of the icon.
The march passed both the Republican
and Democratic headquarters where the
marchers chanted to the spectators: "We
vote...We vote."
Several notables either spoke or per
formed, including Nan Hunter of the Les
bian and gay Rights Project of the ACLU;
Michael Mauk of the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force; writer Armistead
Maupin; and local favorite and philanthro
pist Brandy Alexander.
Delta Meets With Community Reps
By Craig Nelms
Q-Notes Staff
Members of Charlotte's Gay and Lesbian
community met on July 8 with Dr. Basil
Delta, director of the Mecklenburg County
Health Department, to discuss efforts to
control AIDS in the Charlotte area. In atten
dance were Rev. Lynn Guerra, MCC Char
lotte; Sandra Bailey, PFLAG; Don King,
The Front Page; Jim Yarbrough and Craig
Nelms of Q-Notes; Dr. Delta, Dr. Stephen
Keener, and several health educators.
Dr. Delta was asked to address just what
the health department is doing. In the near
future, some new programs may begin if the
health department receives a $35,000 grant
it has applied for in conjunction with Metro-
lina AIDS Project (MAP).
The grant money would be used for edu
cational efforts aimed at gay and bi-sexual
men, and for support groups for HIV-posi
tive individuals. This grant proposal was
originally submitted in 1987, but considera
tion of the grant was postponed by the state
of North Carolina after controversy erupted
over the distribution by MAP of some ex
plicit Safer Sex cards in area bars. (The cards
were donated to MAP by AID Atlanta.)
Currently, the county health department
conducts its HIV Testing Program, as well
as providing health educators to speak to
community groups about AIDS. No out
reach is aimed exclusively at one risk group
or another.
Health officials acknowledge that they
need to reach more people in the black
community, more drug users, and more
women. TTiose gays and lesbians in atten
dance offered their input on reaching gays
and bi-sexuals, and discussed ideas on reach
ing black gays, and a particularly difficult
group: closeted gay and bi-sexual men, who
may be sexually active, often married and
uninvolved with the openly gay and lesbian
community. Such persons are very difficult
to reach with safer sex information.
Dr. Delta addressed the issue of anony
mous HIV testing, which he has always
opposed. Thirty-six people have tested posi
tive but then failed to return for their test
results; health department officials have no
way to contact these anonymous test recipi
ents to give them their results.
Dr. Delta acknowledges that anonymous
testing is necessary in a discriminatory envi
ronment; he goes on record as opposing
discrimination, and supporting anti-discrimi
nation laws. Such legislation would protect
people when they are tested; names could be
safely given, so that follow-up could be
assured.
An important issue addressed in the
meeting were the restrictions placed on fed
erally funded educational efforts. Rules
proposed and sponsored by Senator Jesse
Helms (R-NC) require that educational
materials cannot in any way promote homo
sexuality. Therefore, many sexual topics are
not addressed and language used is technical
jargon, rather than the frank, blunt language
most people are familiar with when sex is
discussed.
While Dr. Delta indicated that he opposes
the inclusion of lewd descriptions in educa
tional materials, health educators in atten
dance indicated that they could be more
effective in their efforts if they were free to
address any and all sexual practices. The
Helms Amendments also require that those
receiving federal grants set up a review
committee to examine all written materials,
to ensure that they comply with community
standards of decency.
Gay and lesbian representatives will meet
regularly each quarter with Dr. Delta and his
staff.