Q-NOTES
Switchboard, Charlotte 704/525^128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte 704/333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte 704/364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia 803/779-PALS
Call Linp- Wilmington 919/675-9222
February 1989 ^
i PRIDE IN PRINT I
TO ADVERTISE: 339-0679
BEST BETS
Feb. 3 Queen of Hearts Pageant -
Oleen's
Feb. 5 Rev. Darst Assumes New
Life MCC Pulpit 6:45 pm
Feb. 9 PFLAG
Feb. 11 QCF Dance 9 pm-2 am
MGM 7:30 pm Call 882-1747
Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day ''
Tri-Zappa Valentine's Party -
The ffideaway, Rock Hill
Feb. 17 Closet Busters 10:00 pm
Cable Channel 3
Feb. 20 Bowling - Coliseum Lanes
9 pm
Feb. 25 MCC Charlotte Potluck
Dinner 6:30 pm
Feb. 26 BINGO at Stevens
Classifieds
Page 8
Hell Bent or Heaven Bound
Page 5
Horoscopes by Korwin
Page 7
News in Brief Page 6
Organizations Page 2
Social Highlights Page 3
The Softspot Page 4
To Your Health Page 5
Tyson Explains Sale of
Scorpio Page 4
Scorpio Sold
Tyson Quits After 17 Years
On Jan. 17 at 12 noon, Marion
Tyson sold the Scorpio — Charlotte’s
largest and second-oldest gay bar — to
VON Entertainment, Inc., but re
tained ownership of the land and the
building, leasing it to the new owners.
Spokesman for the new corporation
is Richard Wilds. The corporate own
ers, a man and two women, according
to Wilds, prefer to stay unnamed.
“The investors in the corporation
are strong supporters of the gay/les
bian community,” Wilds said.
“They’d rather be silent partners than
have their names known, mainly be
cause they want to enjoy the bar just
like anyone else. If people knew they
were owners, they wouldn’t be treated
the same.
“They will remain totally behind the
scenes. They are very nice people who
have always given a lot of money
anonymously to Metrolina AIDS Pro
ject and the gay/lesbian community.”
Wilds, former manager of Joy Adult
Bookstore and now a real estate agent,
is a hero for many gay men and
lesbians. He spent six months in North
Carolina’s prison system because he
believed people who like gay erotica
should be able to buy it.
Some say he could have avoided the
prison sentence by bowing to pressure
to rid Joy of gay-oriented magazines
and videos. But he persisted and re
ceived the sentence after his 1986
arrest and conviction for disseminat
ing obscenity. A part of his sentence
was that he could no longer work for
or be associated with Joy.
While managing Joy for eight years,
Wilds was as activist in the gay/lesbian
community as his position allowed.
He often held fundraisers such as “gay
months” when a percentage of reve
nue from rentals of gay videos went to
gay organizations.
He plans to continue working in real
estate, his new career for almost a
year, unless demands at the bar re-,
quire him to give it up.
Last fall, Wilds heard that Marion
Tyson was experiencing health prob-
lemsand might sell for the right offer.
“Before Christmas, I called Marion
and we went out for dinner,” he said.
“That’s when we talked seriously for
the first time. She told me in general
terms what she wanted and said she
didn’t want her employees to get fired.
And she insisted that we honor her
current membership cards, which we
wanted to do anyway.
“Over the next two weeks, we talked
every two or three nights. And we
finally came to terms. In all, we proba
bly talked back and forth for IVi
months. The Tysons really didn’t want
to part with the Scorpio. But Marion
had to because of the effect of stress
on her health.”
There will be no sudden changes,
Wilds said.
“This bar belongs to the gay/lesbian
community,” he said. “If we say we’ll
have an AIDS benefit and give the
door to a PWA or to MAP, every bit of
the door will go for that cause, not half
of it. If someone is in no shape to
drive home, we’ll make him wait and
give him a cup of coffee and try to find
him a ride. And we’ll continue admit
ting the underage lovers of our cus
tomers as long as the person who is of
age takes the responsibility to see that
the underage person doesn’t break the
ABC laws.
“There will be no wholesale firings.
If an employee knows the job and is
good at it, he or she will remain an
employee. The thing about working at
the Scorpio is that we’re there to work
together as a team and build an orga
nization that knows it owes a debt to
the gay/lesbian community. We’ll ana
lyze everyone who works for us and if
they perform their jobs right, they’ll
stay. But if they’ve adopted an attitude
that it’s just a paycheck and that the
people don’t mean anything to them
— well, what can I say?
“The input of our customers will
matter, too. Before long, we’ll hand
out small forms with questions on it
and people will be able to tell us what
they want at the Scorpio.
“The Scoipio has a great following.
The only thing we want to do is make
it better. The people in the corpora
tion go way back in giving money to
the community, and we want to keep
it that way. We want to do our part in
the community as Marion has always
done.”
Physical changes may be forthcom
ing, but not for a while.
“We have a person who is a profes
sional in design who wants to look at
the way space is utilized. You can’t
just do something without analyzing
the effect it will have. But he’s already
said we could turn the upstairs into
something that would attract people to
the bar just to see it. We have some
plans, but we aren’t ready to say more
about them yet.”
Wilds said that VON Entertainment
will continue to call on Marion as an
unpaid consultant and that she would
be welcome at the bar at any time.
— By DON KING
First Itiesday Holds Elections
First Tuesday, Charlotte’s gay/les
bian activist organization, will hold
open elections on Tuesday, Feb. 7,
with any dues-paid member eligible to
nominate candidates, run for office,
and vote.
Dues may be paid the night of the
election prior to nominations, accord
ing to Don King, interim chair of the
group. He said that the annual mem
bership fee for students is $5 and for
all others is $10.
“We welcome anyone who agrees
that gay men and lesbians should be
treated equally under the law and
fairly in society,” King said. “I hope
— and I think other people who have
been attending meetings do, too —
Judge: Victims Gay, Killer Gets Lighter Penalty
DALLAS - A Dallas judge told a local
newspaper last week that he sentenced an 18-
year-old killer to 30 years in prison, rather
than the maximum life term, b^ause the two
men he shot to death were gay. District Judge
Jack Hampton told The Dallas Times Her
ald, “These two guys who got killed wouldn't
have been killed if they hadn't been cmising
the streets, picking up teenage boys; I don't
much care for queers cmising the streets
picking up teenage boys. I've got a teenage
boy.” Judge Hampton expressed no qualms
about expressing his statements. “Just spell
my name right,” he told the Times Herald. “If
it makes anybody mad, they'll forget it by
1990,” when he's up for re-election. Richard
Bednarski was found guilty of the May 15
murders of two local gay men. Hampton said
he rejected the request of the prosecution for
the maximum sentence because he believed
the victims were not completely “blame
less.” The sentence would have been stiffer,
he said, had the victims been “a couple of
housewives out shopping, not hurting any
body.” Bill Wayboum, president of the Dal
las Gay Alliance, called Hampton's com
ments “morally reprehensible,” adding that
“The judge is saying that queers are not
worthy of legal protection and you can go out
and shoot them anytime.” The Texas Human
Rights Foundation has filed a complaint
against Hampton with the State Commission
on Judicial Conduct. According to court
testimony, on the night of May 15, Bednarski
and a group of high school boys drove out to
the heavily gay Oak Lawn section of Dallas
to harass gay men which led to the forced
stripping and execution-style shooting of the
two gay men. Hampton has expressed sur
prise over the reaction and claims to have
received death threats. Two protests in Dal
las have been set for this week.
TWN - Miami, Fla.
that everyone interested in activism in
Charlotte will come out, pay their
dues, and elect board members.”
The meeting will be held at 8 p.m. at
the Carolina Community Project
house, 2300 E. 7th St. at the corner of
East 7th and Laurel Avenue.
During the last two months. First
Tuesday has begun the process of
incorporation, has adopted bylaws,
and has decided to remain an advo
cacy group rather than become a polit
ical action committee. That means the
group may disseminate information
about political candidates and work
for legislative and societal changes,
but may neither endorse nor support
candidates as an organization.
During its first year. First Tuesday
organized a picket of the annual ban
quet of Concerned Charlotteans, a
group headed by Joe Chambers, Char
lotte’s most vociferous antigay person;
printed and distributed safe-sex cards;
spearheaded an effort for gay/lesbian
community leaders to meet with the
Mecklenburg County Health Depart
ment; arranged for bus transportation
to the first statewide gay/lesbian pride
march; and distributed information
about national and state elections.
The group was formed last winter
after Metrolina AIDS Project was
threatened with loss of county funding
if MAP didn’t stop distributing safe-
sex cards it had obtained from AID
Atlanta. That left no safe-sex informa
tion in Charlotte’s bars.
After initial criticism from Cham
bers and from county officials put on
the spot by media, the cards have been
quietly and extensively praised by per
sons working for educational and
health-care agencies.