Q-NOT^
Switchboard, Charlotte (704) 525-6128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte (704) 333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte (704) 364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia (803) 779-PALS
Call Line, Wilmington (919) 675-9222
May 1990
PRIDE IN PRINT
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(704)364-1467
jI l>jUi X i3
May 4 Names Project Benefit
ONE VOICE Performs
May 6 AIDS Benefit at
Snufl^s
May 9 Queen City Friends
May 10 PFIAG
May 13 Mother's Day
May 19 MCC TVip To The Zoo
OIeen's20th Anniversary
May 28 MCC Charlotte
Potluck Supper
May 31 Memorial Day
INDEX
Art Vs. Pom
Page 8
Business Cards
Page 18
Barbara Kaplan
Page 15
Calendar
Page 2
It's My Opinion
Pc^e 2
Letters
Page 10
Mark Dmm
Page 14
New Pageant In Hickory
Page 8
Organizations '
Page 18
Soft Spot
Page 6
South Carolina
Pride March
Page 10
First Tuesday Pickets Banquet
Sixty-five people picketed the Concerned
Charlotteans banquet April 20 at the Char
lotte Convention Center, according to First
Tuesday co-chair Sandra Bailey.
“This is amazing,” Bailey said toward the
end of the 1 1/2 hours of picketing. “I’ve
counted 65 who have marched with us at one
time or another, more than twice the number
who have picketed before. We don’t have
enough signs for all of them.”
First Tuesday organized the demonstra
tion that included representatives of several
gay/lesbian groups, the Charlotte chapter of
the National Organization of Women, and
the Charlotte chapter of Parents and Friends
of Lesbians and Gays.
The numbers were just one of the differ
ences fixim demonstrations at the banquet the
past two years. Marchers for the first time
also chanted and handed out flyers about
First Tuesday and the reason for the picket
ing.
At least one television station, WSOC-
TV, led off its 11 o’clock newscast with
footage about the picket, which was also
covered the next day with a photograph and
an article in The Charlotte Observer.
/'CONCERlHElt
’qtwl
OTEn
One Voice To Sing At
Benefit Performances
ONE VOICE will be very active in May
and June with several planned benefit per
formances that will support the gay and les
bian community. On Friday, May 4, ONE
VOICE will entertain at The Names ftoject
Benefit at the Van Landingham Estate in
Charlotte. Tickets fOT the event are available
by calling Sheila Lockhart at 704/541-6679.
On Saturday, May 5, the chorus will make
their second road trip, this time to Atlanta to
sing in the “Hollywood Hots” benefit, with
monies going to several AIDS-related groups
in the Atlanta community. And on Sunday,
May 20, ONE VOICE will participate in the
7th International AIDS Candlelight Memo
rial Service, being organized by the Metro-
lina AIDS Ftoject.
The chorus is maturing very quickly,
according to Dan Kirsch, President of the
group. In order to outline a strong future for
the chOTUS, the jH'ovisional council will hold
a planning retreat in mid-May. From the
retreat, the chorus hopes to determine how
they will best serve themselves and the gay
and lesbian community through the next one
to two years.
The 43-member group continues to re
hearse on Thursday nights. A new rehearsal
space has been secured for the month of May:
they will meet at the PC Land Building, 4037
E. Independence on the 7th floor.
Upcoming plans include another chorus
preview concert in mid-to-late June. Then
the chorus wiU participate in both North and
South Carolina Pride Days: Saturday, Jime
23, in Columbia, SC, and Saturday, June 30,
in Chapel Hill. They plan to sing a couple of
numbers with the Common Womyn’s Cho
rus of Durham at the June 30 rally.
New members are welcome to join the
chorus at any time. Just show up at rehearsal
or call Dan Kirsch at 536-1372 for more
information.
Ill
Picketing was scheduled during the time
that people attending the banquet would ar
rive. All had to pass through the picket lines
to attend the banquet, which featured a
Concerned Charlotteans award for Jesse
Helms, one of Congress’ most vocal anti-gay
senators.
Keynote speaker for the banquet was
another anti-gay congressman. Rep. William
Darmemeyer of California, author of an anti
gay book.
Picketers praised the courtesy, concern
and advice of Charlotte police captain Walt
Hilderman, chief of the police department’s
intelligence division, which monitors activ
ist groups and advises about lawful picket
ing.
“I was standing just on the Convention
Center’s sidewalk handing out flyers when
three really big sheriffs deputies came out
and said they thought people who are picket
ing have to keep moving,” said Don King, a
former member of First Tuesday.
“Instead of arguing about it, I just went
over to Captain Hilderman and asked him
about it. He said not to worry, he’d take care
of it; and he did. And I went back to keep
handing out flyers (to people attending the
banquet).
“About 15 minutes later, a short man in a
dress suit came out and said I was blocking
the sidewalk and that I’d have to move. I told
him I had permission to do it right there from
a law enforcement officer, and he said he was
a law enforcement officer, a member of the
sheriffs department, and opened his coat to
show me a badge.
“Captain Hilderman was standing right
next to me, so I just pointed him out and said
I was following his orders and would be
happy to move if Captain Hilderman told me
to. So Captain Hilderman talked to him, I
moved over about a foot to my right, and kept
right on.”
Continued on page 14
Senate Election Meeting
Scheduled for Gay Men, Lesbians
On Tuesday, May 15, gay men and lesbi
ans in the Charlotte area will find out how to
help defeat Jesse Helms when two political
action committees hold a 7:30 p.m. meeting
at the Unitarian Church of Charlotte.
During the meeting, a representative of
the Human Rights Campaign Fund will in
troduce a vote-generating technique adapted
from the National Abortion Rights Action
League; and Charlotte representatives of N.C.
Senate Vote ’90 will announce plans to swing
votes away from Helms to the Democratic
Party’s candidate in the U.S. Senate election
on Nov. 6.
The May 15 meeting is open only to gay
men and lesbians, and friends who accom
pany them.
“The anger against Helms has produced a
lot of energy,” said Don King, one of the
meeting’s organizers. “People are eager to
get started, asking what they can do to beat
Helms. We plan to povide some direction on
May 15.
“Gay men and lesbians aren’t the only
people mad at Jesse. He voted against the
Clean Air Bill and environmentalists are
upset about that. Pro-choice activists want
him beaten because of his stance against any
decision to have an abortion. Artists and
authors want him out because he plans to
monitor their work to make sure no federal
arts money goes to them.
“Helms won very narrowly in 1984. This
year, with no really noticeable Democratic
candidate miming against him, he’ll be as
complacent as he’s ever been.
“He has alienated more people that ever,
and if we work hard to get people to the polls,
we have a good chance of beating him.”
The Human Rights Campaign Fund was
organized four years ago as a national politi
cal action committee to take contributions
and funnel funds to candidates concerned
about gay and lesbian issues.
N.C. Senate Vote ’90 was formed in
Febmary by North Carolina gay men and
lesbians to affect this year’s senatorial elec
tion. The group expects thousands of dollars
in contributions from gay men and lesbians
outside North Carolina. It plans to promote
campaign activity across the state and to buy
statewide advertising.
Meetings have already been held in
Asheville and Durham.
For a seccmd Chariotte meeting scheduled
for June 7, N.C. Senate Vote ’90 workers
plan to invite environmentalists, pro-choice
activists, members of peace-and-justice
groups, African-Americans, artists and au
thors, and other progressive individuals.