Clinton signs DOMA
amidst protests Page 4
Pet Shop Boys
come out singing,
Page 20
The-Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 11, Number 10 • October 5, 1996 • FREE
InlBghting at MAP leaves the agency weakened Local activist
leaves the South
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—Within the last six
months, Metrolina AIDS Project (MAP) has
lost a half-dozen employees, including three de
partment directors. In August, the executive di
rector announced her inten
tion to step down at the end
of the year. In mid-September,
three board members sum
marily resigned, including the
president. Lisa Piazzi, the
former director of the agency’s
Agapd Family Center, sums up
the situation succinctly,
“MAP is in trouble.”
The answer to the question
“why” boils down to a cluster
of intersecting personal con
flicts: staff versus executive di
rector, staff versus board and
board versus board.
Piazzi, who was hired in
February 1991, lost her job in
June because her position was “defunded.” “I
thought it was funny that I was being let go
because of a lack of funds,” she says, “when I
was in a position to know that the program
was very healthy. Plus, we were expecting more
federal money in about four weeks — which
came through to the tune of almost $1 million
— from a grant that Barbara [Rein] and I wrote
together.” Was Piazzi given the option of tak
ing less money and staying on? “No. They didn’t
Barbara Rein
ask me to take less money; they didn’t ask me
to cut my hours. They just let me go.”
Piazzi made no secret of the fact that there
were ongoing conflicts between some long-term
MAP staffers and Executive Director Barbara
Rein. She believes that this was the root of her
dismissal and the internal tur
moil. “There were clear de
partment favorites, and client
services wasn’t one of those. It
was clearly something Barbara
wasn’t interested in doing. She
made no obvious attempts to
be equitable.”
Rein denies the charges.
“As an MSW [masters degree
in social work], client services
is my strong point. I spent
more time with client services
than any other department.”
Furthermore, she says that she
had nothing to do with the
move to defund Piazzi’s posi
tion. “That was a decision that
came from the board. I had nothing to do with
It.
New board president Marilyn Goodrich,
says, “I really don’t feel comfortable discussing
personnel issues. I will say that there were no
positions available at the time.” Why wasn’t
Piazzi retained with the grant money that was
received? “That grant money wasn’t for Agape;
it was for a multi-county project targeting
women and children.” Goodrich goes on to say
that even though^ Piazzi’s work with MAP tar
geted women and children, she was ineligible
to be paid from the grant because it was ear
marked for someone with a master’s degree in
social work, which Piazzi does not have.
Before she was fired, Kim Funderburke was
a three-year MAP employee and the agency’s
case management director. She says the reason
for her termination was never fully explained
and labels the rationale “vague ambiguity.” She
echoes her life-partner Piazzi’s sentiments about
the working atmosphere at the agency, “Direct
service social work is very stressful, but I was
not burned out. My frustrations were totally
with the administration. Barbara was the only
person I had to answer to.”
Unresolved frustrations led some staffers to
send an unsigned memo to the board in early
1996 requesting their intervention. Q-Noteswas
able to secure a copy of the February 9 memo
which states in part:
“Our Executive Director has consistently
displayed an inability to treat all staff equitably
and fairly regarding salaries, merit raises, re
quests for time off, accountability of program
accomplishments and even day-to-day interac
tions. These consistent and pervasive acts of
favoritism towards certain staff, coupled with
her propensity to treat others with disrespect
and others still with ambivalence has resulted
in a staff that is divisive, defensive and in no
way cohesive. We feel the agency, the staff and
our clients deserve better.
See INFIGHTING on page 16
DURHAM—Derek Charles Livingston re-
cendy announced that he is leaving North Caro
lina, his home since January 1994, to accept a
paid acting apprenticeship at the Walnut Street
Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. Walnut Street is
one of the country’s
Derek Livingston
OutCharlotte workshops will stimulate ideas
by Robert Marcus James
Special to Q-Notes
“One of the most important parts of
OutCharlotte is the opportunity we give the
community to learn new ideas,” says Brandalyn
Grier, workshop coordinator for this year’s fes
tival. “We can learn about ourselves, we en
courage the non-gay community to learn about
CHARLOTTE
the LGBT community, and hopefully we all go
away open to new and positive ways of looking
at our lives.”
Nationally known speakers and community
activists, as well as local leaders, will present
seventeen workshops at OutCharlotte on Sat
urday, October 19.
Always a hot topic, Chris Glaser of Atlanta
will present “Coming Out To God: Reconcil
ing Our Sexuality and Spirituality.” The work
shop will explore ways to bring personal re
sources to the struggle to be both a sexual and
a spiritual person. Glaser is the author of Come
Home! Reclaiming Spiritually and Community
as Gay Men and Lesbians and The Word is Out:
The Bible Reclaimed for Lesbians and Gay Men.
Glaser’s appearance in Charlotte is sponsored
by MCC-Charlotte.
The arts will be represented in four work
shops. The Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble
will get workshop participants to create a song.
Artist-in-Residence Craig Hickman will lead
“Face the Conflama!,” an interactive theatre
workshop examining the confusion and flam
ing drama of life, seeking to explore a variety
of issues including race, gender and sexuality.
Greensboro playwright Steve Willis will lead a
discussion on opportunities for gay and lesbian
playwrights after his play By Her Side is per
formed. And Larry Jens Anderson will offer
insights into his visual arts exhibition “Where
Do Queers Come From?”
The variety of workshops is stunning:
“Roadblocks to Financial Success, Right to Fi
nancial Dignity,” “The Distance Between
Adults and Youth in the LGBT Community,”
“Out/Law—Gays and Lesbians
and the Legal System,” “Racism
g in the LGBT Community,”
J “Sexual Orientation is a Work-
place Issue,” “Building a Stron-
ger Lesbian Community,”
“Eroticizing Safer Sex,” “Tran
scending Gender: Rebel with a
Cause,” “Understanding Queer
Youth Suicide,” “Countdown to Victory,” and
an HIV/AIDS Update.
Workshops are free (only Craig Hickman’s
workshop requires a ticket). Workshops will
be held at the Radisson Plaza Hotel over the
course of three sessions starting at 10:30am.
500 Years of Queers
Kevin Jennings is an educator, activist, and
Executive Director of the Gay, Lesbian, and
Straight Teachers Network (GI^TN), an orga
nization dedicated to fighting homophobia in
the nation’s schools. A North Carolina native,
Jennings will give a talk entitled “Five Hun
dred Years of Queers: America’s Gay and Les
bian History from Columbus to Clinton” at a
brunch on Sunday, October 20. Jennings is
the author of Becoming Visible: A Reader in Gay
& Lesbian History for High School and College
Students and One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Les
bian Educators Tell Their Stories. His appear
ance at OutCharlotte is co-sponsored by Time
Out Youth.
Meet Holly Near
Holly Near has agreed to attend a special
fundraising reception following her perfor
mance of SONGTALK on Wednesday, Octo
ber 16. The reception will focus on breast can
cer awareness and specifically will help fund
mammograms ■ for uninsured women.
OutCharlotte has arranged for the
Mecklenburg Breast Screening Program of the
Carolinas Health Care System to have their
mobile mammography unit at the Radisson
Plaza Hotel on Saturday, October 19. Fund
ing assistance is available for eligible women.
Cost of a mammogram is $ 10-$55 sliding scale,
and insurance is accepted. Women should sign
up in advance by calling the OutCharlotte of
fice at (704) 563-2699.
OutCharlotte 96 will take place October 16-
20 in various locations around Uptown Char
lotte. Tickets for all events are now on sale at
Rising Moon Books & Beyond, 316 East Bou
levard, Charlotte; Monday-Friday 4:00-
6:00pm, Saturday 2:00-6:00pm, Sunday 3:00-
5:00pm. T
IM I-
oldest on-going the
atre organizations, a
total of four appren
tices will be working
with the company
this season.
Before moving
to North Carolina,
Livingston worked
as the Gay Commu
nity Health Educa
tor at Rhode Island Project/AIDS in Provi
dence, RI. There he served on the local Pride
committee, acted as spokesperson for the Rhode
Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil
Rights, and founded the Bayard Bessie Baldwin
Bentley Brunch, a social/support group for Af
rican-American lesbian, gays and bisexuals.
While living in Rhode Island he became in
volved in the early stages of the 1993 March
on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal
Rights and Liberation and served as one of its
co-chairs. He was also one of the leaders of a
five-hour protest at the Rhode Island Statehouse
when the legislature there, for the tenth year,
failed to pass a sexual orientation non-discrimi
nation bill (Rhode Island went on to become
the ninth state with such protection).
After a brief stint in Miami as an AIDS edu
cator at Health Crisis Network, he moved to
North Carolina to serve as Executive Director
of the North Carolina Pride PAC for Lesbian
and Gay Equality. He served in this position
for one year. During his tenth month, his res
ignation was made public, having been submit
ted to the board of directors a month earlier. In
his letter he said he was leaving to “pursue ac
tivism in other ways.”
After leaving Pride PAC, Livingston, who
holds a degree in Theatre Arts from Brown
University, re-started his acting career. He ap
peared in several training films and commer
cials, as well as two independent feature films.
The second, “Chesterfields,” is scheduled for
local release later this fall. He appeared on Tri
angle stages in several productions including
four Shakespearean roles (Oberon in
Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Capulet in Romeo
and Juliet, Horatio in Hamlet and Duke
See ACTIVIST on page 12
National Coming Out Day
m.
Friday
October 11
Come Out Proudly For Yourself,
Come Out Proudly For The Community!