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Rep. Frank unveils bill
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'The Carolinas' Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper > Volume 12, Number 13 • November 15, 1997 • FREE
Murder suspect arrested
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—Police have charged Paul
Herman Craig, Jr., 20, with the armed robbery
and murder of a well-known Charlotte busi
nessman whose company installed lights and
sound equipment in a number of the gay clubs
that opened in the Queen'City during the last
two decades.
Employees of Reliable Music, a staple on
East Stonewall Street, found the stores co
owner, David Luther Busde, 45, dead in his
home at 1147 Linda Lane around 7:00pm on
Friday, October 24 after he hadn’t come to work
that day. Busde had been shot in the head dur
ing an apparent robbery the previous night.
Charlotte Police Investigator R K. Harris told
Q-Notes that the body was discovered wrapped
in a sheet. He declined to dividge if the body
was clothed or what room it was found in.
The murder weapon has been identified as
a .22 caliber handgun. Harris said that “sev
eral” weapons had been recovered in the case,
but since they had not been sufficiendy exam
ined, could not say if any of those recovered
were used in the killing.
Investigator Harris indicated that Busde had
told friends he was meeting Craig on the night
of the murder. “Mr. Busde appears to have been
Paul Craig, Jr.
Senate opens hearings on ENDA
Job bias victims tell
their stories in packed
Senate chamber
by Kim I. Mills
Special to Q-Notes .
WASHINGTON, DC—When David
Horowitz, an attorney from Phoenix, told the
Mesa, AZ, city prosecutor, a prospective em
ployer, that he is gay, the prosecutor said, “Well,
we may have a problem with that,” and the job
offer evaporated.
Doug Retterer, an assembly line worker at a
Whirlpool plant in Marion, OH, endured more
than a decade of severe anti-gay job discrimi
nation, including being called a “fag” and a
“queer” to his face and having his supervisors
speculate about his sex life in front of him and
other workers. Retterer began to have panic
"[ENDA] is good business
and...good citizenship"
— Raymond W. Smith
attacks and bouts of uncontrollable weeping,
eventually becoming so depressed that he has
been certified totally disabled by doctors and
the Social Security Administration.
Sue Kirchofer of Seatde was fired from her
job after she used her vacation to attend the
Gay Games as a soccer player. At a staff meet
ing after Kirchofer was terminated, the com
pany owner told employees, “If she can afford
to go to the Gay Games, she can afford to find
another job.”
These three were among the witnesses and
spectators at a standing-room-only hearing
October 23 on the Employment Non-Discrimi
nation Act (ENDA), a bill to oudaw job bias
based on sexual orientation. The hearing was
called by Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT), a lead
sponsor of the bill (S. 869) and chairman of
the Senate Labor and Human Resources Com
mittee.
“Today, it is still perfeedy legal under fed-
Rising Moon leaving Charlotte
a very organized indi
vidual. People were
well informed about
where he was and what
he was doing,” Harris
commented. He
would not clarify how
Craig arrived at and
left Bustle’s home.
When asked if Busde brought Craig there,
Harris said, “I’m sorry, I reify can’t answer
that.”
One source told Q-Notes that Bustle became
acquainted with Craig about a year ago when
the suspect was working at a local nightclub.
Another employee of the club confirmed that
Busde was a regular patron there.
According to the warrants issued against
Craig on October 26, he is suspected of killing
Busde then stealing a safe containing watches
and credit cards worth an undetermined
amount. Craig has been arrested three times
since March; two of those instances for larceny
of more than $200.
As Q-Notes went to press, Craig was being
held at Mecklenburg Jail Central without bond.
At an Oaober 28 bond hearing, he was sched
uled to appear for a probable cause hearing on
November 17. T
Bookstore taking to the
Carolina highways
by Gene Poteat
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—^The gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender community of the Piedmont
area of North Carolina is losing an important
resource. Charlotte’s six-year-old Rising Moon
Books and Beyond will close its doors on De
cember 24.
“Alas, the rumor is true,” writes Sue Henry,
proprietor of the retail establishment, in an e-
mail announcement
eral law to fire a person simply because he or
she is gay, lesbian or bisexud,” said Elizabeth
Birch, executive director of the Human Rights
Campaign (HRC), the largest national lesbian
and gay political organizadon and the driving
force behind ENDA. “This kind of discrimi
nation happens in every region of the country.
It is un-American. It is unbusinesslike. And it
is wrong. But it remains sanctioned by federal
law, or rather, by the absence of any law pro
hibiting it.”
A recent report released by the Institute for
Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies (I-GLSS), a
non-profit think tank that uses scholarly re
search, analysis and education to inform pub
lic policy debates on sexual orientation issues,
effectively illustrates just how pervasive and
cosdy workplace discrimination is. The report,
entided “Vulnerability in the Workplace: Evi
dence of And-gay Discrimination,” details sur-
vey evidence of workplace bigotry
ftom cities across the US and finds
that the expcctadon of discriminadon
leads gay, lesbian and bisexual people
to conceal their sexual orientation, re
ducing both morale and produaivity
in the workplace.
“The message of ENDA is clear
and straightforward,” said National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Direc
tor Kerry Lobel. “Discrimination is wrong.” She
added. We look forward to the day when gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people no
longer have to fear the loss of their jobs on the
basis of their sexual orientation. When that day
comes, our society will have taken another step
forward in assuring justice and equality for all
of its citizens.”
Raymond W. Smith, chairman and chief
executive officer of Bell Adantic, testified in
favor of the bill, saying, “No one should have
to fear loss of career opportunities or employ
ment because of his or her race, religion, heri
tage or sexual orientation.”
“No company can afford to waste the tal
ents of valuable employees as we compete in a
global marketplace,” he added. “It is good busi
ness and it is good citizenship.”
A small businessman, Tom Grote, chief op-
See ENDA on page 11
sent to Q-Notes. “Af
ter months of trying
to think of ways to
avoid it, we [she and
partner Barbara
Parke] have decided
to permanendy close
the bookstore.... We
are still committed to
queer and women’s
culture. And to
books.... So, Sue will
be taking Rising
Moon Books on the
road. Yes, a mobile
bookstore.”
Henry describes
her business as a
“multi-cultural store
specializing in items
of interest to lesbians,
gays, feminists, Afri
can-Americans and
others selling books
and related items
such as jewelry, maga
zines and periodi
cals.” Henry and Parke write, “Our mission
for the bookstore was to provide a safe, wel
coming space to seek resources and informa
tion about lesbian/gay culmre (as well as other
minority cultures). We believe we have been
extremely successfid in this effort.”
In an effort to stay in business by lowering
its overhead, the bookstore, now located on East
35th Street, moved from its location in the
trendy Dilworth neighborhood at the end of
January 1997. “When we moved, we really
believed the community would support us as
Sue Henry's ready to hit the road
they had in the past,” notes Henry. “I am dis
appointed with the lack of a broad-based level
of support from the gay and lesbian commu
nity.... I believe Rising Moon was an impor
tant pan of the local gay/lesbian culture.”
Henry seems clear about where to lay the
blame for the store’s closing. She and Parke
write in their announcement, “As we saw our
business dwindle, as the queer community vis
ited/shopped less often, as it was more often
taken for granted that we would provide free
services (such as community calendar, bulletin
boards for roommates,-meeting notices, etc.),
we knew something
had to change. The
decision to close the
bookstore was a direct
result of our queer
community’s behavior.
Yes — we lay this at
your collective feet.
We tried very hard for
six years, that’s
enough.”
When asked if she
is bitter, Henry re
sponds, “I don’t be
lieve ‘bitter’ is the right
word. It’s just reality
that the [local] gay and
lesbian community
isn’t supportive.” She
■& becomes even more
2 philosophical when
;g she talks about what
g she sees as a national
■7 trend wherein big cor-
^ porations are buying
out or forcing the clos
ing of smaller busi
nesses. “I call it the
Wal-Marting of America,” she says, “Indepen
dent gay/lesbian bookstores (and other small
businesses such as record stores) all over the
country are being forced to close because larger,
national retailers are moving into their com
munities.” She notes, “With our closing, there
will not be a feminist-identified bookstore in
either North or South Carolina.”
“It’s kind ofscary,” according to Henry. “Big
corporations are not necessarily friends of mi
nority cultures; they are not part of the envi-
See LEA]nNG on page 11
First pro-gay initiative defeated
by Mark F. Johnson
Special to Q-Notes
SEATTLE—The first-ever pro-gay state
wide ballot measure was defeated in Washing
ton State. Initiative 677 would have banned em
ployment discrimination based on sexual ori
entation. Though supporters of the initiative
were disappointed, their efforts marked a new
chapter in the movement for gay, lesbian, bi
sexual and transgender (GLBT) equality.
Prior to Initiative 677, ballot measures were
used only to attempt to restrict the civil rights
of sexual minorities. The most notable of these
is Colorado’s Amendment 2, which passed in
1992 and was overturned by the US Supreme
Court in 1996. California, Idaho, Maine and
Oregon have also faced statewide anti-gay bal
lot measures. California, Hawaii and Maine all
have anti-gay ballot measures looming.
Though 1-677 was defeated by about
200,000 votes — a much larger margin than
pollsters anticipated — the campaign is con
sidered an overall step forward for the GLBT
movement throughout the country.
“Our march to equality is a progression, not
an event. Putting an affirmative civil rights
measure on the ballot for sexual minorities is
historic and a victory in and of itself,” stated
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Execu
tive Direaor Kerry Lobel. “We have asserted
our right to equality in Washington State. It is
a courageous and visionary example for GLBT
people throughout the country,” she added.
Activists in Washington State have unsuc
cessfully tried to pass a civil rights bill in the
state legislature for the past 20 years. Initiative
677 would have amended existing state law
against employment discrimination by adding
sexual orientation to a list of categories that
includes race, national origin, sex, age, religion,
marital status and disability. Eleven states cur-
rendy ban discrimination based on sexual ori
entation.
“The importance of the education of the
people of Washington and their greater under
standing of the discrimination faced by gay, les
bian, bisexual and transgender people cannot
be underestimated or taken away,” stated Lobel.
“1-677 may have lost, but overall we have
gained.” T