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PAGE 10 ▼ Q-Notes ▼ December 9, 2000 Don^t Just be in style. Live there. Summit Grandview Luxury Urban Apartment Homes • 23 Hour Concierge Service • DVD TKeatre Room • Business Center • Wine Cellar . • Fitness Center • Billiards Parlor • Massage Therapy Room • English Garden Courtyard Now accepting reservations 309 E, Morehead St • 3.334339 www.summitgrandview.c6m Co/^e / £Kfi/ore! 7 a Vleel^ liil MONVAyS pi''I': = f. ifj; A , $1 DOOg BEEE. LIQUOB SICN UP FOP JOE S lUOPM POOL TOVBNE CASH POT! TUESDAyS BEEP BASH! ALLyOV LEGALLY CAN DBINK s $4 WEDNESDAyS HUMP THIS! HOUSE DEINKS THVBSDAyS JOIN TIFFANy BONETAND TBACy MOBGAN AS THEy WOBK IT OUT" WITH CHASEB'S SEASONED MEATS. SHOWTIME: MIDNIGHT FEIDAyS PACKED HOUSE! STOP By & LET CHASEBS' DANCEBS FILL you UP WITH SOME HIGH OCTANE DANCEB JUICE SATUEDAyS COME EABLy • STAy LATE .-I joLiy ^1 HANCHEHS SUNDAyS SHOWTIME 7PM SHABP uniTzr. ALL I HAS€R MALE DANCERS^^ U i ALL MALE • ALL THE TIME ON PREMISES SECURITY OPEN MONDAY - SUNDAY AT 5PM 3217 THE PLAZA, CHARLOTTE, NO 704-339-0500 Queer as a three-dollar bill... by Lainey Miilen Q-Notes Staff I hate slurs. I know that, along with Mrs. Slocum, “I am unanimous in that,” when it comes to “ugly” terms that are used to depict the GLBT community. You probably have been ridiculed at one time or another in your lifetime. Words like “fag,” “dyke,” “sissy” — to name a few — have been shouted top many times at our incredible fam ily of friends. I don’t like labels — and I-certainly don’t like to hear derogatory comments made by someone who has taken no time to really get to know someone different than her- or himself Bet I hit a nerve — didn’t I? 'When was the first time that someone slung one at you? I am sure that you remember, crystal-clearly, the ex act moment. You probably even remember the clothes you wore, the sounds present and the scents which paraded past your nose. One of my friends uses the expression — “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it.” I re ally like that one. We all could use some prac tice with “getting used to” all those who are “here.” Tolerance is something that we either acquire by living life and learning compassion, or, we’re just socialized that way. Some of us come from homes that were ac cepting, others do not. Many of us were taught one thing in words and another by actions. No matter what category you fall in, I am sure that some time in your life you have been the re cipient of slurs, or you have witnessed their use with others. It’s a ghastly sight. No one should be robbed of dignity. Nor should anyone be deprived of security. Fear is a bad bedfellow. It can paralyze us. It can make us weak. It can even render us speechless. And we should never allow ourselves to be silenced. Many of you were not even born when Anita Bryant, a former Miss America and spokesper son for the Florida Citrus Commission, launched an all out war against GLBTs. Pro tests were held. Better still, boycotts abounded towards Florida citrus. That was a hard one, but its message was heard. Bryant was relieved of her duties. Another message we communicated well .was our objection to the hiring policies of Cracker Barrel. Wlien it became known that the restaurant chain refused to hire people it knew to be GLBT, and fired those it discov ered, many GLBTs across the nation staged Sunday “sit-ins” by occupying seating during the after church lunch period. Most just or dered water or tea. The national attention gen erated by the practice paved the way for more acceptance among employers. Sure, we all say, stop the “bad mouthing.” But most of us realize it is not always that easy. First, we have to begin this process within our own community. When you are with friends, by all means, speak as you wish. However, when we are in a public place — one that is occupied by a mix of straight and GLBT folks — we must watch what we say, both about other op pressed populations and about sub-groups in our own community. Someday, one of those we describe negatively as “outsiders” of one kind or another might just use one of those phrases to describe you. We must, if we are to succeed at winning a place in the world at large, show respect to each other. It will take tearing down the walls that separate us into the sub-categories like gay, les- . bian, bisexual, transgender, leather, drag queens, butchies, femmes, etc., who occupy our popu lation. There is an old church song that speaks so well — Were a rainbow, made of children. We’re an army singing a song. Rainbow power to right the wrong: Rainbow love is just too strong. Join me in singing it from the rooftops as we approach the end of a wild and wooly new millennium year. No more “queer bashing.” No more defamation. “Rainbow power to right the wrong!” T Denny’s accused of discrimination by Veronica Schwartz Special to Q-Notes ST. PETERSBURG, FL— Denny’s Restau rants, owned by Spartanburg-based Advantica Restaurant Group, is the subject of new allega tions of discrimination. This time, a Florida Denny’s is accused of discrimination against transgender patrons. After Aleisha King, a pre op transsexual, emerged from the women’s restroom in the wee hours one morning in late October, she was accosted by a male patron who demanded to know if she were a man. Employ ees called police and the man left. But two days later, a night manager at Denny’s called Differ ences Pub, where she works, and told her that the ladies’ room would be off-limits to King and other transgender people who had fre quented the restaurant on weekends after the pub closed at 2 am. The manager also su^ested that someone from Differences stand guard outside the bathroom door when King and the others went inside. Gender advocates say transgender individu als are always taught to use the restroom of the gender they are presenting. That rule is based on safety considerations. The problem escalated the following week end, when a group from Differences went to Denny’s after the pub’s October 29 Halloween party. This time, police were called when a dis turbance erupted between employees and Jamie Benton, 41, a female impersonator and reign ing Miss Gay Hernando. Benton, who also per forms as a woman at Differences but lives as a man, told The St. Petersburg Times that em ployees harassed him even though he took off his makeup and donned jeans and a T-shirt be fore going in the restaurant, then used the men’s restroom when he got there. The group of eight walked out of the restaurant, leaving their food on the table. They have not been back. They, along with other patrons of Differ ences, have organized a boycott of Denny’s and are considering a civil rights complaint. A Denny’s manager would only confirm that there had been problems at the restaurant stemming from men dressed as women using the ladies’ room, and said he thought the problem had been solved. In the early 1990s, the Denny’s chain faced frequent charges that it discriminated against African-American customers. In 1994, the chain agreed to pay $54-million to settle two class-action discrimination suits. Three years later, Advantica gave $ 1.5-million to nine civil rights organizations. ▼ JEFFREY GRANT KOENIG ATTORNEY-AT-LAW SUITE 760 THE ADDISON 831 E. MOREHEAD ST. CHARLOTTE, NC 28202-2725 (704) 335-5471
Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.)
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