jioith
& sout
CAROLIN
Audiophile:
Pepper Mashay
on music & polities
Big Screen:
Charlize Theron grabs
Oscar for‘Monster’ 31
Gay marriage
developments around
the country 18
Schwarzenegger
supports gay marriage 15
Nortlr & South
Caloiiha
North Carolina:
New gay church forming
in Hickory 08
SouthCamlina:
USCgaysludent
elected school president 09
Do you
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noted . notable . noteworthy GLBT issues
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Reconocimiento de la union
de la demanda de los gays
‘Party Monster’ on DVD
VOLUME IS . ISSUE 22
SINCE 198S
WWW.q-NOTES.COM
MARCH 13.2004
The man who would be president: John Kerry
Massachusetts senator turned
presidential contender has a
background that shows he supports
equality for all
by David Stout
Q-Notes staff
Sen. John Kerry. (D-MA) has weathered
the arduous primary process to emerge as
the Democratic presidential nominee — but
who is he and how will he be a good candi
date for the LGBT community?
By now most of us know his stand on
same-sex marriage; He doesn’t support it,
but does support civil unions and insists he’ll
allow gay and lesbian couples all of the 1,049
benefits afforded to heterosexual couples.
According to the Human Rights Campaign,
Kerry has earned a 100 percent rating from the
organization every year since 1995. Here’s a
sampling of his positions:
• One of his first acts as U.S. Senator was to
introduce a bill outlawing workplace discrim
ination on the basis of sexual orientation. He
supports passage of the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act (ENDA) and has adopted
a non-discrimination policy for his congres
sional offices that includes both sexual orien
tation and gender identity.
• He is an original co-sponsor of the Hate
Crimes Prevention Act, which would extend
federal jurisdiction to prosecute violent hate
crimes motivated by sexual orientation.
• He supports the Permanent Partners
Immigration Act, which
would allow American
citizens to sponsor their
same-sex partners for
immigration into the
country.
• He supports gays and les
bians having the same
rights to adopt children as
heterosexuals.
• He opposes “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell" and was one
of the few senators to
testify against it before
the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
• He co-sponsored the
first Ryan White CARE
Act, the largest-ever fed
eral appropriation for
treating individuals with
HIV/AIDS. He spon
sored the Vaccines for
the New Millennium Act, aimed at boosting
funding for an international non-profit
group dedicated to developing an HIV vac
cine. He introduced the U.S. Leadership
Against HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria Act,
which increased the U.S. government’s
funding of international HIV/AIDS efforts.
• He was one of just 14 senators to oppose
the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in
1996 — and the only one who was up for
reelection that year. ■
Sen. John Kerry (seen here with wife Teresa Heinz):
Will he unseat President Bush and offer some sense of equality
for U.S. gays?
Family man
Twice-married Kerry is a 60-year-old
father of two daughters, an active Catholic,
a Yale University graduate and a decorated
veteran who helped to found Vietnam
Veterans Against the War after his own tour
of duty. He holds a degree from Boston
College Law School and he served as a top
prosecutor with the Middlesex
•See KERRY on 11
Charlotte gay center
director to resign
Dan Kirsch will leave his position this summer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After just over a year in his role as the first exec
utive director for Charlotte’s Lesbian & Gay Community Center (CLGCC),
Dan Kirsch has announced he will resign.
"Dan came on board two years ago when
we identified space for The Center,” said
Candice Whiteside, chair of the Board of
Trustees for CLGCC. “[His] interest has always
been in doing startup projects. We are
extraordinarily grateful for his tremendous
energy and vision in our beginning phase.
We have successfully opened and operated a
thriving and remarkable center.
According to Whiteside, Kirsch has indi
cated that he plans to pursue other ventures
that will allow him to focus on his passion for
building projects from the ground up.
Over the past decade Kirsch’s creative efforts
have been evident in a variety of projects. In the
early ’90s he co-founded One Voice Chorus and
later even served a brief stint as editor for Q:-Notes. In 1994 Kirsch was co
chair of the North Carolina Pride Celebration (held in Charlotte in June of
that year). Out of that event he helped create
OutCharlotte and was the festival’s executive see JUMPon 6
CharioHe center direc
tor Dan Kirsch will
leave his position this
summer to 'pursue
other ventures.'
Gay protesters
arrested in Asheville
'Sanctity of Mam'age' rally draws
200 picketers to mountain town
by Elizabeth Kirwin
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A skirmish that developed in relation to a rally
designed to show sup
port for the Federal
Marriage Amendment in
the western North
Carolina Mountain town
of Asheville ended in the
arrest of II gay protest
ers Mar. 6.
Around 500 or so
people showed up for the
“Sanctity of Marriage”
rally — with about 200
of them present in
protest.
The protest to the rally began as an effort to offer a non-violent
alternative voice to the anti-gay religious rhetoric that was being
bandied about at the City-County Plaza.
Supporters and foes alike listened as
Reverend Jimmy Dykes of North Asheville see ASHEVILLE on 4
Asheville police arrest a gay protestor at
a rally supporting the Federal Marriage
Amendment Mar. 6.