AIDS QCQ: WHAT IT IS; WHAT IT SPEHDS Charlotte Hotline Page 6 Switchboard 333-AIDS MAP: IT’S Mission; IT’S PROGRAMS Page 4 525-6128 SEPTEMBER, 1986 □ Vol. 1, No. 4 TO ADVERTISE, CALL 704/332-3834 It's 21-And-Over For Bars On September 1 The Labor Day weekend is the last for 19- and 20-year-olds to get into Charlotte's gay bars, and state alco holic control agents, according to one bar owner, intend to enforce the new age limits very strictly during the first few weeks. Beginning Sept. 1, North Carolina law will exclude anyone younger than 21 from entering an entertain ment establishment that serves alco holic beverages of any kind, bring ing North Carolina into line with many states which already have such laws. The 21-and-over policy was initiated by the federal govern ment in the early 1980s and states were threatened with a 5% reduc tion in federal highway funds if they didn't comply before 1987. Some bars are anticipating strict enforcement by reminding patrons that they must have membership and identification with them at all times while in the bar. Undercover state agents are expected to be in bars any time they are open. No Charlotte entrepreneurs have announced nonalcoholic nights or a gay/lesbian bar that would serve no alcoholic beverages, creating a void for 19- and 20-year-olds who are used to attending bars. Their only legal alternative will be to at tend nongay nonalcoholic clubs such as Glory Days near Charades, but same-sex dancing is usually not allowed in such clubs. Town Meeting Called To Fight Charlotte Battle The crowd poured onstage to tip Boom Boom Latour during the roast in her honor at Scorpio in mid August. Roasters included Brandy Alexander of Jacksonville, who pointed out that she was "Witch of the East” and Boom Boom "Witch of the West” David Wright of Greensboro, Tags owner Danny Follis, Charades owner Steve Freeman and many others. Special To Cl-Notes A town meeting hosted by One Nation Indivisible has been called for Charlotte's gay/lesbian commu nity at 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15. The meeting — to be held at Cha rades with every member of the community asked to come at no charge — will be the first of its kind in Charlotte. The purpose: to decide how Char lotte's gay men and lesbians should respond to the increasing oppres sion evident here; to register to vote; to join ONI; to be heard on an open mike about instances of job, housing and police discrimination. According to Don King, a member of ONI's steering committee, no al coholic beverages will be sold, no disco music will be played, and no media will be allowed. "I appeal to every gay man and lesbian who is angry about what's happening in Charlotte and North Carolina to come to this meeting," King said. "This is a private meeting for gay men and lesbian women to decide what we want to do about Want to start working with ONI right now? Meetings are scheduled for these Wednesday nights at 7:30 at New Life MCC: Sept 3 and Sept 10. New Life is located in the Labor Building, 2121 Commonwealth Ave. Go up the steps in the rear of the building. At its Aug. 27 meeting, ONI was scheduled to review the political questionnaire, set goals for a meet ing with the mayor, set up a Legal Process Committee to take advan tage of the skills of persons who have worked in passing legislation, and set up a Research Committee to document cases of abuse and dis crimination. Skating Resumes; Bowling Starts Skate parties for gay men and lesbians resume at Roll-A-Round Skate Center on Thursday, Sept. 18. Monthly gay/lesbian skating was started in Charlotte at Roll-A-Round in March by QCQ. The center is located at 5417 Delta Road, just east of Albemarle Road at the intersection where Harris-Teeter and Shoney's are located. Skating is 8 to 10:30 a.m. at $3,50 per person (skate rental is included). QCQ's bowling league for the gay/lesbian community also starts this month. The first night is Monday, Sept. 8 at Coliseum Lanes on Inde pendence Boulevard. League bowl ing will be held each Monday for 35 weeks at 9 p.m. at a cost of $6 per night. Shoe rental is an additional 85 cents. Teams are still being formed and may be added at any time up to Sept. 8. Individuals who need to be assigned to a team are also wel comed. To sign up, call Tim H., 537- 9607 after 9 p.m. Persons who work until 9 p.m. may still bowl because they can arrive late and make up their frames. Events coming up this fall that are sponsored by QCQ include these: ■ Atlanta Chorale conceit, Satur day, Oct. 4, at 8 p.m., Unitarian Church of Charlotte. The chorale is made up equally of gay men and lesbians. Tickets (general admis sion, no reserved seats) are $5 in advance, $7 at the door. Send check payable to QCQ to P.O. Box 221841, Charlotte, N.C. 28222. Chorale members need places to stay the night of the concert and possibly the night before. If you wish to house one or more members, write to QCQ and indicate how many you can host. ■ QCQ Auction, Sunday, Oct. 19, Brass Rail. Items are needed for the auction. Donors may retain up to 80% of the purchase price of items sold; or may donate the entire sell ing price to QCQ. To donate items, write the QCQ box listed above. ■ QCQ Halloween Ball, Thursday, Oct. 30, Charades. The start of a long party weekend in Charlotte. Charades and other bars will be holding their own Halloween parties Friday and Saturday. ■ QCQ Cabaret, Saturday, Nov. 22, Entertainment Place at Spirit Square. Features gay/lesbian musi cians (singing or instrumental play ing), comedians and dancers per forming before a gay/lesbian audi ence. To peiiorm, contact QCQ at its post office box. Ticket information will be announced in October's Q- Notes. the increasing oppression of our people in Charlotte. "There are a lot of angry gay and lesbian people here — angry about the police department's policy of excluding us from being hired, an gry about Mayor Harvey Gantt's failure to follow up on his campaign promise of two years ago, angry about bigots like Concerned Char- lotteans and the Ku Klux Klan march coming on Sept. 6, angry about the oppression of the adult bookstores. "There are some very strong things we can do, and some of the milder things have already been implemented. Now we have to de termine as a community just how determined we are and how many of us are willing to work to keep the bigots from taking away more of our freedoms. "We want our bars and our orga nizations to continue to exist. We don't want any action taken in Charlotte to quarantine gay men. We need to start working seriously on an antidiscrimination ordinance in Charlotte and on repealing the state antisodomy law, and on elect ing people who will help us do that." One Nation Indivisible, at an or ganizational meeting on Aug. 18, has become Charlotte's latest hu man advocacy group with empha sis on gay/lesbian activism. It was SEE CHASADES, NEXT PAGE

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view