Q-NOTES
^rnmm^^mmmm
November
"'iMwiirrito
PRIDE IN PRINT
Switchboard, Charlotte (704) 525-6128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte (704) 333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte (704) 364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia (803) 779-PALS
Switchboard, Wilmington (919) 675-9222
TO ADVERTISE: 3641467
©iSTBETS
Nov. 2-3-4 GLAD District
Coni'erence (Metropolitan
Community Churches)
Nov. 4 Miss NC World
Nov. 6 VOTE
First Tuesday Eleetion
Watch
Nov. 7 Names Project Benefit
"Shadow Box" at
Theatre Charlotte
Nov. 10 10 AM-4 PM
Lambda Connections
Business Expo
Nov. 116 PM Integrity Meets
Witli Bishop
Nov. 13 Charlotte Coalition
Meeting
Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Dinners
MCC Charlotte and
New Life MCC
CM for locations . . .
Nov. 23-24-25
Miss NC USA Pageant
Dec. 2 4 PM MAX Images at
White Rabbit
Ask the Counselor
Page 10
Business Cards
Page 18
Calendar
Page 2
Gays and the Bible Page 4
It's My Opinion
Page 2
I^etters
Page 8
News In Brief
Page 16
Organizations
Page 17
Reflections
Page 7
Social Highlights
Parje 14
Soft Spot
Page 5
Harvey Gantt Interviewed
" You’ve Got a Very Strong Ally"
By David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
The following interview nm conducted
with Harvey Gantt by telephone on
Wednesday, October 17, as he checked in at
his campaign headquarters between two
public appearances.
Mr. Gantt ivav very pressed for time, but
was more than willing to stop for 15 minutes
to allow me to a.^k him a few questions. Our
conversation went as follows:
Q. Jesse Helms has consistently por
trayed your campaign as being spear
headed by various liberal special interest
groups and especially by the gay commu
nity. What is the validity of that statement
and are you concerned by that type of
characterization?
A. Well, first of all, I generally tend to
ignore those kinds of statements which are
designed to divide people and are used to
Iwsli people who are supporters of mine. We
appreciate all our supporters. Our campaign
is being run by North Carolinians; and we
also have some outside consultants, which is
not atypical tor most campaigns. Besides, we
don't check people at the door as to whether
they're gay or not. It's not important.
Q. How strong of an ally does the gay
community have in Harvey Gantt?
A. Given my own history and my strong
feelings about discrimination and given wliat
I have seen happen in this part of the country
with people trying to label you as the plague
of society, 1 would suggest that you've got a
very strong ally.
Q. When did you first become aware of
the special needs of gays and lesbians and
was there a particular event or set of events
which brought about that awareness?
A. 1 think that I've been sensitive to that all
along since I've been in public life, and that
goes all the way back to the 70's. But, more
specifically, the re-start to that was in re-
spcmse to the AIDS crisis in this country and
some of the kinds of things that happened as
a result of it. The rise of the kinds of homo-
phobic attitudes which are a part of people
like Helms has made it much more impera
tive to combat this thinking. We have to
show that these ideas are the same kind that
divided blacks and whites.
First TXiesday
Name Change
First Tuesday has a new name. At the
October general meeting, the membership
present approved changing the name under
which it does business to "First Tuesday
Association for Gay & Lesbian Equality."
The corporate name will remain First Tues
day, Inc.
The new name is the result of the belief
among some members that the name of a
group which fights against the invisibility of
lesbians and gays should make its mission
more apparent in its name. It was agreed that
the "First Tuesday" portion of die name diould
be retained because of the level of recogni
tion which it has attained both inside and
outside the gay community.
The name "First Tuesday" was originally
proposed by the late Don Scherrow at the
organizaticmal meeting of the group in 1988.
The name was chosen and stuck because it
underlines the group's emphasis on voting in
elections, which are held on the first Tuesday
after the first Monday in November, and
because meetings were (and are) always held
on die first Tuesday of the month.
Q. How important has North Carolina
Senate Vote '90 been to your campaign?
A. Well, that's an independent organiza
tion. I obviously have not been looking in
very closely to what they've lieen doing lie-
cause I can't, by law, get involved in their
campaign. I've heard a couple of commer
cials nm that were, I thought, pretty good
commercials that are supportive of our cause.
We want to be elected and we'd like our
friends to help us.
Q. Would you be willing to support a
gay rights bill in the Senate?
A. 1 have said to many of my Iriends in the
gay conununity that 1 am going to be ojien to
any bill that would clarify and make certain
that no one is going to be discriminated
against. 1 don't know all of the details of the
gay rights bill that some folks have told me
about and cannot say with certainty that 1
would support every aspect of it; but, it
sounds like .somediing 1 would lie inclined to
support.
Q. \\'ould you be willing to sponsor a
gay rights bill?
A. I don't know about that . . . but I
wouldn't be adverse to it. 1 would certainly
want to find out what is in that bill and I'd
want to make sure that nobody's human rights
or civil rights are abridged. And if it's okay,
yeah. I'd probably be a sponsor.
Q. With less than a month to go until
the election, where is your confidence level
really at?
A. We're going to win. You could say it's
100% — no doubt about it.
Harvey Gantt
Q. Is there anything in particular you
want to say to the gay and lesbian com
munity of North Carolina?
A. Well,... 1 think it's important that we
send people to Washington who really do
care about people and who care about bring
ing people together rather than about build
ing walls that divide certain segments of our
population.
That to me is very important, in addition
to electiiig people who are willing to stand by
the tenets of our Constitution and the Dec
laration of Independence. We have the right
to "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"
and as long as we pursue those things without
violating the rights of others or jeopardizing
the public health then we should have the
right to privacy.
FTAGLE Polls Candidates
First Tuesday Association for Gay and
Lesbian Etjuality (FTAGLE) conducted its
annual jx)ll of the candidates seeking office
in the upcoming November elections.
For over a three-day period, members of
FTAGLE telephoned all of the candidates
ninning for Mecklenburg County Commis
sion and the candidates for the North Caro
lina House of Representatives and tlie North
Carolina Senate. Of the eleven people seek
ing a seat on the County Commission,
FTAGLE recorded a response trom six of the
candidates. Of the twenty people seeking a
state-wide seat, FTAGLE recorded a resprxise
from five of the candidates.
Because of its tax status, FTAGLE cannot
endorse any political candidate. However, it
can report to the community the res-ponses
from the candidates which fairly states each
candidate's views. The corresponding chart
shows how each candidate answered the
questions.
Below are some comments that the can
didates made while talking with FTAGLE.
All effort was made to accurately report what
each candidate said during the interviews.
FTAGLE asked the following question of
all the candidates:
1. Do you supptrrt equal rights for gays
and lesbians including laws against dis
crimination in housing and employment?
FTAGLE Poll
Response
Candidate Question lt\
in
#3
NC SKNATE
Jerry Blaoknvm (R)
Y
NA
N
Martha Alexander (D)
Y
NA
U
NC HOUSE
Diane Davis (R)
Y
NA
Y
Pete Cunningham (D)
U
NA
Y
Howard Barnhill D)
Y
NA
U
MECK. COUNTY COMM.
Rod Autrey (R)
Y
Y
NA
Peter Keber (R)
N
N
NA
Ann Sc hrader (R)
N
Y
NA
Patsy Kinsey (D)
Y
U
NA
Neil Leaeh (D)
Y
U
NA
Bob Walton (D)
Y
Y
NA
Y = Yes N = No U =
Undecided
NA = No Answer
Continued on page 9
Uncle Sam Needs You —
Whether He Likes It Or Not
Any veteran, regardless of sexual orienta
tion, who would like to reenlist, and who has
an Honorable or upgradeable discharge and
who is interested in serving in a reactivated,
but segregated, active duty regiment, please
contact Tlie Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Vet
erans of America at (414) 342-6543, Fax:
do Havlicek and Associates (414) 271-8884,
Attn: Annabelle Havlicek. You may also
write: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans
of America, 1350 North 37th Place, Mil
waukee, WI 53208.
Information you should send must in
clude your name, branch and dates of ser
vice, SSN, MOS's held, and final rank/dis
charge status. ALL of this information will be
Continued on page 3