Vol. 9, No. 4
April 1994
Talk show comes
to Charlotte
...Page 8
Living in a
positive world
...Page 10
The Carolina^’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper Printed on Recycled Paper FREE
Activists get support for rights law
by David Jones
Q-Notes Staff
ORANGE COXJNTY, NC—After a pub
lic hearing on March 2,1994, the Chapel Hill
Town Council voted unanimously to ask the
Orange County Commissioners to include
gay people in the county’s proposed civil
rights ordinance. The
Carrboro Board of Al
dermen also discussed Mike Nelsonf an openly-
lo hdd?puw?c h°eS gay alderman, said he
ing on May 3. would hove a hard time
Commissioners ob- VOting for a ClVll rights
ISm ordinance that did not
sembly in 1991 to protect him and other gay
adopt a civil rights or- .
dinance. The Com- pCOpie.
missioners initially
included sexual orientation in the proposed
ordinance, but it was taken out on the recom
mendation of Senator Howard Lee, Demo
crat from Chapel Hill, because of opposition
in the legislative. As written, the ordinance
would apply to all imincorporated portions
of Orange County. The towns of
Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro
would be included only if their governments
adopt a resolution endorsing the ordinance.
The Orange Lesbian and Gay Alliance
——(OLGA) betaken the
position that the ordi
nance should be adopt
ed by commissioners
and cities as-is, and an
effort made later to
enact legislation to in
clude gay people. In
OLGA discussions,
some activists report
edly took the position
that adoption should be
delayed until gays and
^ lesbians are included
because, they argued, the legislature is un
likely to support a separate bill that offers
protection only to gay people.
OLGA endorsed the ordinance as-is be
fore the Chapel Hill Town Council public
hearing but urged the council to request that
county commissioners seek legislation to
add gays and lesbians. The council did so
without dissent.
Neighboring Carrboro has not taken a
position formally, and will do so after its
public hearing. However, in deciding on
March 8 to proceed with a hearing, two
members of the board spoke forcefully for
the need to include gay people. Mike Nelson,
an openly-gay alderman, said he would have
a hard time voting for a civil rights ordinance
that did not protect him and other gay people.
Board member Jackie Gist said that not
including gays and lesbians would send a
message that “it’s OK to beat them up.” She
said that the current proposal does notprotect
some of her best fiiends and two of her
relatives.
Hillsborough had not scheduled a discus
sion of the ordinance at press time. Commis
sioners have said that they will wait until the
towns have considered the ordinance before
deciding how to proceed.
Lesbians charged with sexuai abuse
Couple may be victims of child custody battle
by David Stout
^Notes Staff
LEXINGTON, NC—A lesbian mother
andher lover saythatavicious custody battle
with their daughter’s maternal grandmother,
Elaine Vanzant, stems fi'om Vanzant’s dis
approval of their relationship and has caused
them to be wrongfully charged with sexual
abuse.
The mother of the two-year-old girl,
Shirley Edwards, 25, and her lover of seven
months, Donna Ma^en, 34, claim that the
sexual abuse charges leveled gainst them
are Vanzant’s cruel and malicious way of
wresting control of the child from them and
removing her from their “unfit” home.
They claim that on January 11, 1994,
Lexington police officers entered their home
and arrested them for first-degree sexual
offenses after Edward’smotherhad the girl’s
babysitter file charges against them.
According to a Department of Social Ser
vices (DSS) document, the charges arise
from the toddler’s alleged disclosure to the
babysitter that the women “kiss her ‘kitty
cat’ and [have bitten] her on the leg.”
On the same day that Edwards and Madren
were arrested, the girl was given a standard
medical examination by a local physician
looking for signs of sexual abuse. No evi
dence to substantiate sexual abuse was found,
but the doctor did note some healing bruises.
Madren attributed them to falls which she
said was normal for any toddler.
After nearly a month, family members
were able to post bond and have Madren
released while she awaits trial .But, Edwards
has been imprisoned since her arrest, unable
to raise the money necessary to meet her
$75,000.00 bail.
DSS requested that the girl be placed in
foster care until the sexual abuse allegations
could be resolved, to protect her from the
custody battle between her mother and grand
mother. But, the judge failed to heed the
recommendation and placed the child with
Vanzant.
Madren said that the problems began as
soon as Edwards told her mother that she was
a lesbian last fall, “She [Vanzant] said that
Shirley could give her daughter to her or she
could live a normal lifestyle.”
Martha Gurley works with Madren at
Grins, Giggles and Laughs, aballoon shop in
Lexington, and says that she knows too well
the financial and emotional strain this situa
tion has placed on her fnend. “We do lots of
work for kids — birthday parties and things
like that — so you can imagine what these
charges of sexual abuse have done to our
business. We have lost almost all of our
customers over this.”
What troubles Gurley even more than the
financial devastation though, is the homo-
phobic injustice she says she sees in it all.
“When all of this mess first started, I was
being accused of sexual abuse just like Don
na and Shirley were, but then, when it got out
that I was straight, all of a sudden I wasn’t
involved anymore.”
Gurley says that she has come to fully
realize the level of institutionalized hatred
for gays that exists in the Lexington bureau
cracy. “We were not able to get a lawyer in
town to take Shirley’s case, the police
wouldn’t give us any assistance, we were
totally on our own until you all [the media]
got involved.”
Madren also feels victimized by the sys
tem, and alledges that she was harassed by
two police officers. “We had a sign in front
of the shop that said ‘Free Shirley Edwards’
and two policemen came by and said that if
we didn’t take the sign down, Shirley’s bail
wouldn’t be reduced and we wouldn’t be
able to get her out.”
Madren was unable to identify the offic
ers and calls to the Lexington Police Depart
ment yielded only vehement denials. Cap
tain Barber, of the detective division, said
that he did not believe the conversation took
place and the only information he did have
concerning Shirley Edwards was that her
trial date was still pending.
Madren is being represented by a local
attorney and Edwards case is being handled
by attorney Jeffrey Koenig of Charlotte. He
was retained for tWs case by Mark Barkley,
the NC state organizer for the new gay and
lesbian activist organization Gay and Les
bian Americans.
Koenig’s first task is to get Edwards’ bail
reduced from the “outrageous” amount that
it is now. Then he must prove that this whole
situation is the creation of a homophobic
mother who can’t bear the thought that her
daughter is a lesbian.
Should the state manage to make the
charges of felony sexual abuse stand up, both
women face a maximum penalty of life
imprisonment.
Dr. Mel White to
speak at SC Pride
by John Scruggs
Special to Q-Notes
“I’m fighting to help the Religious Right
save their souls,” says Dr. Mel White, dean
ofMCC’s Cathedral of Hope. “On the day of
judgement, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and
the whole Religious Right will be condemned
for leaving us at the gate.”
White should know what he’s talking
about. For years, he was a ghost-writer for
some of the Religious Right’s icons, includ
ing Robertson and Falwell. That all changed
when he came out as a gay man.
White will be the f^tured speaker at
South Carolina’s Gay and Lesbian Pride
Rally on April 16, 1994 in Columbia, SC.
The an^ogy of being left at the gate
comes directly from the story of Sodom and
Gomorrah, as does the title of his new book.
Strangers At The Gate: To Be Gay And
Christian In America. When speaking of
Sodom and Gomorrah, White is quick to
point out that homosexuality has no place in
the story. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah,
says V^ite, was “rejecting the strangers at
the gate.” In America today. White points
out the Religious Right as being the true
sodomites.
To White, the way gays and lesbians haye
been treated by the church is nothing short of
evil. Understanding why so many have left
the church. White encourages gays and les
bians not to give up on their spirituality. “I’m
not saying my way is the only way,” says
White, who cautions people not to use their
own faith as a criteria to judge others. As
opposed to his foes on the Religious Right,
White encourages people to explore their
spirituality, no matter what shape it takes.
With his book. White is launching a direct
attack on the fimdamentalist Right. He
points to the ex-gay movements and repara
tive therapies offered by fundamentalists as
agreat danger. “They’re offering false hope,”
says White, “and false hope is worse than no
hope at all.” White sees this as a terrible
wrong, because lives are being lost.
Throughout his years as an author, jour-
Continued on page 34
Nominations sought for
annual Q-Notes awards
CHARLOTTE—Nominations are cur
rently being accepted for this year’s Q-
Notes OUT! Bound Award and htok Drum
Memorial Award, to be presented by Q-
Notes at North Carolina Lesbian and Gay
Pride 1994. This year will be the third time
the annual awards have been presented.
The Mark Drum Memorial Award is
given to recognize an individual who has
done outstanding and exceptional work in
the HIV/AIDS-affected community.
Mark Drum was a Q-Notes staff writer
who chronicled his battle with the disease
until his passing in May of 1991. We are
honored to pay tribute to Mark and feel this
award is our appreciation in action.
The Q-Notes OUTIBound Award is pre
sented to someone who has made a signif
icant impact on the lesbian and gay com
munity in North and/or South Carolina.
This person will have made a viable change
through activism, lobbying, and communi
ty service.
If you or your community service orga
nization know a person who should be
considered for either prize, please write to
us. Include in your letter a brief personal
profile of the individual; a description of
their work and performance; and the rea
sons why their contribution has been ex
ceptional.
We are aware that hundreds ofpeople in
the gay and lesbian community are com
mitted every day to extinguishing disease;
suffering; bigo^; bashing; and discrimi
nation, so choosing these recipients will be
a difficult process.
The deadline for your submission is
Sunday, May 15.
All applications will be given serious
consideration by a nominating committee;
finalists will be voted on by the entire staff.
Please make sure that you include your
contact information, as we will be maJdng
fiuther inquiry regarding finalists.
Send your submissions to Q-Notes, P. O.
Box 221841, Charlotte. NC 28222.