PAGE 14 Q-Notes T June 1995 ^ASTOVE. • Residential Real Estate Specialist • 1^. 1Reaitn T Providing Quality Service to the Community T I am pleased to announce my association with Eastover Properties, a Residential Real Estate Specialist. I have excelled for the past eight years in customer service and look forward to providing you with the same quality service at Eastover Properties. Please call if you have any questions regarding the purchase or sale of your next home. .Jeffrey R. Harkey Realtor 2329 Randolph Rd. Charlotte, NC 28207 704-358-3550 Res: 704-531-7130 Mobile: 577-8942 1-800-358-3569 m\ MIS NGLTF board meets in Washington, DC CRIMES AGAINST GAYS BECOMING MORE VIOLENT — NCCGLE Dan Starks & Associates offers Private Lessons, Classroom Lessons, Women-only Classes and Corporate Seminars. All training is available for families and couples as well as women. Courses: • Basic pistol for self-defense • OC Peppergas Techniques • Competetive Shooting • Firearm Safety • Your Firearm and the Law • The Judicious use of Lethal & Non-Lethal Force Dan Starks has taught over 3000 Charlotteans and others nation ally from all walks of life and is a graduate of the Lethal Force Insti tute, a certified instructor with the National Rifle Association and is a member of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers. DanSdirks & Associates Personal Security & Self Defense Integrated Firearms Training Academy 704-587-9625 WASHINGTON, DC—The Board of Di rectors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) held one of its tri-annual meetings at NGLTF offices in Washington, DC April 28-30. At the meeting, notification of two new foundation grants and three new bequests was announced. The board also passed several policy resolutions re-affirm ing the organization’s commitments to pro gressive coalition-building. The Albert List Foundation of New York City recently notified NGLTF that it will be receiving a $75,000 grant to help support NGLTF’s re-engineering efforts. That work includes computer upgrades, publication pro duction, new software acquisition and other technology enhancements aimed at increas ing the ability of NGLTF to deliver informa tion and services more quickly to activists in the field. The Joyce Mertz- Gilmore Foundation, which last year helped fund the move to NGLTF’s new office space, has granted the organization $45,000 for general sup- NGLTF Deputy Director Kerry Lobel port of the organization’s work. NGLTF has also recently been notified of three bequests totaling $180,000 that will be received in the coming months. In other development and finance news, the projected 1995 budget of $3.2 million remains virtually unchanged after the board reviewed first quarter financial statements and fundraising plans for 1995. NGLTFDeputy Director Kerry Lobel hi^- lighted NGLTF involvement in the following areas: Des Moines, Iowa’s multi-cultural cur riculum battle; South Dakota’s and Utah’s anti-same sex marriage bills; Montana’s “de viate sexual conduct” debacle; media advo cacy around the murder of Scott Amedure; Alaska’s pending anti-same sex marriage and anti-domestic partnership measures; and the battle against anti-gay initiatives in Tampa, FL and Maine. “NGLTF has been effective in helping to ‘put out the fires’ that our community has faced this year,” Lobel noted. “But we can’t just put out fires—we must build the capacity and abilities of our movement.” To that end, Lobel outlined several up coming Movement Building Institutes that will be held in communities “that had been in crisis earlier this year, and now have the breathing room to strategize into the future.” NGLTF just completed an Institute in Alaska, and will soon be heading to Iowa, Utah and South Dakota. John D’Emilio, who will take the helm of the Policy Institute (the research and publica tion arm of NGLTF) in July, said he intends to “help close the gap between local activists and academics” by producing new research and refashioning some existing academic re search to make it more accessible to activists. D’Emilio outlined three areas where Policy Institute work may be focused in the near future—family, religion and work. D’Emilio identified these topics as areas where gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals are able to “burst out of our lavender bubble” and engage in discussions with the larger community. The board unanimously adopted three reso lutions on critical national political issues: welfare, affirmative action and immigration. A preamble to each resolution reads, “Recog nizing that the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are inextri cably linked to the civil rights of all people...” The resolution on welfare reads: “[NGLTF] opposes the elimination or reduction of gov ernment programs that provide needed food, housing, health care and other basic services.” The resolution on affirmative action reads: “[NGLTF] supports the establishment and continuation of policies and programs that attempt to address the continuing effects of this nation’s legacy of gender and race-based discrimination, and opposes the wholesale elimination of the concept of affirmative ac tion.” The resolution on immigration reads: “[NGLTF] opposes all legislative measures that deny immigrants provision of basic needs, especially health care, and campaigns that make immigrants scapegoats for societal prob lems.” “Current events call on us to be clear on these issues as we move forward on the na tional, state and local level in alliance with other organizations and movements,” said Board Co-Chair Deborah Johnson-Rolon. “We recognize that in order for this society to offer us the compassion and justice we seek as gay and lesbian people, that compassion must exist for all. We at NGLTF know that these issues are, in fact, controversial. We believe it’s important to take a stand, for our coalition efforts and for our education work within our community.” One of NGLTF’s newest projects is the creation of a video in response to the anti-gay pTopagandavidsoGayRightsISpecialRights. NGLTFboardmemberDee Mosbacher, nomi nated for an Academy Award this year for her short documentary Straight from the Heart, will head this project. Jesse Helms Continued from page 1 through the Ryan White Program over the last five years, 2,500 in the past year alone. A re-authorization bill does not include a specific appropriation. It defines the program in question with “such funding as Congress may deem necessary.” A separate appropria tion bill is needed to fund the program. In this case, the proposed Ryan White re-authoriza- tion changes the funding formula to shift more money to rural states like NC where new cases of HIV are rising rapidly. If a re-authorization bill does not pass, a program like Ryan White can still be funded through an appropriations bill using the pro visions of the original authorization that es tablished the program. AIDS Action’s Lubinski pointed out that appropriating money without a re-authorization has occurred in Washington, but is unlikely in the current political climate where budget cutting has become popular in the Congress. If the pro gram did receive an appropriation without a re-authorization bill, the funding formula would not be changed and North Carolina and other rural states would receive the increased levels of funding now planned. “The pressure is on Sen. Dole now,” Lubinski said, “he can bring it to the full Senate and lead the fight for it, if he wants to.” JEFFREY GRANT KOENIG ATTORNEY and COUNSELLOR-AT-LAW SUITE 400 1130 EAST THIRD ST. CHARLOTTE, NC 28204-2624 (704) 335-5471