Campaign for
Fairness
...Page 25
A Steriing
Empioyer
...Page 30
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Angels gets taken to task in Charlotte
by David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—^After lying low for more
than two years, arch-conservative Rev. Joe
Chambers burst back into local politics —
and media outlets — with a vengeance, to
whip up controversy about the pl&y Angels In
America. As events unfolded around
Chamber’s attempts to have the play can
celed, it became as compelling a drama as the
Pulitzer Prize-winning show itself.
Angels In America, a complex, two-part,
seven-hour opus which examines themes as
diverse as homosexuality, the Reagan years,
AIDS and Mormonism, had already been
successfully staged in Greensboro and Durham
before coming to Charlotte, but those perfor
mances were produced by the national tour
ing company and encompassed only two nights
in each city. The difference here was that the
epic was being produced by a local company,
Charlotte Repertory Theatre—one of just six
regional theaters selected by playwright Tony
Kushner to stage the drama—and included a
four-week run.
Rev. Chambers, head of the right-wing
group Concerned Charlotteans, set the stage
for a showdown when he held a press confer
ence on the morning of Monday, March 18 to
denounce the play and assert his intentions of
having it shut down over a nude scene and
simulated homosexual sex acts which occur
in Millennium Approaches,
Part I of Angels. “These kind
(sic) of events should be an
example to all traditional
Americans of what the radi
cal gay community and those
who support them actually
intend for this nation. It is
clear that Tony Kushner is a
sick man with a homosexual
agenda.”
Chambers said he would
ask the City Council to stop
the opening-night perfor
mance before it began
Wednesday at 7:30pm. “The
Charlotte Observer noted
three ways that tax money
was expended to support this
play: ‘The company receives
government money through
the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Arts & Science Council;
Kushner has received Na
tional Endowment for the Arts money; and
the Performing Arts Center is a city-owned
facility.’ To heap abuse on taxpayers in this
fashion shows total disregardfor their interest
and convictions.”
At a lively meeting that evening, the city’s
attorney informed council members that they
had no jurisdiction in the matter and only the
Rev. Chambers outlines his plans to stop Angels
board of the Blumenthal Performing Arts
Center, the play’s venue, could halt the pro
duction. Lawyers for the District Attorney’s
Continued on page 20
NC mothers
oppose Helms
by Wynn Bone
Q-Notes Staff
RALEIGH—A new organization has been
formed by two determined mothers whose
goal is to retire Senator Helms from office in
November. Mothers Against Jesse In Con
gress (MAJIC) was conceived last fall by
Patsy Clarke and Eloise Vaughn of Raleigh.
Both women have lost sons to AIDS and are
appalled by Helms’ stance and rhetoric on
AIDS issues.
“We are mothers,” emphasized Vaughn,
“who are against Helms. And as mothers, our
presence is essential, especially since Jesse
likes to talk so much about family values.”
Clarke, a former Helms supporter, and
Vaughn were quick to point out that family
values such as compassion, understanding
and love for others were inconsistent with
bigotry and judgmentalism. “So, of course,
we’re offended by Jesse’s judgmentalism,
hatred and bigotry too,” stated Vaughn.
The catalyst which provoked these two
women into action was a news report stating
Continued on page 14
Lesbian health advocacy
group announces results
Suit challenges validity of
racial, gay scholarships
by Liza Rankow
Special to Q-Notes
DURHAM—Many readers may be famil
iar with Women’s Health Access (WHA)
through their participation in focus groups or
the completion of their written survey about
the health concerns of lesbians and other
women with women partners. Thanks to the
interest of women from across the state, close
to 600 surveys were returned and the data is
presently being analyzed. Based on the infor
mation shared through both the focus groups
and the survey, two areas of action were
identified: educating health care providers to
do a better job in meeting lesbian health needs
and providing accurate health information to
the women in LGBT communities.
This past autumn, WHA designed and
pilot-tested a training session for health care
practitioners designed to increase their knowl
edge and sensitivity in serving lesbian and
bisexual patients and clients. Close to 100
doctors, PAs, nurses, health educators and
other clinic staff attended the sessions held at
Lincoln Community Health Center, the VA
Medical Center Women’s Clinic (both in
Durham) and Planned Parenthood of the Tri
angle and Triad. The information was well-
received and evaluations suggest a successful
achievement of their goals. The curriculum
guide for this training, along with a handbook
on lesbian health, will be reproduced for dis
tribution through the National Lesbian and
Gay Health Association so that health educa
tors around the country may present similar
programs in their areas.
Women filling out the survey were asked
to identify the health issues of greatest impor
tance to them and their friends. The message
was clear. Women want more information
about breast and cervical cancer, HIV/AIDS,
sexually transmitted diseases and safer sex.
Other top issues included menopause, alco
hol and drug use, diet and exercise, and find
ing sensitive medical care providers. The
surveys said the best way to disseminate health
information was through written brochures
(distributed in a variety of ways) and through
friends and women in the community who
know about health issues. Many also sug
gested workshops, newspaper and magazine
articles and the use of TV and radio.
WHA plans to hold a skills building work
shop for women from across the state who are
interested in serving as community educators
on lesbian health issues. Many of these women
will be on hand at NC Pride ’96 festivities
(June 8-9 in Winston-Salem) staffing the WHA
health information table at both the Saturday
exhibit hall and the Sunday rally site. Stop by
for brochures on breast and cervical cancer,
HIV/AIDS and safer sex. There will also be
Women’s Health Access t-shirts and free give
aways. Their Saturday workshop is titled
“Lesbian Health: Hot Topics and Busting
Myths.”
Meanwhile, WHA is writing articles for
the medical journals read by doctors and other
health care professionals to educate them
about our health needs and concerns, writing
about lesbian health issues for the LGBT
press, writing down the “recipes” for our
community and professional education work
shops so that others don’t need to reinvent the
wheel. WHA is also talking to friends, lovers,
and communities about lesbian health, talk
ing to health care practitioners and students,
talking to national conferences of health pro
fessionals and other conferences of queer
health activists, talking to state and federal
agencies who set the policy, programs and
funding for women’s health so that they in
clude lesbians. In addition, WHA is looking
Continued on page 20
by Eagle White
Q-Notes Staff
RALEIGH—^Two Republican candidates
for state office are involved in the filing of a
federal lawsuit which seeks to end racially-
based scholarships in the University of North
Carolina (UNC) system. The same suit seeks
an injunction against the UNC-Chapel Hill
School of Law for administering the Alan
Berman Memorial Scholarship established in
memory of gay attorney Alan Berman who
died in 1992.
Jack W. Daly, the lead plaintiff in the case,
is a Charlotte native and first-year law student
at Chapel Hill. The Raleigh office of the State
Board of Elections confirmed that Daly is a
Republican candidate for State Auditor.
Clemmons, NC attorney Nathanael K. “Nate”
Pendley, who represents the plaintiffs in the
suit, is a Republican candidate for Associate
Justice of the State Supreme Court.
In the portion of the suit which challenges
race-based scholarships, Daly is joined by
seven other plaintiffs, all of whom are white
males currently enrolled in a college in the
UNC system. Defendants named in the suit
include UNC President C. D. “Dick” Spangler,
UNCBoard of Governors chairmanD. Samuel
Neill, and the chancellors of UNC-Charlotte,
Appalachian State, Western Carolina Univer
sity, and UNC-Asheville. Jane Elizabeth
Furr, Assistant Dean of Admissions for the
UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law, is also
named as a defendant.
The lawsuit was filed on March 11 in the
United States District Court, Western District
of North Carolina, Statesville Division. The
plaintiffs allege that because they are Cauca
sian, they have been excluded from financial
aid packages known as “Minority Presence
Grants” (MPGs). Plaintiffs say this is a state-
sanctioned violation of their US Constitu
tional rights under the fourteenth amendment
which guarantees equal protection under law.
UNC’s Dick Robinson, Assistant to the
President for Legal Affairs, says the MPG
program is part of a package of grant pro
grams approved in 1981 by the US District
Court. The goal of the program was to bring
black students to UNC schools which had
predominantly white enrollments, and to bring
white students to UNC campuses which had
traditionally enrolled a majority of students
who were African-American. Accordingly,
the MPG program has helped bring racial
diversity to all of the schools under the Uni
versity of North Carolina system.
Federal courts have recently ruled against
affirmative action grants in states such as
Maryland and Texas. North Carolina’s pro
gram appears to be unique in that grants are
offered to both white and black students in an
effort to desegregate all UNC campuses.
In addition to Daly and the seven other
plaintiffs in the case, attorney Nate Pendley,
who filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs,
appears to have considerable troubles of his
own, including racial issues. Pendley, a can
didate for State Supreme Court, appeared in
court last fall to answer criminal charges of
voter fraud. At the court appearance, Pendley
asked for a public defender, saying he was
indigent. Pendley won a Superior Court judge-
ship in 1994, but was stripped of the seat after
being accused of giving false information
regarding his residency to the State Board of
Elections. Although facing one count each of
election registration-book fraud and voter
qualification fraud, Pendley denied any wrong
doing and was quoted by the Chapel Hill
Herald as saying that his candidacy for judge-
ship would have been fine, “if it had not been
a left wing, black judge from the inner city of
Greensboro making the decision.” A spokes
person at the NC Attorney General’s office in
Raleigh declined comment to Q-Notes about
Pendley’s legal troubles, and Pendley could
not be reached for comment.
In addition to the 14th Amendment claim
of the suit, Daly alleges that the Alan Berman
Memorial Scholarship at the UNC-Chapel
Continued on page 6