Newspapers / Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / Aug. 22, 1998, edition 1 / Page 14
Part of Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
PAGE 14 T Q-Notes ▼ August 22,1998 Cole Continued from page 1 CC: As you know, Q-Notes has been more supportive — not in the sense that I thought you were unsupportive two years ago — but you seem to think more seriously about me than you did, which makes sense because you know me bener, politically speaking, and I also think I’m doing a better job. Two years ago, I was not out publicly. My friends knew and that was about it — so there was a lot more coming out stuff that got mixed in with everything else. It was much more complicated and difficult for me. Since all that’s done, I started with it out of the way and I’ve been speaking vocally and frequendy. QN: Other than Q-Notes, have you had any trouble finding forums to get your message out? CC: Well, I’ve also been written up in The Leader [a free weekly newspaper distributed in Charlotte]. I don’t know why, but The Char lotte Observeryfont talk about Libertarian can didates. It’s not just me, but anybody. A few years ago, we had a candidate in the county commission race. Dale Grote, a professor at UNCC. The Observer had a photo shoot with commision candidates and didn’t invite him. Someone else told him and he just showed up. They couldn’t make him leave so that’s how he got in. I make it a point to always send my press releases to Jim Morrill, their political writer, but he’s never responded...never men tioned my name in any article. QN: As a Libertarian, how are your posi tions different from the typical liberal Demo crats that the community usually supports? CC: Well, the differences between Libertar ians and both Republicans and Democrats is that we believe a person is sovereign over him self. We differ from Democrats in that we ap ply it to economic issues and we differ from Republicans in that we apply it to lifestyle is sues. For example: I believe very strongly in drug legalization. I think drugs are a poor choice, but if a person chooses that for himself, then he’s only hurting himself and no one else has any right to interfere with that decision. Cer tainly, what applies most directly to gay issues is that we believe a person has the right to choose who he loves, who he sleeps with, who he lives with and as long as he’s not hurting anybody else or violating someone else’s rights, then the government has no place interfering or objecting or saying anything about it. Now, [Libertarians] versus Democrats; we also believe a person is responsible for his own economic decisions. We believe in very little regulation so that a person can decide for himself how to run his own business. As long as he’s not de frauding anybody, producing faulty products or stealing, then the government has no place getting involved with his business...that’s his personal property. This would also apply to is sues like employment discrimination. Discrimi nation is immoral, it’s shortsighted, its bad busi ness practice, but if a person wants to hurt his business that way, that’s his choice because its his property. QN: To continue this line of thinking about government subsidies, one of the big issues that came up last year was the decision to stop fund ing the Arts and Science Council. Would you vote to restore that money? CC: I was at that April Fool’s meeting and I was very vocal in objecting to what the county commission was doing. Arts were not the is sue, they just saw that as a way to hurt gay people. My view of the arts is tlwt the govern ment has no business subsidizing anybody’s business. So if a person chooses to be an artist, then he gets all the benefits and takes all the risks. If he’s not able to support himself in that way, he has the option of getting a different career. I also think it hurts the arts to accept public funding because then there’s the poten tial for censorship. The government always thinks that if its dollar goes in there, it should have some say in what goes on. When the arts chose to receive those funds, they put them selves in the position of having to deal with that censorship. If there’s no money connec tion, there’s nothing county commissioners or city council members or state legislators can do. QN: Do you think the public majority sup ports funding of the Arts & Science Council? CC: I think the public issue has been framed improperly. People have been put into the po sition of thinking that disliking funding for the arts is saying that they are bad. I certainly don’t believe that — and I think most people don’t believe that—but we’ve gotten so used to hear ing that we have to provide tax money to the arts to improve our society that nobody ques tions it. I believe the arts are beneficial: I don’t think anybody questions that. However, I also believe shoe stores are beneficial, but I don’t want them subsidized, either. QN: Is it more difficult for you rutming as a third party candidate? CC: I’ve had a couple of people tell me that I would be drawing votes from the Democrats and making it easier for the Republicans to win. My response is that the Democrats have been in control in NC for 200 years. The past couple of years the Republicans have been picking up, but, in general, for the past 200 years it’s been a Democrat ballgame. We still have the Crimes Against Nature laws. We have the ban on same- sex marriages that passed when the House was controlled by the Democrats. I don’t consider the Democrats our friends. Now, I will grant that they’re not as vicious as the Republicans, but to me there’s not much difference between a rottweiler and a rottweiler with rabies when you’re getting slashed. The Libertarian party in North Carolina is very gay positive...very supportive of the com munity. The perception I had was that Andrew [Reyes, a gay. Democratic candidate who with drew from the commission race] had no sup port from his party. He denies it, but it looked to me like they pressured him to go from the at-large race to the distria race in a safe Re publican distria [5] so they could just brush him off and he would cost them nothing. My party is standing behind me 100 percent. They have nowhere near the resources of the other parties, but they’re offering more support. QN: Do you mind being “the gay candi date?” CC: I think that tide gets me into the game. If someone is willing to look at me just as the representative of our community, that’ll start them listening to what I have to say. I think I have a consistant philosophy that is not just about gay issues. I have views on drug issues, private property issues, free enterprise issues, gun issues, abortion — that’s not really in this campaign — so, hopefully, they’ll notice this and think of me as a comrade and then we can start talking about the other stuff. If being the gay candidate gets me into the discussion, I’m willing to bear that cross. [Laughs.] T Asheville's Hottest Nightlife - Open Tuesday-Saturday lOpm - 3am 11 Grove St - (828)252*2838 - wwv.scandalS“Club.com
Q-notes (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 22, 1998, edition 1
14
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75