1
The Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay & Lesbian Newspaper
The Latest Q^POLL Results
Actress Sharon Stone kick-started her career as a
bisexual in Basic Instinct recently appeared as a lesbian
in HBO's If Walls Could Talk II and is considering a
lesbian role on Broadway in David Mamet’s play Boston
Marriage. Do you think Ms. Stone is a closet lesbian?
Yes No Undecided
3% yg%
Vote at www.q-notes.com
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 14, Number 22 • April 1, 2000 • FREE
MeckPAC gets ready for elections
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE—The Mecklenburg
County Gay and Lesbian Political Action Com
mittee (MeckPAC) was formed three years ago
in response to a vote by the Mecklenburg Board
of County Commissioners to cut arts funding
due to the gay-themed play Angels in America.
The action, on April 1, 1997, came as a result
of five county commissioners who became
known as the “Gang of Five.” Funding was re
stored the following year when four of the five
were either not re-elected or did not run again
in 1998. The fifth member. Bill James, currently
serves on the board.
MeckPAC is urging all GLBT voters and
our allies to make our voices heard again this
year as three of those five commissioners are
running for office.
MeckPAC has sent a seven-question survey
to all 11 county commissioner candidates who
have competition in the primary election. Once
the surveys are returned, they will make en
dorsements a few weeks before the May 2 pri
mary.
The survey asks candidates to take stands
on some potentially touchy issues, such as do
mestic-partner benefits for county employees,
prohibiting discrimination against county em
ployees on the basis of sexual orientation, and
funding for arts groups with programming with
gay and lesbian themes.
MeckPAC co-chairman Connie Vetter told
The Charlotte Observer that she knows these are
issues many politicians would rather avoid. In
fact, the questionnaire asks candidates whether
they would even want the groups endorsement
or money.
“There are candidates who don’t want our
endorsement,” Vetter said. “There are some that
say ‘I’m in your corner, but not publicly.’ They
think they are going to be harmed by it.”
The three “Gang of Five” members running
for the board this year are current District 6
representative Bill James and former commis
sioners Joel Carter and Tom Bush.
Vetter said MeckPAC endorsed commis
sioner candidates informally in 1998 and
adopted a more formal endorsement process
that was used last year in deciding which Char
lotte City Council candidates to back. They’ll
make endorsements again before the Novem
ber general election.
Maggi Markey, an incumbent Democrat
running for re-election in heavily Republican
District 1, told the Observer that she hasn’t
settled on her answers to the questionnaire yet.
While she expects some conservative candidates
will make it an issue, she’d accept the group’s
endorsement.
“I’m sure [Commissioner Bill James] will try
to make a fuss over anything that involved the
word gay or lesbian,” Markey said. “But I have
intelligent people in my district who know bet
ter than to fall for that.”
James said he would make it an is^ue if other
candidates said they’d support domestic-part
ner benefits for county employees or protec
tion for county employees from discrimination
on the basis sexual orientation. He vehemently
opposes both.
Carter, who is seeking his party’s nomina
tion to run for one of three at-large seats, said
he hasn’t gotten the survey, and he doesn’t plan
to answer it if he gets one. But he says he is
curious to know other candidates’ answers.
“I certainly hope they don’t endorse me,”
said Carter, who was defeated by Markey in
1998 for his District 1 seat. “And for those
people who do get the endorsement, I will make
public note of it.”
Commissioner Tom Cox, who is also run
ning at-large, says he wouldn’t reject a
MeckPAC endorsement, though he believes it
could hurt him with some conservative voters.
“I’m not hostile to gays and lesbians. I am
openly, unabashedly neutral,” said Cox, a Re
publican. “I just don’t think it’s something we
should be spending any significant amount of
time on.”
Former commissioners’ chairman Tom
Bush, who figures there’s little chance he’d get
MeckPAC’s endorsement, said he wouldn’t
make its endorsements an issue unless other
candidates do.
“This is probably one of the most polariz
ing issues for a community,” Bush said. “I just
think it would be best not to go there.”
If you would like to make a donation to
MeckPAC, send your contribution to
MeckPAC, PO Box 18804, Charlotte, NC
28218. Remember, donations to a political ac
tion committee are not tax deductible and do
nations over $99.99 in an election cycle must
be reported to the state.
If you cannot make a donation but would
still like to help the cause in some way,
MeckPAC needs volunteers and other non
monetary assistance. For information on how
you can help, call (704) 567-5530. ▼
• -
1^
a
*
The Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenich Village
Community gets national landmark
by Dan Van Mourik
Q-Notes Staff
NEW YORK, NY—Whether a history buff
or not, most every gay or lesbian has at least
heard of the Stonewall riots. They took place
in June 1969 when patrons of New York’s
Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, fought back. They
were tired of the routine police raids and re
sisted. Days of rioting and protesting followed.
That event is considered the birthplace of the
modern gay rights movement.
Now, the Stonewall Inn has been named a
national historic landmark — the first gay site
given that status by the Department of the In
terior. The landmark designation is given to
places meaningful to the history and culture of
the United States.
“I think it’s a really key site in the 20th cen
tury history of America,” said Andrew S.
Dolkart, a historian at Columbia University and
one of the people wha pushed for the designa
tion. “It’s where the gay and lesbian rights move
ment began its activist phase.”
Stonewall first was added to the National
Register of Historic Places, which lists sites of
local or state significance. Only three percent
of those sites are deemed significant to the en
tire country—national historic landmarks. The
Interior Department gave Stonewall that des
ignation March 1.
According to the nomination prepared by
Dolkart and others, the Stonewall Inn was origi
nally two stables built around 1843-1846. In
1969, it was a gay bar in Greenwich Village. At
the time, selling a drink to a known homosexual
was illegal, so the Stonewall Inn was unlicensed.
Police raids were routine and patrons usually
left peacefully. Until 1969, that is.
“There had been decades of petty harass
ment and bar raids,” Dolkart said. “This was
the first time that people actually fought back.
People were fed up and they weren’t gonna take
it any more.”
John Berry, an assistant Interior secretary,
said; “It was a galvanizing event and led to the
creation around the country of a number of
other organizations that began the effort of rec
ognition by gay and lesbian Americans.”
In June 1969, there were fewer than 100
gay groups in the country, according to the
national historic landmark nomination. One
year later, there were at least 1500, and two years
later there were 2500.
Just one negative letter was received in re
sponse to Stonewall’s nomination as a national
landmark, said Patty Henry, a historian for the
National Historic Landmark Survey. The let
ter arrived after the review board had recom
mended Stonewall for the designation. The
writer did not understand why Stonewall was
considered historically significant.
“I think that no one would argue that Stone
wall is an integral part of the story of modern
American history,” Berry said. ▼
3rd Annual Better Homos & Gardens Tour to benefit OutCharlotte
by Dan Kirsch
Special to Q-Notes
CHARLOTTE—A turn-of-the-century
home, semi-tropical plants and artifacts' from
Asia and the South Pacific, a 1929 historic bun
galow and an ‘old lady’s garden’ will be on dis
play at the 3rd Annual Better Homos & Gar
dens Tour. Organized this year by Diana Travis,
MaryAnn Mueller, Abby Hastings Kerr and
Chris Turner as a benefit for OutCharlotte, the
tour will take place on Saturday, April 8 from
10:00am - 7:00pm.
The tour includes six homes and/or gardens,
and is hosted by John Bean & Robert Boyd,
John E. Denti, Jeff Drum, Steve Duprey, David
McDaniel, and Michael Pinson.
Created by Travis and friends for
OutCharlotte in 1998, the tour is used as a way
to relate non-gay people to gay and lesbian
people. “Whether gay or non-gay, I find people
are passionate about their gardens, and so there
is a commonality,” said Travis. “Gardeners ap
preciate the work it takes to maintain a yard or
garden, and the tour allows new friendships to
develop through the common language of na
ture.
This is the second time that John Denti’s
home and garden are on the tour. His love of
orchids is evident throughout his home and
garden, and he’s even found a job tending or
chids for UNC-Charlotte.
“Flowers are a wonderful way to communi
cate with people,” said Denti. “Their beauty,
their fragrance, make people stop and smile and
say hello. A garden has a way to break down
barriers that people may have about each other,
because they want to learn from each other
about various flowers and plants — it gets
people talking and people realize how many
similarites they have.”
Items within a home can also begin conver
sations and encouragement that lead to shar
ing a new talent. John Bean and Robert Boyd’s
home was on the Elizabeth Home Tour in 1998.
It was comments from friends and neighbors
about Robert’s interior design skills that has led
him to start his own home furnishings store.
City Supply Co., which will open in April.
“The store will have lots of things you can’t find
in Charlotte anywhere else,” said Boyd.
The tour has featured gay and non-gay
homes and gardens in the past and the non
gay community should feel welcome to partici
pate.
Ticket holders will visit five homes and gar
dens from 10:00am - 5;00pm and end up at a
garden party from 5:00 - 7:00pm. The garden
party includes a plant sale, wine, beer, hors
d’oeuvres and a chamber music group.
The 2000 Better Homos and Gardens Tour
is generously sponsored by the home and gar
den owners, with additional support provided
by Keren Boyan; Roxann Brunhart and Jeanne
Downs; City Supply Co.; John E. Denti; Sue
DuChanois and Kate Blackburn; Marsha Ford;
Ted Fraley and Rick Grayson; Georgetown
Bodyworks; Bill Gillis; Lisa Griffin and Sherrie
Ingram; Nadene Hammond and Janet Marts;
Lynn Kennelly and Carrie Gault; Abby
Hastings Kerr; Linda Lawyer and Sally Duffy;
Darryl Logsdon and Darwin Stanley; Dell
Martin; Tim Mattox; Joe O’Connor and Marty
Musselwhite; Bob Oltz; W. Riley Owens and
Kenneth Tynch; Nita Rochel; Rebecca Stone;
Diana Travis and MaryAnn Mueller; Chris
Turner; and Stephen Wylie. The original event
logo was designed by Mervil Paylor Design.
Advance tickets for the five garden tour are
$ 10.00, and with the garden party $22.00. Ad
vance tickets are available from White Rabbit
Books & Things, 834 Central Avenue; Royal
Gardens, 1733 E. 7th Street; and from
OutCharlotte at (704) 563-2699. Tickets the
day of the event are $15.00 and $25.00, and
are available at the first stop of the tour, the
home of Michael Pinson, 1533 Belvedere Av
enue or at White Rabbit Books. The “Get
Ready for Spring Plant Sale” will begin at
1:00pm at the home of John Denti, 651 Lx)uise
Avenue.
Proceeds will benefit OutCharlotte, which
produces cultural programs celebrating the les
bian, gay, bisexual, and transgender commu
nity, including an annual cultural festival, the
Charlotte Gay & Lesbian Film Series, and
OutMedia.
Dozens of volunteers are needed to help with
this event. Call OutCharlotte at (704) 563-
2699 to volunteer or for more information on
the tour. ▼