PJ
y The Carolinas’ Most Comprehensive Gay «S Lesbian Newspaper
www.q-notes.com
Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 16, Number 5 • July 21, 2001 • FREE
^ i We’re still
A walking down
,, .a memory lane
den/inj^ f&r 15 years as part of our
K 19S6 anniversary
coverage.
coverage.
See page 3 for
more details.
Bunky’s in the house on CBS reality show Big Brother 2
by Leah D. Sepsenwol
Q-Notes Staff
Big Brother 2" and “Bunky” are not in
your vocabulary, you must have been living out
side these last few weeks. Local offices, bars and
gay gatherings are a-buzz about the popular
CBS reality show and Bill (you-can-call-me-
“Bunky”) Miller, a local who is vying for the
hope-you-can-take-it $500,000 survival prize.
Bills companion/house-husband of 12 years,
Greg Ottman, believes Bill will bag the cash.
He believed it from the start — when he
saw the downloaded contestant forms from the
Internet...and when he “encouraged” Bill to
send in the application...and when he drove Bill
to Atlanta fpr the first interview in May...and
when he helped pack Bill’s bags for the Los
Angeles interview in June...and when he con
vinced Bill not to back out the night before
leaving for the show (a nervous Bill said, “I only
wanted to see if I could make it to the final
round”)...and every time he sees Bill on TV.
The hardest part for Greg is loneliness. “It’s
quiet around here. I miss having someone to
talk to when I feel down. But the neighbors
and our friends are great, and my family will
be coming up for a visit soon.” The best part
has been watching Bill and all the media frenzy.
Greg’s parting advice to Bill was “watch your
mouth; be yourself” Bill agreed. Well, almost.
He kept his hornosexuality a secret for the first
episodes. Oy, the controversy!
Bunky’s strategy, discussed with producers
beforehand, could be called the “The King and
I Coming Out Plan.” An initial period of “get
ting to know you” followed by “getting to know
ne first season of QueerMs Folk
has enneh, hut rahU fans won’t
havetonultcaiatarkojtthanks
to 6eneFalkatwww.she.com.
Seepage UforPetalls.
Whars inside...
One year later. Scout
ruling backlasli still
growing page 8
Charitable Gboiee
programs threaten
social services lor
GLBTs page4
Marriage equality day
announced pageit
Minnesota sodomy
law overturned
by court gaged
Gay consumer e-census
underway page 17
Web masculinity poll
separates die men from
themarys page 18
See these sue mere news.
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when m stmt Ittstuef
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Greg Ottman watches his companion and Big Brother 2
contestant. Bunky, during a special gathering hosted by WBTV.
all about you” as the housemates become more
comfortable. The jury’s still out on the tactic.
Viewing habits
Greg watched a recent episode with about
20 friends at WBTV Channel 3 studios, gra
ciously hosted by Ellen Miller, the station’s
News Manager and a Bunky fan.
For the premiere of Big Brother 2, Greg had
invited Miller to a festive gathering at his home
in Harrisburg, NC. She reciprocated, inviting
Greg and friends to visit the studios, munch
on a lovely buffet and, oh, yeah, watch the show!
The group wasn’t exactly a finger on the
pulse of America, but this bantering bunch was
a lively, little cross-section of family, “family”
and friends including Debbie Ray and Judy
Ridings of Golden Tans salon, providers of
Bunky’s patina; John Vordermark, a technical
consultant who has worked with Bill; Gayle
Threatt, who lives next door; John and Linda
Davis, from two-doors down; and WBTV an
chors Denise Dory, who took group polls on
See BUNKY on page 9
Census data says NC gay households up 720 percent
by Anabel Evora
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC — New census fig
ures released for North Carolina show a dra
matic increase in the number of
households with same-sex partners
compared to data compiled from
the 1990 Census. National GLBT
leaders say even these totals most
likely continue to under-count the
actual number, due to anti-gay bias.
In NC, the total number of
households comprising same-sex
partners was 16,198, a 720 percent
increase from the 1,976 same-sex
couples who reported a decade ago.
A total of8,349 were comprised of
female couples and 7,849 house
holds were comprised of male
couples.
“Gay and lesbian families live in every
county in NC,” said David M. Smith, com
munications director and senior strategist at the
Human Rights Campaign (HRC). “As these
families are counted, policy makers will have
to take note that the law at every level of gov
ernment does not treat them equally or fairly.”
Basic family policy such as hospital visita
tion rights, inheritance rights, state income tax
laws, and the right to inherit pension benefits
are not available to gay families as most states
do not recognize same-sex relationships.
In an attempt to explain the surge. Census
officials issued a memo suggesting that it is in
accurate to compare the 2000 same-sex “un
married partner” households to the same 1990
figures because of a difference in “editing.”
In 1990, the Census Bureau termed it an
error if both the householder and a second adult
in the house were of the same-sex and the sec
ond person checked the box “spouse” and also
checked the “married” box. In these cases, the
Census Bureau changed the sex of the second
person in the household. When the same sce
nario occurred in 2000, census officials reclas
sified such couples as sarne-sex, unmarried part
ners. Officials have said that they do not know
how many couples in
1990 were reclassified.
“We believe the in
crease is due to more
couples being willing to
identify themselves in a
federal survey rather
than an actual increase
in the number of same-
sex couples,” explained
Smith. “Regardless of
the difference in the
way census officials edit
these data, there clearly
is an increase.
“While these increases reflect positive chang
ing attitudes, there still remains a substantial
under-count. Prejudice that still exists against
gay people and a lack of understanding about
the questionnaire are possible explanations for
the continued under-count,” he added.
According to the census data, 11,512, or 71
percent, of same-sex “unmarried partner”
households are from NC’s urban areas, while
4,686, or 29 percent, are from rural areas. This
marks little change from the 1990 census when
only 523, or 27 percent, of same-sex “unmar
ried partner” households were in rural parts of
the state and 1,453, or 73 percent, were from
urban areas.
“The 2000 Census confirms that gay and
lesbian families are present in virtually every
corner of the nation,” said Gary Gates, who is
working with HRC to track Census data. T
NC groups benefit from Gill fund
by James Ross
Special to Q-Notes
DENVER — Organizations in Charlotte,
Durham and Raleigh were recently awarded a
total of $84,000 in grants from the Gill Foun
dation, the nation’s largest GLBT funder.
Among local recipients, a three-year $50,000
grant was awarded to Duke University Press as
program support for gay, lesbian and queer
studies book promotion and distribution; a
$ 10,000 grant went to Equality NC Project for
general operating support; and OutCharlotte
received two grants: $15,000 for general oper
ating support and a two-year $9,000 grant as
program support for the Lesbian and Gay
Community Center project.
“Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people live in communities of all types — ur
ban, rural and suburban,” said Katherine Pease,
executive director of the Gill Foundation. “We
realize that resources often are not as available
in rural communities as they are in urban ar
eas. The Gill Foundation is committed to sup
porting work in these communities.”
Nationally, a total of 93 organizations were
awarded more than $1.7 million during the
foundation’s latest grant cycle.
About 79 percent of the organizations that
made requests were funded during this cycle.
Tim Gill, founder and former chairman and
chief technology officer of Quark Inc., started
the Gill Foundation in 1994 with a mission to
secure equal opportunity for all people, regard
less of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Since its establishment, the foundation has
awarded more than $13 million.
For more information on the Gill Founda
tion or its grant program, call 303-292-4455,
email jamesr@gillfoundation.org or access
www.gillfoundation.org. T