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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 16, Number 7
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August 18, 2001 . FREE
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by Leah Sepsenwol
HUNTERSVILLE, NC — Beverly Mitzel
and her partner Sonja along with Catherine
Costner and her partner Regina came out fight
ing for their families and against being defined
and denigrated by prejudiced policy.
Defining the words “family” and “couple”
for the brand new Huntersville Community
Center (HCC) memberships got complicated
and cruel, then came to a head at a Huntersville
Town Board meeting.
“My partner Sonja and I were forthcoming
about our relationship,” said Beverly Mitzel,
an adoptive parent, a foster parent and an an
gry tax-paying Huntersville citizen, whose
“family” membership was granted then later
denied.
“As part of a neighborhood subdivision, we
were offered a group discount and paid our
$100 membership fee. At that time,” explained
Mitzel, “‘family’ covered all members of a fam
ily living together in the same household and
related; including step-children, adopted chil
dren and children who are cared for by a per
son other than their birth parent. We were so
“pleased to hear about the ‘liberal’ family defi
nition the Center had.”
However when Sonja, Beverly and their
family arrived on a Saturday to pick up their
membership cards, the policy had changed.
“We were told that as two females living tor
gether, we would have to join separately, rather
than as a household—a difference of $42 more
per month,” Mitzel said.
They insisted on speaking with Mark
Kincaid, Director of Par^ and Recreation and
the HCC. He told the women, “We didn’t
anticipate this type of situation [same-sex head
of household] and we have been working on a
redefining what ,‘couple’ and ‘family meant.”
During that conversation Kincaid admit
ted there was no policy or practice verifying
the marital status of heterosexual couples.
Kincaid refused to reinstate their all-inclusive
membership, or refund their membership fee.
Mitzel discovered that the family/couple
definitions were an agenda item for the July
Town meeting.
According to the July minutes: the Parks
and Rec guidelines interpreted ‘family:’ as two
or more persons related by blood, marriage, or
adoption, living together as a single housekeep
ing unit; the Town did not recognize same-sex
marriages; the Town required Driver’s license
or other forms of ID as proof of accepted fam
ily relationships.
And by its own admission, the Staff recom
mended the word “Couple” be defined “in a
more restrictive manner.” Couples must be of
the opposite sex. ‘Couple’ memberships will
. be granted only to married persons.”
After hearing the proposed ammendment,
Beverly outed herself to the Board by recount
ing all the events that preceded her attending
the meeting. She urged that the definition
“family” be reviewed so that consistent criteria
could be established and fairly applied.
Catherine Costner and Regina not only
joined HCC as a family in May, but have been
working with the Center staff to establish a cor
porate membership through their employer —
adding about $15,000 to the Center’s revenue.
“We were stunned and disheartened to re
ceive a phone call from Mark Kincaid inform
ing us that our membership would no longer
be valid due to our non-traditional status.”
Costner said.
Ms. Costner continued, “The Community
Center should be as inclusive as possible. The
purpose of HCC is — as stated in its own lit
erature :— ‘to promote sensitivity to cultural
diversity.’ Non-traditional families make up an
increasing percentage of households.
“Base pricing on household, respect our
community’s diversity and trust the people of
Huntersville to define family. Pricing could be
restructured to eliminate abuse while preserv
ing fairness.”
Costner asked the Commissioners to table
their vote, suggesting organizations and pro
fessionals equipped to provide guidance for
arriving at equitable solution.
Beverly and Catherine won the July battle.
The Board voted unanimously in favor of a
motion to “allow current membetships to
stand, study the issue and come back with a
set policy.”
The issue led the August Town Board’s
agenda. There was a lot of media attention,
public, television attention— Beverly Mitzel
and Catherine Costner were at its center. Both
read prepared, respectful opinions, thanking
the Mayor and the Board for their favorable
July decisions. Both families had waited a
month, anticipating sweeping reversal, or at
least reasoned proposal. :
Instead Kincaid submitted, almost verba
tim, the same intolerant policy.
See FAMILY on Page 6
NC PrideFest 2001'will be
September celebration
by Keith Hayes
RALEIGH, NC — NC PrideFest 2001 will
make history by holding its Gay Pride Rally
and Parade well after the customary June/July
“pride season” concludes — September 29th.
Selecting September is part of NC Pride’s
strategy for making PrideFest 2001 the fall
festival East Coast pride event — predict
ing it will attract more participants, spec
tators, celebrities and vendors than its sum
mer predecessors.
“Logically, the decision for a September 29
parade date makes great sense, and we’re work
ing hard to make this a really successful
event,” says John Short, co-chair of NC Pride.
“In the past, when we held PrideFest in June,
we lost a lot of participants to parades in DC,
Atlanta, and even New York.
Braves aid city^s bid to land
Gay Games in 2006
by Jay Croft
Atlanta Journal Constitution
T
jthe Braves are showing support for gay
and lesbian fans and for the city’s bid for the
2006 Gay Games.
At the August 8 game against the Houston
Astros, the Braves welcomed inter
national “Gay Olympics” represen
tatives and leaders of a local group
bidding to host those games in five
years.
The Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus
sang the national anthem. More
than 2000 seats within one section
of the Turner Field stands were re
served for tickets sold by Adanta
Games Inc. Atlanta is one of four
finalists. Chicago, Los Angeles and Montreal are
the remaining three North American finalists.
Recognizing the high-profile exposure for a
venue and very attractive attendee dollats, the
competition is fierce. The Chicago effort re
cently received $50,000 from its corporate spon
sor, the Miller Brewing Company. The Federa
tion of Gay Games will announce the winner
in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October.
“We endorse the Atlanta Games Inc.’s efforts
to bring the Games here,” said Braves spokes
man Jim Schultz, adding that the Games can use
Turner Field for closing ceremonies
if the Braves’ schedule allows. “It’s
another opportunity to advance
Adanta’s reputation as a culturally di
verse city and International city.”
A few other major-league teams
have had similar “gay days,” includ
ing Los Angeles, San Francisco and,
most recently, the Chicago Cubs,
which also advertised in that city’s
gay newspaper — apparently a first
for a professional, men’s sports team.
“It caused no controversy in Chicago,” said
Jim Buzinski, a former sports editor who runs
Outsports.com, an online magazine for gay fans
that scores 300,000 page views a month. V
This year, we will be the sole focus of the
entire gay community in North Carolina, the
Southeast and be-i
yond. It creates the
best opportunity to
get our messages out
and have a blast
along the way. Plus
we won’t be wilting
under the heat.”
“Embrace Diver
sity,” the Pridefest
2001 theme, supports
and broadcasts two
key aspects of NC ^ WDEFEST 2001
Pride’s mission; 1 — fostering greater unity within
the LGBT community; 2 — demonstradng that
LGBT diversityisasourceofgreattalentandpride.
“NC Pride is about taking action as well as
taking positions,” says NC Pride co-chair, Ellen
Cohen. “Under the umbrella of PrideFest
2001, we’re working to create diversity clubs
for LGBT individuals to meet and organize.
We’ve helped form a LGBT Latino/Latina club
and a Gay & Lesbian Veterans club, all of
whom will march in the parade. On the lighter
side, we’re helping a Rainbow Car Club to get
off the ground. We hope many types of LGBT
interest groups will use PrideFest 2001 as an
occasion to come together — not just to march,
but to form a long-term social network. Sched
ule of activities for NC PrideFest is still grow
ing but pivots around the noon rally and pa
rade in Durham oh Saturday, September 29
and an evening of events at the night festival
in Raleigh.
Supporters of NC PrideFest 2001 include
Adam Male, Capital Corral, Curve magazine.
Flex Club, Insomnia, Legends, Pride Planet
Books, U.A. Air, Visions, and White Rabbit
Books. Media Sponsors include The Indepen
dent, The Front Page and Q-Notes. The host
hotel for NC PrideFest-2001 is the Clarion
Hotel in downtown Raleigh. T
To particpate in the parade, learn about all
PrideFest events, become a parnter, sponsor or
vendor:
WWW. ncpride. org