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Published Every Two Weeks On Recycled Paper • Volume 16 . Number 17 • January 5, 2002 • Free
His mission complete, Father Gene
McCreesh leaves a legacy for us all
Celebrate celluloid!
OutGharlotte presents the
2002 Charlotte GlBT Film Series
starting January 23. pg 4
inside
AMA votes to accept G/L
medical association 4
lesbian priest sues to
adoptagain 9
llbiriif^iie Summers^ nte
celebrated at memorial 13
Rep. Barney Frank angry
at Bush Administration 15
Wilmington: Mickey Ratz
hosdng benefit for BBC 24
Oral Roberts Univeisity
looking for alumni who
werelosttoAIOS 27
In the season of
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yon donate?
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rcash: tetOBT
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Townhome Style
Condominiums
by Lainey Millen
Special to Q-Notes
A wise, soft-spoken man, generous beyond
normal limits, Fr. Gene McCreesh, SJ, died in
Baltimore, MD, December 15, 2001, after a
two-year battle with cancer. He was 78.
A compassionate Catholic priest, he was well-
known in the Charlotte area for his work with
the homeless and the hungry.
Cold nights found Fr. McCreesh searching die
underpasses, looking for those who needed trans
portation to shelters or blankets to warm them.
He provided food for those who would arrive at
St. Peters Church, spending many nights making
sandwiches.
This was not something that was foreign to
him. As a child during the Depression, he
warched his mother do the same for those who
were out of work and hungry.
He was singular in his devotion and determi
nation to help them. He spearheaded the effort
which established the first permanent shelter for
homeless men in Uptown Charlotte, working
with the city government and other benefactors.
Fr. McCreesh had a long and global history of
helping the displaced. He spent nearly ten years
in Burma working with orphanage children,
playing games with them, distributing cards and
toys from US contributors. His service ended
when the socialist government expelled all for
eign nationals.
Upon his return to the US, Fr. McCreesh
taught at Jesuit universities. He later became a
pastor to an inner-city Philadelphia black church.
Wlicn the cold weather of the north became
too much for him after he had a heart attack, Fr.
McCreesh relocated to Charlotte.
He was selected as vicar of St. Peters Catholic
Church in Charlotte — which was to be the
beginning of his retirement. But the venerable Fr.
McCreesh did not retire.
Driven by human compassion, he embraced all
those in need, including those “not covered” by
religious precept. He worked passionately and
tirclcs-sly within the GLBT community. He min
istered to those afflicted and affected by AIDS.
In loving tribute
Father Gene McCreesh
He met AIDS head-on with Rick Cars^wcll, a
well-known community leader, at home, await
ing death. The RAIN team and Ho.spicc were
doing all they could to keep Canswell comforted
and comfortable.
sci' McCREESH page 13
the newly-designed Q-Afofes will debut next issue: 1-19-02
National Q-Re^ew of the Year 2001
Compiled by GLAAD, Edited by Q-Notes
News & Politics
January
• Gay and straight Republicans form the
Republican Unity Coalition, to make sexual ori
entation a “non-Ls.sue” for the party.
February
• Tlie FBI says 1999 statistics undcrcount anti
gay hate crime by 38 percent. Citing under
reporting by local law enforcement, the
National Coalition of Anti-violence
Programs wants law ensuring police
report all hate crimes to the FBI.
April
. • Bush is the first Republican
president to appoint openly gay
official. Scott Evertz to head the
Office of National AIDS Policy.
• By a 9-2 board of supervi.sors
vote, San Francisco is die first
UScity to in.stitute a benefits'
package for city/aiuntry employ
ees which includes healthcare for
tran.sgenders and transsexuals.
May
• Human Rights Watch releas
es a comprehensive study: as
many as 2 million gay teens are
harassed and bullied, while
school officials often refuse to
address and actively encourage the
abuse.
• A Washington Post investigation reveals the
Salvation Ariny has secretly thrown its support
liehind Bush’s “faith-based initiative” in exchange
for a policy allowing the Army to di.scriminate
against g/1 in violation of local civil rights laws.
• Sen. jes.se Helms introduces an amendmenr to
the Senate education bill that could result in
withholding federal ftmds from schools reftising
to sponsor Boy Sanit troops. Tlie final House-
Senate compromise bill passed in November still
retains language mandating equal access.
• Columbia University researcher Robert
Spirzer releases a study: “some highly-motivated”
gays and lesbians can go straight. Academics and
LGBT organizations found fital methodological
flaws: non-representative sample, biased hypothe
sis, unteliable information-gathering and solicit
ing subjects from known anti-gay organizations.
June
• Openly gay, traiasgcnder, Two-Spirit youth
Martinez, Jr.,
is brutally mur- ' ““
dered in Cortez,
Colorado. The trial of Shaun Murphy — accused
of Martinez’s murder and who bragged to friends
about how he had “beat up a fag” — is for
February 2002.
• The one-year annivensary of the US Supreme
Court’s decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Former Eagle Scout James Dale .said, “The Scouts
may have won at the Supreme Court, but their
victory is being overturned in the court of public
opinion.”
• A Gallup poll reveals increasing acceptance of
gay and lesbian Amerioms, including 80 percent
agreement that gays and lesbians should lie pro--
tected by employment anti-di.scrimination.
• Tlie General As.sembiy of the Pre.sbyterian
Church USA votes 317-208: to allow the ordi
nation le.sbian and gay ministers, elders and dea-
con.s. Majority' ratification by local churches is
nece.s.sary, with the vote expected in 2002.
• US Surgeon General David Satcher calls for
a “mature and thoughtftii discussion alxiut
sexuality” in his Call to Action to Promote
Sexual Health and Responsible Behavior.
The groundbreaking reporr directly
addres.ses a numlier of issues related to the
gay community, including the inefficacy
“reparative therapy” and harassment’s
J damaging impact on LCBT’s mental
I health.
•r3 «' • International G/L Human Rights
»_ Commission director Karyn Kaplan
•7 addre.s.ses the UN General As.sembly
Special Session on HIV/AIDS over the objec
tions of a largely Islamic bloc of delegates.
However, tho.se delegates succe.ssfully renutve the
reference, “particularly vulnerable groups” from
the final conference declaration.
July
• Rliode Island becomes the second state
(after Minnesota) in the US to protect trans
gender people from di.scrimination.
• Sharon Smith may proceed with her
wrongful death lawsuit.on behalf of her
partner, Diane Wliipple killed in January
after being attacked by dogs. The San
Franci.sco judge rules that denying Smith the
right to .sue violates the Equal Protection Clause
of the California Constitution.
• A coalition of anti-gay religious leaders calling
itself the “Alliance for Marriage” attempts to
amend the US Constitution to ban equal mar
riage rights for g.iys and lesbians..
• A bi-parti.san coalition of congressional lead
ers introduces the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, which would prohibit job
di.scrimination ba.sed on sexual orientation. In the
aftermath of September 11, consideration of the
bill is postponed until early 2002.
see Q-NEWS page 6