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CAROLIN
Rocker Michelle Malone
perfoims in Charlotte,
Chapel Hill and Mount
Pleasant 31
Serving the Cnrolinod for 17 Heard
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VOLUME 18 . ISSUE 8
SINCE 1988
WWW.Q~NOTES.COM
AUGUST 30.2003
N.C celebrates 19th annual LGBT Pride
'United in Pride' takes place over three
days across five different cities
by Eddie Katz
N.C.'s 19th annual LGBT pride celebration takes place
September 19-21 in the Raleigh-Durham area.
“United in Pride,” North Carolina’s 19th
annual LGBT pride celebration, kicks off in
Durham September 19, with a one-pian show
by performance artist Tim Miller at Manbites
Dog Theater. Other events scheduled for the
three-day affair include a women’s party at
Visions with a drag king show, a “Noche Latina"
dance and party from the Latin LGBT organiza
tion HOLA-NC and appearances and perform
ances by a handful of notable celebrities, among
them former Carolina Panthers player Esera
TUaolo, dance music diva Kristine W and Shane
Landrum, a former star of “MTV Road Rules”
(see schedule, page 11).
“NC PrideFest day. which
includes the festival and
parade in Durham, takes
place on Saturday,” says
John Short, one of the chief
organizers for NC PrideFest.
“There are adjoining and
aligning events later in the
day and on Friday and
Sunday, so it encompasses
the entire weekend.”
In addition to Durham,
events for PrideFest take
place in Raleigh, Chapel
Hill, Greensboro and
Winston-Salem. Raleigh
plays host to a large por
tion of the evening celebra
tion, with the NC PrideFest Night
Festival taking place in the city’s
Hargett Street area.
In years past the event had often moved to
different locations around the state. Since
2000, it has remained predominantly in N.C.’s
tri-cities region.
“We haven’t ruled out the possibility of mov
ing it around again,” says Short. “It just almost
got too large to move and we wanted to give it a
little bit more stability, so we’ve been experi-
nORTH CRRDLinR
PRIDE EDD3
to the capital
area from all
over the state.
Crowd
estimates for
last year’s
festivities
number
somewhere
between 6,000 and 10,000 and Short expects
the numbers to be similar for this year.
If you’re planning to stay for the weekend,
Raleigh’s Clarion State Capital is the official
host hotel and will be offering special rates.
Other attractions in the area include the N.C.
Museum of Art and Duke University.
Raleigh’s Ninth and Hargett Streets boast
numerous gay-friendly businesses; including
the wine bar Cork, as well as Third Place
Coffee Shop and White Rabbit Books.
“And. of course, there are the clubs," says
Short.
Gay and lesbian nightspots in Raleigh
include Flex, Legends, The Back Door and
Capital Corral, while in Durham there’s
Visions and Quest.
Regional favorite and nationally acclaimed
DJ Barry Harris will spin at Legends in Raleigh
September 19.
On Saturday morning at 8 a.m. a walk and
run kicks off the official NC PrideFest day in
Durham with conferences following at 9 a.m.
(see schedule for additional details on page II).
menting with the idea that people would come
see CELEBRATE on 12
Rita Mae Brown comes
to Charleston
Groundbreaking author of
'Rubyfruit Jungle' will speak
at literary gala
For a generation of women —
those now mostly in their 50s and
60s — Rita Mae Brown has served
as the quintessential voice of les
bian America.
Born in Hanover, Ffenn., she grew
up in Florida and today makes her
home on a farm in Charlottesville,
Va. In 1973
she rose to
notoriety with
the success of
her novel
‘Rubyfruit
Jungle.’ For the
time period,
the bestsel
ler’s story line
was a contro-
Rita Mae Brown is unclear what
she's going to talk about when
she makes an appearance in
Charleston, S.C. Sept. 16, but
rest assured she'll come up with
something.
versial one: it detailed the experi
ences of a lesbian growing up in
America and finding her way in
New York City while struggling to
become a successful filmmaker.
Unquestionably America’s most
successful modern lesbian writer,
she has published several books of
poems, more than a dozen novels,
six mysteries with her cat. Sneaky
Pie, and a writer’s manual. She has
been twice nominated for an
Emmy, for her scripts “Love Liberty”
and “The Long Hot Summer.”
Moreover, she appears to be a
woman of some contradiction:
while she loves animals and even
writes under the guise of a cat for
some of her work, she nevertheless
condones hunting and is the Master
of Fox Hounds of the Oak Ridge Fox
Hunt Club and a member of the
Farmington Hunt Club. On the polit
ical side of things she professes an
apparent admiration for President
George W. Bush, describing him as
an “interesting and strong man.”
see RITA on 14
Former NFL player to
make appearance at
NC Pride
Esera Tuaolo, former Carolina
Panthers player comes out
and comes home
Esera Tuaolo in
the Chili's promo
campaign.
by David Moore
Q-Notes staff
Fresh out of college, the
Wisconsin NFL team the Green Bay
Packers drafted Esera TUaolo, who
eventually became one of their
leading defensive line men. He
would go on to spend five years
with the Minnesota Vikings, as well
as stints with the Atlanta Falcons
and the Carolina Panthers.
During all that time, the hand
some and normally outgoing
Tbaolo shyed away from his fellow
players, keeping mostly to himself.
Tuaolo had a secret. One that
wouldn’t sit well with most of his team
mates: he was a closeted gay man.'
All of that changed in October of
2002. when Tuaolo decided it was
time to throw the closet door open
wide. That was when the rest of the
world learned that, not only was he
gay, he was involved in a long-term
relationship with a male partner,
and they had two children together.
Tuaolo’s admission on the HBO
special “Real Sports” turned out to
be the shot heard ’round the world.
Even though he’s a six-foot-
three, 300-pound giant of a man,
Tuaolo still had to compose himself
as he recounted the anti-gay epi
thets and jokes he faced in various
see ESERA on 13