r
J
&
CAROUN
noted . notable . noteworthy GLBT issues
I
Uberai leader, friend to
LGBT community and
foimer lilinois Senator ,
Paul Simon dies 22
Judge questions harsher
sentence in teen
sodomy case 07
High ranking military
officers come Out ^ 09
Taiwan VPcaits^DS^ V- ^
iSod’swrath’ 15
MCCopensnew
facility for
AikemAugusta area 26
Do pu personally *
iderpy with LGBT
limclBrs ori shows tike
iSAwAMjniT ;
rJaueergyeTSrthe
VOLUME 18 . ISSUE 18
SINCE 1988
iP ^To m
GLAAD Candidates de la Espanol-Lengua
14
Audiophile Grammy predictions include
Luther Vandross as a possible winner
WA*W. q-NOTES. COM
DECEMBER 20.2003
Former gay political leader sentenced
One-time gay activist, philanthropist and
Democratic party chairmail Andrew Reyes
gets 57 month sentence
by David Moore
Q-Notes staff
STATESVILLE, N.C.
Andrew Reyes'
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
mug shot.
At the high point of his career in local politics,
Reyes mingled -with celebrities like Ellen
A political career that
started off with a bang
in Charlotte in the late
1990s went out with a
quiet whimper in
Statesville on Dec. 1,
as openly gay Andrew
Reyes, an accountant
and former chairman
of Mecklenburg
County’s Democratic
Party, was sentenced
to almost five years in
federal prison for bank
fraud and taxxvasion.
DeCeneres and even met former President Bill
Clinton on a trip to the White House with then
Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles in 1998.
According to a federal indictment, Reyes was
charged with stealing $3.6 million from account
ing client Doug King. He pleaded guilty earlier
this year to the aforementioned charges and con
spiracy to commit income tax evasion. Federal
prosecutors agreed with the four year, nine-
month sentence, saying he had provided sub
stantial assistance that could lead to more crimi
nal prosecutions.
“In short, he has embraced the process of
cooperation," Assistant U.S. Attorney )osh
Howard told WSOC-TV.
At press time Reyes was still being held at the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg jail, where he has been
since Oct. 29, 2002 following his capture and
arrest earlier that month while crossing the bor
der from Tijiuana, Mexico into California.
Reyes and his attorney James Wyatt have
requested that Reyes be sent to a minimum-
security facility in Ashland, Ky., to serve out his
sentence. If their petition is granted, Reyes will
Harriet Redic: On the edge of 17
AIDS survivor celebrates another miracu
lous year
by David Stout
Q-Notes staff
Their are countless descriptives that can be
used to characterize Harriet Redic — devout
Christian, African-
American, trans
gender woman
and transplanted
Charlottean being
just a few — but
one is drawing the
lion’s share of the
attention these
days: longtime
AIDS survivor.
Harriet, 55, just
marked her 17th
year with the dis
ease. To better
appreciate this
milestone, consid-
Harriel' poses wHh a friend
on July 4, 1970, wearing
her intamous, wandering
wig.
er that Harriet has lived with HIV so long that
when she was first diagnosed the virus was just
starting to be called that (it was previously known
as HTLV-III), no president had ever mentioned
AIDS in a public address (Ronald Reagan didn’t
say the word until the following year), the first
AIDS drug AZT was a year away and the red rib
bon was still five years away.
Harriet found out she was HIV positive on
Dec. 18, 1986. Further tests determined that her
T-cell count was below 250 so she already had
AIDS according to the medical standards of the
time. She says it was like “receiving a death sen
tence" when the doctor dispassionately broke the
news.
“The doctor who gave me the results said she
was sorry to tell me that I was HIV positive. She
Being sworn in to run for Mecklenburg
County Commissioner.
pass his sentence in relative comfort in the same
prison writer Dashiel Hammet did time in, as well
as openly gay civil rights figure Bayard Rustin.
see ANDREW on 13
said she hoped I had good insurance and would
n’t wear out the emergency room. Then she
walked out the door.”
In the aftermath, with little available counsel
ing or support, Harriet tumbled into a crushing
depression that culminated one fateful afternoon
six months later.
“I lived about eight to 10 blocks from
Independence Blvd., and I got out that day and
started walking toward it. it was almost five o’clock
rush hour and my intention was to continue right
out into traffic and let it kill me."
But just as Harriet was approaching the fren
zied thoroughfare, she stopped. “I said to myself,
‘You fool, what if you walk out into traffic, get ran
over, get all broken up, laying up in the hospital
and don’t die?’ I thought about that and knew I
didn’t want to suffer, so 1 turned around and
walked back to the house.”
She says that soon after this pivotal event she
emerged from her period of grieving ready for
battle: “I stood and looked AIDS in the face by
virtue of a mirror and I pointed my finger and
said, ‘You may take me out of here, but you will
say that you had a fight on your hands because
I’m going to give you the fight of my life.’’’
The new girt
Fighting adversity was commonplace for
Harry S. Tfuman Burch, the second-youngest of
nine siblings raised by a single mother in Ruby,
S.C., during the segregated 1950s. It didn’t make
things any easier that Harry knew he was sup
posed to be a girl and had the moxie to show it.
"In fifth grade 1 took one of my fourth-oldest
sister’s outfits — shoes, dress, everything —- to
school in a bag and at recess went into the bath
room and put it on. When I came out nobody
could believe it. My classmates tried to shame
. me; the teacher tried to shame me — she even
see HARRIET on 12
Celebrating
the Season
LGBT folk in the Carolinas talk about
their plans and share their favonte
memories
by David Moore
Q-Notes staff
What are you celebrating this year?
Throughout much of North and South Carolina,
many people are celebrating Christmas, while
others are celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanza and
the Winter Solstice.
For members of the Christian religion,
December 25, or Christmas, is a celebration of
the birth of Jesus Christ. Some historians claim
its roots go back as far as the third century in
Italy. In contemporary times, however, the holi
day has become meaningful to many people
see CELEBRATING on 4