Show your dtrength. Get invoLv^.
CAROLINA
^l/^^O^aWai^wright
deiHris new album
PlayinItOut
Queen City Tennis Club
wins in Orlando 43
Gay Catiiolics reflect
on Pope 08
‘DonT Ask, Don’t TelT
repeal gains momentum 21
Log Cabin convention
energizes group
amidst controversy 24
Troy Perry on World Pride
in Jerusalem 28
North and South
Carolina
North Carolina:
Baptists hold
colleges hostage 10
South Carolina:
Anti-same-sex union
bill passes Senate 12
you outtofamilv^
'friends and work?
Q-Uving:
Remembering mom
on Mother’s Day
APRIL 23.2005
Eric Rudolph gets plea bargain
Former fugitive shows little remorse,
speaks out against gays
by Mark Smith
Nearly 10 years after a bomb exploded at
the Atlanta Olympic games and later at an
Atlanta lesbian ni^tspot, Eric Rudolph — the
man who has confessed to the acts — has been
spared the death sentence with a plea bargain
that will require him to serve four life sentences.
in Birmingham, Ala., Rudolph admitted to
being responsible for a 1998 abortion clinic
bombing that killed a police officer.
In Atlanta he admitted to the 1996 Olympics
explosion that, killed a woman and injured 100,
an explosion at an abortion clinic and the attack
on the lesbian nightclub the Otherside.
After being identified following the
attacks, Rudolph went into hiding in the
North Carolina mountains, avoiding capture
for five years.
A former soldier, he used survivalist tech
niques to live off the land while he was on the
FBI’s list of 10 most-wanted fugitives.
In May 2003 he was captured behind a
grocery store while scavenging for food in a
dumpster.
According to press reports, Rudolph
arrived at the federal court in Birmingham in
a car surrounded by 10 marked and
unmarked police vehicles, wearing a red
prison jumpsuit and a white T-shirt with
sleeves rolled up to the shoulders.
When asked by the judge if he planted the
bomb outside the abortion clinic he replied:
“I certainly did, your honor.” A similar scene
unfolded at the federal courthouse in Atlanta.
in an 11-page written statement handed
out by his attorneys following the plea bar
gains, Rudolph offered bizarre explanations
for the attacks.
Abortion and gays and lesbians
“Abortion is murder. And when the regime
in Washington legalized, sanctioned and
legitimized this practice, they forfeited their
legitimacy and moral authority to govern.
“No jx)litician in Washington will ever seri
ously threaten abortion on demand. And the
fools who listen to them, in their hearts, know
this but do not care. You so-called ‘Pro-Life,’
‘good Christian people’ who point your plastic
fingers at me saying that 1 am a ‘murderer,’ that
‘two wrongs don’t make a right,’ that even
though ‘abortion is murder, those who would
use force to stop the murder are morally the
same,’ I say to you that your lies are transparent.
'Every effort should be mode, including
force if necessary, to holt this effort.' — Eric
Rudolph on the gay and lesbian rights
movement.
“Along with abortion, another assault upon
the integrity of American society is the con-
see RUDOLPH on 4
Charlotte Pride just
around the corner
Despite challenges faced — effort forges ahead
by Donald Miller
if all goes as planned, Charlotte’s annual Pride weekend cele
bration will kick off without a hitch on Friday, May 6, with Beach
Blanket bingo, a.popular bingo party and fundraiser for RAIN host
ed by drag diva Shelitta Hamm.
The official festival takes place Saturday. May 7, in Charlotte’s
downtown Marshall Park, with an expected line-up of performers that
includes the drag cabaret performance group
“Drag Out Your Pride,” and
entertainers Eric Himan, Jen
^ . Foster, Sasha Sacket, the
Southern Country Outlaws
and josh Zuckerman. Emcees
^ ■ for the event will be Derek
' > Hartley and Romaine Patterson
from Sirius Radio’s OutQ.
In addition to numerous
booths from LGBT organiza
tions and specialty retail dealers throughout the park, this year there
will be several new food vendors, including Gus’s Greek Foods, Lava
Java Express, Queen City Smoothies, Rainbow Campus Connection,
Starbucks Coffee Company, Steakboys, inc. and ViP Concessions.
Other related and coinciding events include the RAIN AlDSWalk
Charlotte 2005 (see story page one), the official Charlotte Pride After
Party at Illusions (a portion of the ticket price will benefit PRIDE), a
performance by dance music artist CeCe Peniston at the Charlotte
Eagle and “Picnic in the Park” at Freedom
Park on Sunday, May 8. see PRIDE on 4
RAIN to host ninth
annual AlDSWalk
'Many lives. One road. Walk togethef slated for May 7
by Rodney Tucker
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Regional AIDS Interfaith Network’s (RAIN)
annual AlDSWalk Charlotte will take place Saturday, May 7, 2005 at
Bank of America organized an employee group to participate in
AlDSWalk 2004.
the Gateway Center Atrium at 800 North Tfade Street. The walk
kicks off at 10 a.m., rain or shine. "
AlDSWalk Charlotte 2005 is a two-mile walk through historic
Fourth Ward and is the largest HIV/AIDS awareness and fundrais
ing event in the Carolinas. Aincu/ II#-
While many people feel that the seeAlDSWalKono