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opens wi^‘The Mostly
Unfabulous Social Life of
Ethan Green’ 29
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Lesbian group oiganizes
Alaska tip 10
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MCC of the Upstate 13
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VOLUME 20 . ISSUE 0«
SINCE WWW.Q-NOTES.COM
JULY 30.2005
LGBT community reacts to Supreme
Court nomination
Questions surround Robert's views on
Roe V. Wade, support far Operation
Rescue
by Mark Smith
After much speculation from the left and
the right President George W. Bush nominat
ed Judge John Roberts Jr. to repJace United
States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, who is retiring. Bush made the
announcement JuJy 17.
LittJe is lnown about Roberts, though
many in the LGBT community raised a flag of
caution.
“President Bush’s announcement that he is
nominating U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John
Roberts to the Supreme Court of the United
States gives us great pause, particularly in
light of Roberts’ role in the Counsel’s office of
President Reagan and the Solicitor General’s
office of-President George H.W. Bush,” said
National Gay and Lesbian Tasl Force
Executive Director Matt Foreman. “In exercis
ing its constitutional ‘advise and consent’
function, the Senate must take the time neces
sary to thoroughly review and evaluate
RoJjerts’ commitment to individual rights and
equal justice under the law, including his
record and thinking about civil rights, the right
to privacy and the reach of Congressional
power under the Constitution.”
In the days following the announcement,
some disturbing discoveries regarding
Roberts’ history as an attorney have come to
light.
In 1991, he brought the government’s
case before the Supreme Court in Rust v.
Sullivan, arguing for the right to restrict the
speech rights of family-planning organi
zations that receive pul^lic funding. The
result of that decision upheld a gag rule
on such organizations, denying them the
right to mention abortion as an alterna
tive to pregnancy.
Furthermore, his brief addressed the
legality of abortion itself, in regard to Roe v.
Wade, the 1971 decision that struck down
laws prohibiting abortion, Roberts wrote
“We continue to believe that Roe was
wrongly decided and should be overruled
... the Court’s conclusion in Roe that there
is a fundamental right to an abortion ...
finds no support in the text, structure, or
history of tlie Constitution.”
Another, perhaps more disturbing, rev
elation about Roberts is his apparent sup
port for the organization formerly known
as Operation Rescue. Today, the anti
abortion and anti-gay group, now known as
Operation Save America, is based in Concord
and regularly protests Charlotte Gay Pride.
In the 1993 Operation Rescue ruling Bray v.
Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic — even though
the case did not involve the government
(Roberts was deputy to then-Solicitor General
Kenneth Starr) — Roberts felt compelled to co
author an amicus curiae brief in support of the
extremist group.
Despite inklings of extremist right wing
views, in his 2003 confirmation hearing for
f4
President Bush with Supreme Court Justice nomi
nee Judge John Roberts Jr.
his current seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit, Roberts
told the Senate that he would have no
see SUPREMEon 6
Success, Controversy:
CBGP gets both
Organizers place attendance figures at 7,000
by David Moore
According to organizers attendance to Charlotte’s Black Gay
Pride Festival (CBCP) dramatically outnumbered attendance to the
Charlotte Gay Pride
Festival held in Marshall
Park in May.
The figures might be
somewhat misleading
though, as Charlotte
Black Gay Pride Festival
spokesperson Monica
Simpson indicated in an
interview July 20.
Simpson told Cl-Notes
that the totals were
gathered by adding
numbers from all of the
events that occured during the four-day festival that was held July
14-17.
That includes a town hall meeting, an
evening of live theater, film screenings, see CBGP on 4
Board members of CBGP flank
winners of Mr. and Miss Charlotte
Block Gay Pride.
Charlotte Business Guild
honors Q-Notes, others
Presentation held at historic
VanLandingham Estate
by Donald Miller and
David Stout
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
Members and friends of
Charlotte’s gay and lesbian
Business Guild gathered at the
VanLandingham Estate in the
Plaza-Midwood neighborhood
July 19 to pay tribute to the
accomplishments and contribu
tions of local LGBT activists and
organizers Linda Breen and
Shane Windmeyer with the
Charlotte Business Guild/Don
King Community Service Awards.
For the first time in the histo
ry of the guild, the board also
chose to honor a business that has contributed to the LGBT communi
ty. C^Notes and the newspaper’s publisher Jim
Yarbrough are the recipient. see GUILDon 7
Chariolte Business Guild/Don King
Community Servke Award winners
Shane Windmeyer, Undo Breen and
Jim Yarbrough.