Lahor Day -r- for aUAmericaruf!
.north
& sout
CAROLIN
Q-Living:
Interior Decorators
& Weir Hanes
VOLUME 20 . ISSUE OS
SINCE 19SS WWW.Q-NOTES.COM
AUGUST 27.2005
Brit comic duo takes US.
by storm 25
GLAAD names Neil
Giuliano new president 16
MTV seeking same-sex
coupies 04
Cotdweil Banker employee
fired because he’s gay 12
CNN’s Jason Beilini goes
to LOGO 19
North and South
Carolina
North Carolina:
Monte St James wins Mr.
Gay USA in Hickory 08
South Carolina:
MCC Columbia considering
merger with UCC 10
ONLINE
Q.POLL
www.q*notes.com
. yes . no
Next Issue:
N.C. Gay Pride
Homophobic Jamaican dancehall artists
returning to North Carolina stages
Capleton and Sizzla performing in
Charlotte and Raleigh
by David Moore
Q-Notes staff
CHARLOTTE — Despite a protest last Oct.
20 at Amos’ Southend in
Charlotte when reggae/dance-
hall artist Capleton showed up
— and continued cancellations
Capleton and Sizzla will take to the stages of
Raleigh and Charlotte — despite protests by LGBT
rights groups last year.
of his performances world wide because of
his anti-gay lyrics — the venue has booked
the performer for a Sept. 14 show. He’ll fol
low up that appearance with another at
Raleigh’s Lincoln Theatre Sept. 15.
What’s more, the equally homophobic
Jamiacan artist Sizzla will follow Capleton in
both venues Sept. 28 and 29.
Capleton’s lyrics have suggested gays be
hanged, drowned, burned or shot. Among
his songs is one with the Jamaican-
dialect lyrics, "Bun Out Di Chi Chi,”
which translates to “burn out the
gay man.”
In an interview with the Santa
Cruz Sentinel Capleton said he is not
advocating violence against gays
but said that he believes homosex
uality is “against humanity. It’s
against your mother, it’s against
your father, it’s against yourself.” In
using the word fire, he claims he is
referring to a spiritual fire.
In an interview with the BBC
last November, Sizzla refused to apolo
gize for his lyrics advocating violence
against gay men, despite his U.K. tour
being cancelled after protests.
“They can’t ask me to apologize,” he
told BBC radio station 1 Xtra. “They’ve got
to apologize to God because they break
God’s law.”
One of his most controversial songs,
“Pump Up,” contains the Jamaican patois
lyrics “fire fi di man dem weh go ride man
behind,” Tfanslated to English it means
“burn the men who have sex with men.”
The movement against Capleton, Sizzla
and other reggae dancehall performers like
Beenie Man and Buju Banton, ail who have
violently anti-gay lyrics in their songs, took
root in England with a group known as
Outrage. British gay rights leader Peter
Tatchell spearheaded the movement suc
cessfully throughout Europe and prompted
LGBT activists in the U.S. to take action.
Last September Tatchell was under 24-
hour police protection following numerous
death threats for his actions.
Police believed that a violent gang of
Jamaicans known as the Yardies — who are
responsible for a string of murders in London
— had been hired to kill Tatchell.
Tatchell confirmed he had received 20
death threats in the street, on the telephone
and by email. According to 365gay.com, one
email sent to Outrage warned Tatchell, “If
you go to protest at any large rasta-based
festivals you may not leave standing.”
A message posted on one dancehall reggae
website by a man calling himself Killarock says:
“Where are the shottas (gunmen) over in
England, I bet if the shottas dem kill a few a dem
they will calm down, cause right now England
battyman dem ago start a world movement.”
Indeed, a world movement against anti
gay hate speech has ensued, despite attemps
by Outrage to mediate an agreement by the
musicians to discontinue anti-gay references
in future recordings and cease performance
of the previously recorded material.
Recent cancellations across Europe con-
tinu to cost artists like Capleton and others
untold amounts of lost ticket revenue.
sTunaTiooai
Rfiomoiiie
convoeaTionj
Controversy surrounds
'Hearts on Fire' conference
Gay and lesbian Methodists urged to attend welcoming conference
by Neill Caldwell
LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. — The Lake Junaluska
United Methodist retreat center has found itself in
the center of a storm of controversy over rental of
its facilities by the Reconciling Ministries Network,
which advocates full participation in the church by
people of all sexual orientations.
Email and official statements have passed back
and forth in recent weeks and church-related blogs
and internet forums are buzzing about the gather
ing. Several hundred participants are expected for
the “Hearts on Fire” event Sept. 2-5 at Lake
Junaluska, a Southeastern Jurisdiction ministry
about 30 miles west of Asheville.
“SEJAC does not approve of or disapprove of the
‘Hearts on Fire’ conference program, said Jimmy L.
Carr, executive director of Lake Junaluska
Conference and
Retreat Center.-“The participants in the event see CONTROVERSY on 4
UKE JUNALUSKA
LABOR DAY 200S
HRC picks new
co-cnairs for dinner
Jay Biles, Jennifer Gamer
tapped for 2006 HRC
Carolinas Dinner
by Bert Woodard
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jay
Biles, a human resources busi
ness partner with Wachovia
Corp., and Jennifer Garneri the
associate vice president for
University Advancement at
Queens University of Charlotte, have been named co-chairs
of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) 2006 Carolinas Dinner.
The annual dinner will be held at the Charlotte
Convention Center on Feb. 26, 2006. Last year’s HRC
Carolinas Dinner drew a record crowd of 1,300-plus, earn
ing the national dinner HRC Dinner of the Year distinction.
Biles manages human resources for the sales division of
Eveigreen Investments, a subsidiary of Wachovia. Prior to this
current role, he worked in a centralized
area within Human Resources designing see NEW on 21
Jennifer Gamer and Joy
Biles are the newly nan^
co-chairs for the 2006 HRC
Carolinas Dinner.