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SEPTEMBER 24
Joe Solmonese visits
ChariotiB
Kristine W. performs
North Caroiina:
Campaign to end AiDS
caravan headed for
Chariotte 10
South Caroiina:
Gays and iesbians
mobiiizing to tight anti-gay
amendment 12
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Health & Fitness
Welcome to N.C Pridel
This year's parade theme:
'Equal Rights: No More, No Less'
DURHAM, N.C. — The 21st annual North
Carolina Pride Parade will take place at I
p.m. on Sept. 24 launching from Duke
University East Campus.
Pointing to years of increasing success and
popularity, organizers expect thousands of
participants and attendees from across
North Carolina and from well beyond
state borders, including large and
growing numbers of non-gay
participants and spectators.
“This parade is about
celebrating how far the
LGBT community has
come and showing that, collectively and
individually, we feel good about ourselves,
that we continue to push America towards
‘freedom and justice for all’ and that we have
many allies and supporters on our side,”
says Keith Hayes, spokesperson for the Pride
Committee of North Carolina.
“Any fair-minded person who spends 30
minutes at our PrideFest will never question
the joy and excitement that come from being
inclusive, building bridges and being open.
honest, self-affirming and diverse.”
“Equal Rights: No More, No Less” is the
international theme of LGBT Pride organiza
tions and events for 2005. it highlights the
fact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgen
der people still face significant discrimination
— although today that discrimination comes
less from individuals, employers, family or
friends
than from state and
federal laws and many
religious organizations.
The theme also underscores the LGBT
community’s insistence on securing the
basic rights and protections that virtually all
other minority groups in America enjoy —
the right to non-discrimination in the work
place, the right to protection under law
against violence and the right to marriage or
civil unions that confer ail the benefits and
responsibilities of marriage.
In 2004, an estimated 5,000 people from
across North Carolina, across the Southeast
and as far away as Ohio, New York and
California attended the Pride Parade in
Durham. This is the sixth consecutive year
that the parade has taken place in Durham
— largely a reflection of the wel
coming attitude of Duke
University, the City of Durham
and the dozens of merchants and
business owners along the
Ninth, Broad and Markham Sts.
parade route.
Signature Pride Parade activ
ities include:
• Pride Parade Rally and Vendor Fair
— 10 a.m.-5 p.m.. Sept. 24, Duke University
East Campus
• Pride Parade — 1 p. m.-2:15 p.m.. Main St.
and Campus Dr. through Ninth, -Markham
and Broad Sts., Durham.
See the Pride events calendar on page 38
for the full list of activities.
info:
wv™.ncpride.org
Gay and HIV-positive;
Katrina victim
resettles in Charlotte
Chris Odeven excited about calling North Carolina home
by David Moore
Q-Notes staff
Odeven “Chris” Christopher has been through a lot in his life
time. A New Orleans native resident, Christopher has battled mul
tiple hurricanes and waged an
ongoing fight for his health since
he was diagnosed as HlV-ppsi-
tive a few years back.
There’s no question
Christopher’s got a strong will,
but even he was eventually over
whelmed by Hurricane Katrina
and the resulting aftermath that
would leave him cut off from the
rest of the world.
in the early morning hours of
Aug. 29, Christopher and his
tiny little teacup chiuahua
Buddy weathered the onslaught
of Katrina from the Mid Cities
neighborhood as it roared into
the city.
“it started around 4 a.m.,”
see KATRINA on 7
Odeven "Chris" Christr^her
and Budc'
Chariotte
and Buddy outside their new
>tte home.
One Voice Chorus
announces new artistic
director
Rehearsals currently underway
by Pam Young
After a nationwide
search process. One Voice
Chorus, the gay, lesbian
and gay-affirmative cho
rus - of Charlotte, an
nounced the appointment
of its new artistic director,
Steav W. Bates-Congdon,
to lead the award-winning
group into their 2005/
2006 season.
Bates-Congdon brings
his extensive musical
background and training
to One Voice as it begins a transformational 16th year.
“Choral music is the highest achievement of all musical sound,”
Bates-Congdon says. “Everyone has a voice, and to take that phenom
enal, natural, exquisite sound and combine it in a controlled form, syn
chronized with others, is absolutely awesome.”
He ought to know. After receiving his B.P.S. in conducting and voice
from Crane School of Music and his M. Div. from the alma mater of Dr.
Martin Luther King, )r., Bates-Congdon became the youngest Master of
the Choristers in the 130-plus year history of the
Pingry School. see NEW on 4
One Voice's new Artistic Director Steav
Bates-Congdon led the Syracuse Gay &
Lesbian Chorus for eight seasons.