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Civil rights pioneer
Bayard Rustin
page 16
Interview
Jazz artist Dave Koz
page 33
Noted . Notable . Noteworthy . LGBT News & Views
Weddings and Valentine’s Day
Tips to having a super time
page 33
Black History
Month Issue
Volume 21 . Number 20 www.q-notes.com February 10.2007
Fighting for life
Partners Jight to keep their love alive
as one battles leukemia
by David Moore . Q-Notes staff
Fortunately for Owen, doctors recognized
, the symptoms very quickly and immediately
t61d him to a pack a bag and head for the
hospital.
Thompson and Owen had been together as
a couple 19 years at that point. Like
many long-term couples, they’d
weathered their shares of ups and
downs — but nothing like this.
When they first met in Chapel
Hill back in 1986 they had no way of
knowing the path that lay ahead —
but it wasn’t long before they realized
they wanted to share the journey
together.
“I remember when we first met
very clearly. I was a senior in college
working as an assistant manager at
the Gap,” Owen chuckles. These days
he’s a full-time program manager
for IBM. “Wesley cqme in to buy a
pair of black jeans. At the time he
was in the physician’s assistant pro
gram and he was a senior at the
wf • /- j 1.. .TL , University of North Carolina-Chapel
Wedding in Canada: Wes Thompson (left) and
Thompson recalls his version of
Trey Owen on their wedding day in Canada.
Imagine thinking you have your whole life
before you and suddenly you wake up one day
to find out that — in all likelihood — you
were wrong and you have a lot less time left
than you thought.
That description isn’t too far off the mark
when Trey Owen talks about his battle with
leukemia — and his partner’s valiant efforts to
help him pull through it all, despite the odds.
“I was tired all the time,” Owen recalls. “I
just thought it was because 1 was working a lot
of overtime. I was working really hard.
Eventually my partner Wesley made me go to
the doctor and have some blood work done.”
Initially, the results led Owen and his part
ner Wesley Thompson, at the time a physi
cian’s assistant at the Jemsek Clinic, to believe
that Owen was suffering from Acute
Lymphocytic Leukemia.
“The doctor said for a man my age that’s
probably what it was — nothing too serious
that couldn’t be managed.”
As fate would have it — that was not the
case. Owen wa's ill with Chronic Lymphocytic
Leukemia, a much more serious type of the
disease that normally effects children.
“I had two genetic characteristics that
made mine exceptionally virulent,” he recalls.
“If I had not gone to the doctor I would have
died in my sleep — essentially bleeding to
death internally.”
events: “He was there, toiling over paperwork
— I thought he vras so cute. At first I thought
he was scowling, but then he looked up at me
and broke into this big smile. I was with a
straight friend and we left — but I went right
back and asked him out for dinner and
drinks. He met me later that night at a restau
rant called Another Thyme — and after that I
invited him back to my place for wine.”
Perhaps it sounds a little cliche — but it is
fitting — the rest is history. The two men
grew together and continued to make their
lives together as the 20th century became the
21st century.
All around them the world was changing.
Friends passed away. Political parties gained
and lost control of the government. Fashion
reinvented itself countless times. Technology
continued to expand at an unfathomable rate.
TV viewers went from watching “Square
Pegs” and “Dynasty” to “Survivor” and
“American Idol.” The world would be forever
changed by the events of Sept. 11,2001, and
the invasion of Iraq in 2003 — while a grow
ing movement towards same-sex marriage
was being met with resistance from,
Republicans and evangelical Qiristians.
There’s no question that the world has
changed dramatically since Thompson and
Owen first met on Nov. 18,1986.
Despite the tumultuous times.
their relationship endured.
It’s true that individuals in a long-term rela
tionship sometimes fake each other for granted
— no couple is immune to that. But when
faced with such a life-threatening illness, it was
the bond of their many years spent together
that gave Thompson the strength to stand by
Owen when the going got really rough.
After Owen was ordered to Charlotte’s
Presbyterian Hospital, he would spend several
weeks there, undergoing the most aggressive
kind of chemotherapy available.
“I didn’t get sick,” Owen recalls. “Which
was good. But I had this thing called a PICC
line. Actually I had a couple — which later led
to me getting infected with e-coli. I got blood
poisoning and I was in the ICU for about a
week. I died and was revived several times.”
Owen confirms that there are long blocks
of time during his illness that he has no recol
lection of.
Thompson, who stayed by his partner’s side
throughout the ordeal, remembers everything.
“He was very sick. I’m glad he doesn’t
remember. It wasn’t a good time. Emotionally it
was quite devastating. They were telling me he’s
not going to make it — but I just wouldn’t give
up. We stayed there to be with him 18 hours a
see fighting on 1
Big changes at
MCCs across
the Carolinas
Charlotte loses a pastor; Winston-
Salem gets a new one and SC’s
Upstate finds another home
Change is clearly on the forefront St multi
ple Metropolitan Community Churches
(MCC) across the Carolinas currently, as MCC
of the Upstate has relocated and two other
Carolina-area churches are facing pastoral
changes.
MCC
MKTROI’OUIAN
COMMUNl'i y CHURCHES
According to Upstate’s pastor Rev. Donna
Stroud, her congregation just recently made
the decision to move to another facility after
negotiations to purchase a church built more
. than a century ago fell through.
“The owner said he had two-ahd-a-half
acres and he had just over one -and-a-half. He
see mcc on 6
Gay jazz genius is finally
getting his due
Singer Dianne Reeves talks about
Billy Strayhorn and his music
by Peter Galvin
UFCC presents ‘Words: The Isms’
page 46
■ “Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life,” a 90-minute
documentary film about the pioneering
African-American composer, arranger and
pianist, debuted nationally as part of PBS’s
Independent Lens series on Feb. 6.
The film presents Strayhorn’s fascinating
life as it has never been told before, showcas
ing his talent and passions, as well as taking a
hard look at his complex, 29-year working
relationship with legendary bandleader Duke
Ellington.
Strayhorn was a 23-year-old piano prodigy
when Ellington, recognizing Strayhorn’s
genius, tapped him to become his chief collab
orator in 1940. The partnership produced a
see jazz on 5
Billy Strayhorn collaborated on a body
of work that has virtually no rival in
originality and range.
AIDS conference in Chapel Hill
page 15