Special swimsuit spread
Interview
What’s hot for the summer
page 40
Patty Grijftn
page 29
Taking a stand
S.C. couple part of ACLU video
page 18
Ijn
Noted . Notable . Noteworthy. LGBT News & Views
Volume 21 . Number 23 www.q-notes.com March 24.2007
The journey of a lifetime
At a performance by the Gay Men’s
Chorus a man’s religious parents
embrace their son’s community
by David Moore . Q-Notes staff
CHARLOTTE — Thirty-three-year-old Jon
Mullen is a teacher at Queen’s Grant
Community School in Mint Hill, N.C. The
atmosphere in the school he says is conserva-
w
Jon Mullen and partner Bryan Mack
tive and Christian — and many of his
coworkers and even parents of some of his
students are aware that Mullen is a gay man
— but his sexual orientation isn’t an issue.
It’s not without a twist of irony that Mullen
would be teaching in such an environment —
he’s been surrounded by religion all of his life.
Born in Nepal to a Hindu family, Mullen
was adopted by Christian missionaries before
he reached his first birthday.
“When I was about six months old my bio
logical mother became very ill and my father
put me up for adoption,” Mullen tells Q-Notes.
“He basically abandoned me.”
Mullen’s birth mother died soon after and
he was adopted by two missionaries with the
Seventh Day Adventists: Dr. Tom Mullen, a
physician, and his wife Beth Mullen, a school
teacher.
Mullen was happy with his family — but
still curious about his background. In his per
sonal blog, he writes about those early years
still living in Nepal and wondering about the
family that gave him up.
“I didn’t know my real parents for anything
more than a wobbly signature and a
thumbprint on the acrid-smelling documents
detailing my adoption. I used to go into my
father’s office in the afternoon sometimes
when he was working late at the hospital and
go to the file cabinet and pull out the docu
ments and look at them — onionskin yellow
in the afternoon sunlight — and wonder
things I couldn’t explain. Then I would care
fully fold and tuck the papers back neatly into
the file cabinet drawer. And hurry out before
the spell broke...”
“We stayed there till I was five years old,”
Jon recalls. “Then my family brought me to the
United States.”
' Mullen’s first visit to the U.S. lasted only
three years. Tom Mullen would move his fami
ly yet again to another exotic location to help
others and spread his spiritual beliefs. This
time the destination was Pakistan.
“We lived there for about seven years,” Jon
says. “My mom worked as a teacher and my
dad offered health care to poor Pakistanis. In
between we touted our good news on the
piano to anyone who would listen.”
By the time Jon was 15 he and his family,
which now included two younger sisters —
Amy and Melissa — moved back to the U.S. to
a commune near Sacramento known as the
Weimar Institute.
“That was home for the next 10 years,”
Mullen offers. It was a very, strict, religious
environment. The women wore pants under
neath their dresses. We had religious meetings
every Friday night. If something went wrong
the community would have prayer vigils.
“Although it was strict — it could be very
loving — if you lived life the way they wanted
you to.”
Again, Mullen writes about some of his
experiences on his blogsite.
“It was comfortable. Things were provided
for. Meals were in a cafeteria. Almond butter,
cashew milk, millet loaf and organic soy
lasagna with spinach for noodles and pimento
jello for cheese. Housing was provided on the
point system. My family started at the bottom of
the hill, and eventually gleaned enough points
to move up to the top. My friends and I
marched door-to-door spreading the word of
God to an incredulous public. On Christmas, we
passed out loaves of raisin bread and organic
religion We would stop in little groups around
the half-mile bop under the spreading pine
trees, to breathe heartfelt prayers to solve every
thing from domestic disputes to matters of state.
And we always walked away ‘blessed.’Some
days I think perhaps I’ll go back. But deep
inside I know I can’t. If I did, I wouldn’t be
happy. I have seen too much. Experienced too
much. I would be at war within myself’
Mullen would continue to live
at the Weimar Institute while attending his
first three years of college. In the years that
followed he moved to Chattanooga, Tenn.,
where he would remain active with the
Seventh Day Adventists.
“I found myself growing uncomfortable
with that,” he recalls. “After awhile I felt I was
lying to myself and everyone else around
me. I wanted to go to a place where nobody
knew me.”
Before Mullen would leave Chattanooga, he
took the difficult step of coming out to his
parents.
“I came out to my parents in early 2000,”
see finding on 8
Equality riders
face vandalism
and harassment
West bus faces intimidation in the
Heartland, while East bus defaced
with anti-gay slurs in Iowa
On the opening day of Soulforce’s Equality
Ride 2007,50 young riders faced grim
reminders of why they are on two buses,
headed for 32 Christian colleges with policies
that silence or exclude LGBT students. The
eastbound bus made its first stop in Sioux
Center, Iowa, where riders were harassed at
SOUTHWEST TOURS
Disney refuses to host gay marriages
page 9
a-
Snce 1986
Soulforce Equality riders awoke to find
their bus covered with anti-gay siurs
and graffiti.
their hotel. The following morning they awoke
to find their bus defaced by graphic anti-gay
graffiti.
The Equality Ride traveled to Sioux Center
to visit Dordt College, a school that counts
“sexual activity with someone of the same
gender” as possible grounds for “an employee’s
discharge or a student’s dismissal.” The
see riders on 27
•tes
see presents
*Queen eity
Stomp*
Charlotte Lesbian & Gay
Community Center to receive 90
percent from annual fundraiser
compiled by Q-Notes Staff
CHARLOTTE — It has been extensively
reported that the Lesbian & Gay Community
Center of Charlotte has been having severe
cash flow issues. Even before that news
became widely known. Southern Country
Charlotte (SCC) was working on a deal to des
ignate 90 percent of the proceeds from their
very successful Queen City Stomp to the
Community Center.
Queen City Stomp takes place April 13-15
Photo; William Strope
Over the last four years the Queen City
Stomp has gotten bigger and raised more
money for its designated charities. In 2006,
$20,000 was split evenly between the
Community Center and Time Out Youth. For
2007,90 percent of the net proceeds will go to
the Community Center and the remaining 10
percent will go to Time Out Youth.
“SCC has a long history of supporting
both the Community Center and Time Out
Youth,”? says Curtis Tutt, president of
Southern Country Charlotte. “The Center
really needs our support this year, but Time '
Out Youth has come to rely on funds from
this event as well. That’s the reason for the
90/10 split. We’re counting on everyone to
help us break our own records and help both
of these organizations that mean so much to
our community.”
The Queen City Stomp, commonly
known as a hoedown, boasts two evenings
of country dancing, as well as silent auc
tions, dance workshops, dance exhibitions,
cocktail parties, after-hours parties and a
barbeque lunch. It is one of the premier
see stomp on 7
ceUntin; 10 years
deOvering LGIT news
te the CanOnas
New AIDS discoveries in the news
pages 20-21