Interview
Singer releases new album
page 25
Around the corner
Killer indicted
Holiday symbols history
page 25
Charge reduced to manslaughter
page 4
Noted. Notable . Noteworthy. LGBT News & Views
Volume 22 . Number 13 www.q-notes.com Novembers .2007
Tracy Morgan
leaves indelible
legacy
. Drag star died from backstage
heart attack
by Jack Kirven . Q-Notes staff
After 20 years of professional achieve
ment, nearly 100 titles and thousands of
exuberant performances, Clay Edwin
Lambert, who performed in iag as Tracy
Morgan, passed away backstage during
the Oct. 14 show at Scorpio nightclub in
Charlotte. He was 41.
In a show of appreciation for the com
munity that embraced him, Lambert’s rel
atives gave half of his cremated ashes to
his friends and colleagues at Scorpio. He
was a member of the club’s house cast for
nearly two decades. The urn rests in the
club’s display case in the lobby, alongside a
•Airtn iTttilii I injiiiiiiii niMniim n i
On the night of his death, Lambert per
formed two energetic routines. He told cast
mates that he “didn’t feel right” after the first
number, but
decided to stay
in the show.
Walking into
the dressing
room after his
second routine,
he complained
that he was
experiencing
severe indiges
tion. He added
that he was
going to faint
and immediate
ly collapsed.
Lambert’s
color changed
drastically in a
matter of seconds, witnesses say. He was
very hot to the touch. A medical profession
al in the audience was pulled backstage to
begin CPR. After 911 was called, para
medics continued life-saving treatment en
route to Carolinas Medical Center. Sadly, the
efforts to save Lambert were unsuccessful.
According to Carol Pinkard, a Death
Investigator in the Mecklenburg County
Medical Examiner’s office, Lambert died of
see drag on 21
N.C. gay man campaigns for U.S. Senate
Clay Lambert (a.k.a.
Tracy Morgan)
passed away Oct. 14.
‘He was the epitome
of a female imper
sonator,’ said long
time boss Rick Wilds.
Jim Neal says he’s always been out,
sexuality not an issue
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
CHAPEL HILL — “If not now, when?”
That is the question Jim Neal asked him
self when considering whether he would slip
his name into North Carolina’s 2008 U.S.
Senate race against the state’s first-term Sen.
Elizabeth Dole.
Indeed, it is Dole’s abysmal track record
that is giving Neal the push to run and win.
He said he was at an event in California when
he first heard the news that she had voted
against a child health insurance bill, common
ly known as S-CHIP.
“I heard that Dole had voted against the
[bill] for our state’s 120,000 kids from working
class families,” Neal told Q-Nbfes.“I didn’t get
that. I found it repugnant. That is when I said,
‘File! Let’s go!”’
And that is what he did. As of late October,
Neal is the only declared Democratic chal
lenger to file his candidacy in the November
2008 general election.
That move makes him only the second
openly gay U.S. Senate candidate in history
after Ed Flanagan of Vermont, who mounted
an unsuccessful bid in 2000.
Neal says he first started thinking about
throwing his hat into the ring when he found
out U.S. House Rep. Brad Miller had decided
not to run.
“When Brad did that, I thought,‘I can’t
believe Dole is going to go uncontested.’ Her
record in six years in Washington has been
very, very slim when it comes to accomplish
ments for North Carolinians,” Neal said. “Her
allegiance has been to her party, its president
and its failed policy. Every moment she spent
working for the Republican Party, she didn’t
work for North Carolina.”
Neal’s race has become a lot more interest
ing in recent days. On Oct. 20, he participated
in a “virtual town hall” on the progressive
political blog BlueNC.com.
Among Ae comments posted for Neal
to address was one directed to his sexual
orientation.
“I’ve heard you’re gay]’wrote an anony
mous commenter.
Just as directly, Neal responded, “I am
indeed. No secret and no big deal tO me — I
wouldn’t be running if I dichi’t think otherwise.”
“Really think a gay man can be elected in
North Carolina?” the commenter continued.
“I’m not running this race to lose,” Neal
replied. “I’m not running to make some social
statement. I’m running to lead in the Senate
for the voters in NC — something Sen. Dole
has not done.”
Chapel Hill resident Jim Neal is running
to unseat Elizabeth Dole.
In his conversation with Q-Notes, Neal
explained that he has always been an outsider
who came from humble begiimings — his
grandmother worked in a mill and his mother
was the only one in her family to ever go to
college. (She attended what is now the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro).
Although he describes himself as pro
gressive, he says he is fiscally conservative.
see neat on 20
Hillary Rodham Clinton
'tk>n08
Q-Notes examines the candidates —
Part one of a multi-part series
by David Stout . Q-Notes staff
Over the next several issues we’ll be handicapping the
Democratic presidential candidates in preparation for primary season.
The first Democratic primary occurs in Iowa on Jan. 3. South Carolina
holds the earliest in the South on Jan. 26. The North Carolina Democratic
primary takes place May 6.
We have made an editorial decision to limit our
coverage to the Democrats because, vis-a-vis LGBT
issues, the leading Republican candidates range
from woefully lacking to open hostility, or they’re
Rudy Giuliani, an Iraq war hawk. Either way, the
GOP slate is a disappointment and not worthy of
consideration in our opinion.
H illary Rodham Clinton’s run for the White
House as the Democratic nominee is a fore
gone conclusion. At least, that’s what the main
stream media would have you believe.
Their position is understandable. The two-
term New York senator is the frontrunner, is seated on the largest war
chest ever amassed at this point in a presidential campaign, is surround
ed by a crack team of advisors and is married to the most popular
American president since Reagan in his heyday.
Impressive stuff. Enough to feel Clinton is in the driver’s seat, without
a doubt. But, despite the “inevitability” meme, no guarantee of victory.
It was also conventional wisdom that Howard Dean would run away
with the bellwether Iowa primary in 2004, setting in motion a tumbling
of dominoes that would carry him to the nomination. However, a sur
prising third-place finish led to the infamous “Dean Scream” speech.
Within weeks Howard was the lamest of ducks.
No one is predicting that Clinton will experience a similar meltdown,
of course. But let’s not call the race before a single vote has even been cast.
A record of support
Hillary Clinton has a unique history with the gay community that
runs the length of her time in national politics. She and Bill openly
courted LGBT voters in their initial bid for the White House. As First
Lady, her press secretary, Neel Lattimore, was an out gay man.
Additional high-profile staff and advisory positions in the Clinton
administration were filled by other gays and lesbians, including Fred
see Clinton on 17
Viewpoint: Queers, equality and S.{
page 15
Latino parents and LGBT bullying
page 12 (English) page 18 (Espahol)
‘For The Bible’ comes to Carolinas
page 14