Treasures from around the world
page 25
Trans Day of Remembrance
page 5
PFLAG Winston-Salem hosts
annual banquet
page 12
Noted. Notable . Noteworthy. LGBT News & Views
Volume 22 . Number 14 www.q-notes.com November 17.2007
Hundreds gather
for statewide
conference
N.C. House member honored for his
work on bullying bill
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
DURHAM — Over 200 LGBT and straight
ally North Carolinians gathered Nov. 3 for a day
of networking and education on the campus of
Duke University, followed by an evening gala
where State Rep. Rick Glazier was honored.
At the first-ever statewide conference and
gala hosted by Equality North Carolina (ENC),
participants
Uivi: Lnvv
heard address
es from LGBT
leaders and
elected offi
cials and
attended
’ breakout ses
sions focused
on various
aspects of
activism and
advocacy.
Visiting
Alabama
GLAAD Executive Director Rep. Patricia
Neil Giuliano gives the Todd, the first
closing keynote at the openly gay
Equality NC Conference. person to sit
in that state’s legislature, gave the opening
keynote address and spoke of her experience
on the campaign trail, the ups-and-downs,
joys and rewards.
“I had spent a long time sitting outside in
the audience,” she said of the time before her
official service to Alabama. “I’ve spent a lot of
hours on a bus and marched in Washington
for many, many issues.”
Todd said she ran for office because the
LGBT community “needed a seat at the table”
if change was ever going to occur. Progress in
the South is clearly happening, she said, evi
denced by her election.
ENC Executive Director Ian Palmquist
echoed her positive, forward-thinking views.
“As a national movement, we cannot succeed
if we write off the South. We have to create
change across the entire country^’ He added,
“North Carolina is our best opportunity for
progress in the South.”
Among the breakout sessions participants
could chose from were: creating community
see statewide on 22
Gay employment protections pass House
Historic victory marred by
trans exclusion
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Nov. 7, the U.S.
House passed the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act (ENDA) including protec
tions for lesbian, gay and bisexual employees.
The historic 235-184 vote was the first time
the bill was able to pass the House since first
being introduced more than 30 years ago.
However, the landmark legislative victory is
marred by concerns that ffie bill fails to include
protections for transgender employees.
Masen Davis, the executive director of the
Transgender Law Center (TLC), expressed dis
appointment in how the bill was handled.
“Despite tireless efforts to craft and pass a
bill to protect all LGBT Americans from dis
crimination, the final bill was stripped of gen
der-identity provisions and contained broad
religious exemptions,” said Davis. “This was
not the bill any of us had hoped for.”
Matt Foreman, executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, whose
oiganization led efforts to keep a trans-inclusive
ENDA throt^ the “Uaited ENDA” campaign,
said he was disappointed in House leadership.
“We are deepfy disappointed that House
leadership decided to ignore the position of a
vast majority of LGBT organizations, ignore
the legal assessment that this bill may not
even provide adequate protec
tions for gays, lesbians and
bisexuals and ignore the fact
that this vote might make it
more difficult to persuade
members of Congress to sup
port a fully inclusive bill in
the future,” he said.
Although Foreman and
other leaders had been claim
ing the majority of LGBT indi
viduals supported a fully
inclusive ENDA, the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC)
released on the day of the vote
numbers from a survey they
conducted on Oct. 26.
refused to release any of the information.
In order to become law, ENDA must pass
the Senate and be signed by President George
Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) speaks at a
post-ENDA vote press conference attended by ENDA
sponsors and HRC President Joe Soimonese.
According to HRC, 70 percent of those surveyed W. Bush. At press time, a Senate version of
said the/d rather have an exclusionary ENDA
than no ENDA at all.
Journalists Rex Wockner (independent
journalist) and Cynthia Laird (Bay Area
Reporter) raised questions over the HRC sur
vey and asked the organization to release spe
cific information sudh as exact survey ques
tions, who conducted the survey, the source of
participants and the margin of error. HRC has
ENDA had yet to be introduced and Bush has
vowed to veto any version of the bill. Two-thirds
of the House and Senate must vote to override
a presidential veto.
Members of the Carolinas Democratic
Congressional delegation voting against ENDA
included Reps. Mike McIntyre and Heath
Shuler. Not a single Republican from North or
South Carolina voted for the bill. I
Barack Obama
Q-Notes examines the .
candidates—Part two of a multi- tIC!
part series
by David Stout. Q-Notes staff
hion 08
Over several issues were spotlighting the
Democratic presidential candidates in preparation for
primary season, (Our opening installment on Sen.
Hillary Clinton can be read online at www.q-notes.com.) The first
Democratic primary occurs in Iowa on Jan. 3. South Carolina holds the
earliest in the South on Jan. 26. The North Carolina Demoaatic primary
takes place May 6.
We have made an editorial decision to limit our coverage to the
Democrats because, vis-k-vis LGBT issues, the leading Republican candi
dates range from woefulfy lacking to openly hostile, 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.
B arack Obama is a name most Americans hadn’t heard before the
2004 Democratic National Convention. Then the Illinois state legis
lator and U.S. Senate hopeful delivered the keynote address at the Boston
D-Party, riveting the faithful with his powerful oratory.
At one point he stated, “The pundits like to slice-and-dice our coun
try into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue
States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too: We worship an
awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking
around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the
Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States.”
The LGBT community swooned along with the rest of America.
Literally overnight Obama was the rising star within the Democratic
Party.
His standing was cemented in November the same year. He crushed
his Republican opponent, receiving 70 percent of the vote, despite the
national pohtical climate that allowed the. GOP to gain Congressional
seats. “Obama for president” became a common refrain in Democratic
circles.
United we stand
Barack (“blessed” in Swahili) Hussein Obama
was born in Hawaii in 1961 to a Kenyan father
(Barack Obama, Sr.) and an American mother.
They met while attending the University of Hawaii
at Manoa and split when Obama Jr. was two. He
stayed with his mother, who later married an
Indonesian student, while his father enrolled at
see candidate on 11
Community 2.0 - New Media
page 13
A community mourns
Habbestadd page i 8 • Herzenberg page 17
Jim Neal to face challengers
page 17