Media gifts galore
Faith in Greenville
Q-Notes/White Rabbit holiday guide
page 34
Activists accused of‘church bashing''
page 14
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Guy B
The music, the ‘sexiness’ \
page 25
Noted. Notable . Notewondiy. LGBT News & Views
Volume 22 . Number 15 www.q-notes.com December I . 2007
Black LGBTs organize for Tower’
Charlotte chapter of National Black
Justice Coalition established
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
exclusive
CHARLOTTE — Community activists
Dianna Ward and Quan Rutledge feel that
many issues aren’t being properly addressed
within the Carolinas’ LGBT community.
Matters like discrimination, education and
quahty of life for LGBT African-Americans
need more attention, they say.
Because of the lack of action. Ward and
Rudedge have been working since August to
estabhsh the new Charlotte Steering
Committee of the National Black Justice
Coalition (NBJC).
Nine additional leaders from the Queen
City’s LGBT community have joined them in
forming the committee. They are Jahaan Davis,
LaToya Hankins, Kistyn Mathews, Brodderick
Roary, Monica Simpson, LaWana Slack, Ken
Tiimen, Karen Worrell and John Wight III.
The committee is working on the local level
for the national organization’s “The Power of
Us” campaign. The effort is a community
mobilization initiative designed to increase
visibility, financial support and activism.
Organizers say “The Power of Us” contains
a positive and uplifting message to embrace.
celebrate and promote the talent, capabilities
and contributions of LGBT people of color.
They want to generate pride and empower
ment and motivate black LGBT people and
aides to take action and join NBJC.
Under the group’s auspices, Afiican-
Americans in die Carolinas who identify as
same-gender-loving or LGBT, or are straight
allies of these communities, can band together
to make a difference on issues that Steering
Committee members feel are ignored or misun
derstood by mainstream queer organizations.
“The Human Rights Campaign does not
address black LGBT issues enough, or in a way
that could really make an impact,” Ward told
Q-Notes.
She explained that there are differences in
basic priorities that must be considered.
For example, while HRC and similar
national LGBT organizations busy themselves
fighting for marriage or employment discrim
ination, LGBT people of color are still batding
for basic issues like educational opportunity, .
healthcare and the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Steering Committee members point out
that they don’t dislike HRC or other major,
mainstream LGBT groups.“They are all doing
great work,”Ward said,‘hut a lot of their agen
das don’t always affect us in the here and nowf’
A key issue that national groups could bet
ter address, organizers feel, is the racism that is
still present within the larger gay community.
rcspgf
ywiAri
“I think the white straight community at
least owns up to having
some bias,” Ward said. “On
the other hand, the white
gay community thinks that
since the LGBT communi
ty is so ‘diverse,’ they really
don’t have any problems
with bias or prejudice
based on race.”
Rutledge added that
the ignorance surround
ing issues of race and
diversity translates into
what feels like avoidance
“because the white gay
community — for tiie
most part, although not all
— does not talk about the
issues important to us.”
But things seem to be
improving. Ward was
happy to see HRC’s strong
support for the Jena 6,
although their speaking
out came as a surprise.
i?
“The fact they did anything at all was a
shock,” she said. “I definitely thought it was
a step in the right direction.”
HRC has begun circulating a survey for
people of color artd ethnic minorities. -The sur
vey will help the organization identify the
NBJC Executive Director Alexander
Robinson speaks to a crowd of sup
porters at a Maryland lobby day.
Rutledge said.
issues most important to particular minority
communities.
In addition, Donna
Payne, HRC Associate
Director of Diversity,
joined Rev.Al Sharpton,
Martin Luther King III
and other civil rights and
religious leaders at a Nov.
16 march on the U.S.
Justice Department in
Washington, D.C. The
event was called by Rev.
Sharpton’s Nation^
Action Network and
other black leaders to
protest the lethargic
response of the
Department of Justice in
investigating hate crimes.
“I think HRC is try
ing to begin to address
the fact that they haven’t •
represented the entire
LGBT community, and
that is a good thing,”
Ward echoed the sentiment and stressed
that progress will be built on teamwork and
coalition building.
see power on 20
John Edwards
Q-Notes examines the candidates -
Part three of a four-part series
by David Stout . Q-Notes staff
Over several issues were spotlighting the
Democratic presidential candidates in prepara
tion for primary season. (Our installments on
Sen. Hillary ClinWn and Sen.
_ _ Barack Obama can
EleVtion 08 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 Democratic
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
candidates range from woefully 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 considera
tion in our opinion.
J ohn Reid Edwards
has fantastic hair. If you
don’t believe it, ask the
Republicans. They love to
talk about the “Breck Girl”
with the silken locks and
the $400 haircut. It helps
them paint the populist
candidate as vain, weak,
sissyfied. In fact, Edwards’ hair is a trifecta of
right-wing talking points — sexism, homopho
bia and genderphobia — in a single diversion.
Of course, with the party collapsing under
the weight of an utterly failed war, the crum
bling economy and one scandal after another.
%
what can the GOP do but smear the que.. .um,
the candidate with the fabulous hair.
Courting success
The central theme of Edwards’ campaign is
the idea of two Americas: one for the rich and
powerful and another for everyone else. Today,
he enjoys the opportunities and benefits that
come with being wealthy in this country, but
he never fails to point out that he grew up in
the other America — where his heart
remains, he says.
His stump speeches challenge voters to
reclaim the nation from sell-out politicians,
corporations and lobbyists. In this way, he
asserts, the Land of Opportunity might be as
real for the next generation as it was for his.
Edwards was born in 1953 in Seneca, S.C.,
and grew up poor in Robbins, N.C. He often
recounts the story that his father, a millworker,
had to borrow money to get him out of the
hospital as a newborn.
He was a high school football star and the
first person in his family to attend college. The
joy was short-lived. His parents could not
afford Clemson’s tuition and a hoped for foot
ball scholarship evaporated when he didn’t
make the varsity squad. After just one semes
ter, he was back home.
Edwards eventually enrolled at North
Carolina State University. He graduated with
honors in 1974, then earned a law degree with
honors from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill in 1977.
That summer, he married his UNC sweet
heart, Elizabeth Anania. Their son Wade was
born two years later, followed by Cate in 1982,
Emma Claire in 1998 and Jack in 2000. Sadly,
Wade died in a single-car accident in 1996.
In 1981, Edwards joined the law firm
Tharrington, Smith 8c Hargrove. He gained
see edwards on 11
Progress for PFLAG Rowan
page 13
Myers Park Baptist expelled
page I I
HIV and the travel ban
page 22