Noted . Notable . Noteworthy . LGBT News & Views Volume 23 . Number 07 July 26.2008 Printed on Recycled Paper FREE Burying a fossil At/ AAntf C'r\-\Jrtfoe q-notes.com G one, but not forgotten. That’s how most . North Carolinians are thinking of the late former Sen. Jesse Helms, a segrega tionist Democrat-turned-Republican who held his seat in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. But where the mainstream media, conser vative Republicans and fundamentalist Christians have been busy whitewashing his past and glorifying his memory, LGBT people around the Carolinas, the nation and the world will forever remember the real Jesse Helms. North Carolinians first sent the hateful TV commentator to Washington, D.C., in 1972.“! might not agree with him, but at least I know where he stands,” was the rejoinder that echoed across the state every six years from voters who’d re-elect him five separate times, despite his racist, homophobic and AlDSphobic politics. Helms’ July Fourth death brings a symbolic end to a dark era of bigotry and malice. Although his conserva tive cronies would like to lump his name in with the likes of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — who also died on July 4 — no amount of praise will wipe clean by Matt Comer. Q-Notes staff Helms’ record of pushing millions of racial and sexual minorities to the back of the bus during his reign as “Senator No.” The early years Bom Oct. 18,1921, to Jesse Helms, Sr. and Ethel Mae Helms in Monroe, N.C., there was hardly a thought that small-town country boy Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. would eventu^y become one of the most influential and longest- serving senators in the history of the nation. Helms attended Monroe Public Schools, after which he matriculated to Wingate Junior College and Wake Forest College in Wake Forest, N.C. In 1940, he would leave Wake Forest without completing his degree and begin his journalism career as a sports editor for The Raleigh Times, now known as The News & Observer. In 1942, the second World War hit America by surprise. As Helms was leaving his work to serve in the US. Navy, he married Dorothy “Dot” Coble. His 1945 return to journal ism set him on a career path toward international infamy. Dixiecrat Jesse Like most white North Carolinians of the time. Helms was a Democrat. Deeply embroiled in the national strug gle over the continued segregation of whites and blacks, the Democratic Party split. Southern Democrats organized their own Dixiecrat Party under the leadership of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC). Successful Dixiecrats ran for office and won as staunch segregationists. Thurmond, the only U.S. Senate candidate to win election through a write- in campaign, would have a weighty influ ence on Helms’ politi cal ideology. After serving five years as the city edi tor at The Raleigh Times, Helms became an unofficial aide and researcher in the 1950 Senate campaign of arch conservative Democrat and segregationist Willis Smith. When the Dbdecrat-in-all- but-namewon his primary against the more moder ate Franklin Porter Graham, the election was a done deal. In those days, Democratic primaries were all that mattered. During the campaign. Helms was instru mental in helping to frame a campaign ad that read, “White people, wake up before it’s too late. Do you want Negroes Working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills Racism and homoptiobta will fore'/er be Helms’ legacy and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races.” When Smith took office, he brought young Helms, the ever-diligent, unpaid campaign worker, along with him. Under the tutelage of a hardline segregationist and racist. Helms got see Helms on 18 S.C. governor demands personnel and policy changes after ad flap Employee who approved ‘So Gay’ ad resigns, SC Pride responds by Gareth Fenley . Contributing Writer COLUMBIA — When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford learned that his state was being advertised as a gay tourism des tination, he ordered a Cabinet-level depart ment head “to do the right thing person nel-wise or process-wise to ensure this • does not happen again,” Sanford’s spokesman Joel Sawyer told Q-Notes. Sanford was reacting to U.S. media reports that a subway poster mounted in London, England, during Gay Pride week was announcing “South Carolina is so gay^’ A state employee who approved the ads was called to a meeting with management and resigned, according to Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the state’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT). If the employee broke any rule in the conduct of her job, it was apparently an unwritten one. see Tourism on 16 South Carolina is so gay Explore an America most never see. From planUtioru toTh« Ovil War. Golf to gay HIHon Head, Charleston, Myrtle Beach. There's nowhere quite like South Carolina. Just as deserving Winston couple argues for marriage equality page 5 Crape Myrtle is back m Festival still helping after 25 years H page 29 High school drama Student production highlights gay youth page 30 A

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