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Feb. 27-March 12,2015 Vol29 No 22
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4 qnotes Feb. 27-March 12.2015
HRC gala celebrates 20 years,
awards locals
200-plus attend 20th annual e^/ent at Charlotte Con\/ention Center
by Matt Comer :: matt@goqnotes.com
State Sen. Jeff Jackson also attended, giving the eve
ning's opening remarks and telling the crowd that, "North
Carolina will not sit by while,injustices exist"
Electing a 'pro-equality champion'
in 2016
HRC also took the opportunity to mobilize its dinner
guests for the 2016 election.
"The pro-equality majority that still exists even in both
houses of Congress have never felt the pressure from us
to vote its conscience. That's on us," said Joni Madison,
a former HRC board member. "We have to force them to
be courageous and do the right thing. We can activate the '
LGBT vote beyond marriage’'equality. We've got to mobilize
and organize. We've got to build an army to elect a new pro
equality champion to the White House in 2016.1 think there's
going to be someone who fights for us each and every day
she sits in that Oval Office."
The movement, Madison said, won't stop at the 2016
presidential election.
"It's not enough to just elect a president," she said.
"We've got to send a message to those elected officials
who decide to cement their feet on the side of discrimina
tion. It's up to us to kick them out of office."
Madison delivered the evening's keynote address in the
absence of HRC’President Chad Griffin, who was expected
to attend the anniversary gala. Organizers told attendees
that Griffin was unable to find a flight to Charlotte due to ongoing winter
weather on the east coast.
Locals, celebrity honored
HRC s gala also featured several awards and recognitions, including
awards to a Western North Carolina community leader and Charlotte's
local LGBT philanthropy group.
Joshua Bledsoe received the group's individual
Equality Award. An instructor at Blue Ridge Community
College in Flat Rock, N.C., Bledsoe is also a founding fac
ulty advisor for the college's LGBT student group, PRISM,
and has been involved with a variety of local LGBT
efforts, including a production of "The Laramie Project"
and the creation of a Western North Carolina gay-straight
alliance network.
The Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund, an endowment ini
tiative of the Foundation For The Carolines, is the state's
largest ongoing funder for LGBT causes. It received the
organization Equality Award.
Local couples and plaintiffs in marriage equality
cases were also honored, with gala co-chair Jeremy
Carter giving a special nod to Greensboro couple Lennie
Berger and Pearl Berlin, two plaintiffs in an ACLU of
North Carolina case.
"Lennie Berger and Pearl Berlin met and fell in love
48 years ago. They were legally married in Maine in
2013," Carter said from the stage. "But their marriage
was not recognized in their home state of North Carolina.
That is until just recently. Couples like Lennie and Pearl
are exactly the reason we need full marriage equality
across this great nation,"
Openly lesbian actress Samira Wiley, best known for
her role as Poussey Washington on Netflix's "Orange is
the New Black," was given the group's Visibility Award. Wiley, 27, was re
cently featured on one of the Oi/flOO 20th anniversary magazine covers.
Organizers of the Charlotte dinner say it is HRC's second-largest fund
raising event, following the group's national dinner in Washington, D.C.
The 20th anniversary gala was being hosted in Charlotte for the fourth
time since returning to the Queen City in 2012. It had been previously
hosted in Charlotte from from 2005 through 2009, before moving to Raleigh
in 2010 and 2011. The first local HRC gala was held in Greensboro in 1996
and 1997, then moved to Raleigh from 1998 through 2002 and then back to
Greensboro in 2003 and 2004 before moving to Charlotte.::
The Charlotte Lesbian & Gay Fund was award the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Award. L-R: HRC
Gala Committee member Marty Miller, CLGFs Tim Bice, Jenni Gaisbauer and Lee Knight Caifery, Gala
committee member Maddy Goss, and CLGF's Steve Bentley and Jeremiah Nelson.
Photo Credit Matt Comer
CHARLOTTE — More than 1,200 guests attended a sold-out fundrais
ing gala at the Charlotte Convention Center on Feb. 21 for the nation's
largest LGBT civil rights group. Hosts celebrated local community leaders
and encouraged attendees to mobilize on local non-discrimination efforts
and the upcoming 2016 election.
The Human Rights Campaign's North Carolina Gala celebrated their
20th annual event in the state, using the opportunity to ask attendees to
speak out on Charlotte s hotly debated LGBT-inclusive non-discrimina
tion proposals.
HRC has been among a coalition of groups,
including the Mecklenburg LGBT Political Action
Committee, Genderlines, Equality NC and others,
pushing for updates to the city's public accom
modations and other ordinances. In recent days,
anti-LGBT religious leaders and organizations
have been mobilizing against the proposals.
Scott Bishop, president of MeckPAC and an
HRC national board member, issued a call to action
from the gala's stage.
"Our opposition has been flooding [City Council
members'] email inboxes with messages of fear
and hate," Bishop told the crowd, pointing their
attention to call-to-action postcards on each table.
"Pick up the card and on the back you'll find three
simple actions you can take to tell City Council that
these ordinances are important and they need to
vote yes."
Bishop told the crowd to email Council. "It
takes less than a minute do this," he said, also
.encouraging dinner-goers to attend City Council's
meeting on March 2 at 6 p.m., when the body will
hear the ordinance proposals.
"This is important for all the citizens of Charlotte
and all the people who visit here," Bishop added.
Bishop's call to action wasn'tthe only time the ordinance proposals
were mentioned. Local drag performer Roxy C. Moorecox welcomed
visitors at the event's.check-in desk in a red-carpet Hollywood-style
entrance. She mentioned the ordinance package several times, as did
City Councilmember Vi Lyles, who said she looked forward to passing the
proposals in a video message with welcome statements from several
other local officials.
Lyles was joined at the dinner by several local officials, including
Charlotte City Councilmembers LaWana Mayfield, Al Austin, Patsy Kinsey
and David Howard.
Equality Award winner Josh Bledsoe,
left, with HRC Gala Committee member
Daniel Valdez.
Photo Credit Matt Corner