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Charlotte Pride


voyager12

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It's easy to be "eccentric" when you're complicit in stealing over three million dollars in church donations.

If you're judged by the company you keep, then surely the gay community can find someone with a bit more integrity than Tammy Faye to use as a poster child. There are a lot of people out there who have had a hell of a lot more positive impact, albeit not as a media clown, than she did.

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She never claimed to be perfect and there is no doubt that Tammy and her husband paid severely for their misdeeds. I still think she deserves to be commended for her outreach to gays. She was one of the few evangelical leaders that had the deceny to be openminded and kind to us instead of hateful and demeaning.

Edited by voyager12
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I'm with Voyager12 on this. She was waaaay ahead of her time in her treatment of AIDS patients. In a time when most people with HIV were shunned or ignored by almost everyone including the President (Reagan), she was the only Christian on TV to reach out to them.

She was flawed, and she'd have been the first to admit it. And yes, I cheerfully mocked her on many occasions as well. But that doesn't diminish my opinion of her character.

I think of her as a woman who genuinely cared about others but was easily blinded by the money that came pouring in to the PTL in it's heyday. Even at the end, though, she expressed love and caring for all people.

I think she exemplified Christian love and understanding (and I say this as an atheist). There are many who could learn from her example as well as from her mistakes.

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I'll let it drop, but I have serious reservations against ignoring a celebrity's heinous crime because she was involved in a charity cause.

At what point can one be forgiven if their life and deeds move on to better things? I lived here through PTL and was one of the first to be happy to see them get what they deserved. But they paid their price and I believe her life went a different and more genuine and loving direction. If we can't ever forgive someones past, why should anyone try and be a better person?

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^^^Not to mention that she was never convicted, or even accused, of committing a heinous crime. Given her naivete that people who knew her have mentioned, it's not hard to believe that she did not know about the financial wrong-doings that her husband was involved in.

Edited by geekUSA1981
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Pride is a month from today. Once again it's being held in The Gateway Village Atrium. I expect the event to be a success like last year. Volunteers have come forward to serve as monitors for our good friends at Operation Save America. If last year is any guide they will have ample space and their free speech right to stand on the public sidewalk and wave signs and preach while being prevented from harassing festival goers on the Atrium's private grounds. Hopefully there wil come a day when we can have Gay Pride safely out in public in Charlotte like in other "world class" cities but we are still too taboo and "controversial" in this town to have any supported rights to public parks or get cooperation from the city on that front. But I digress ! Perusing the vendor list I see Susan Burgess will have a booth for her Council reelection campaign. That is nice to see. I don't know who the speakers are. Pat McCrory? So he can secure the gay vote? :rofl::rofl: To be consistent I would be shocked if Beverly Earle shows up. She is missing a good opportunity. The Mecklenburg Democratic Party will be there again so maybe they can enlighten me on her stances.

Edited by voyager12
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Cooper Lawrence is supposed to be emcee, this year. Although, I don't really remember there being an emcee last year...? I guess Christy Snow came closest--seemed like she was up there in between acts. Not really sure what Cooper's responsibilites will be...introducing the acts? And maybe she'll give a key-note speech of some sort?

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Pride is a month from today. Once again it's being held in The Gateway Village Atrium. I expect the event to be a success like last year. Volunteers have come forward to serve as monitors for our good friends at Operation Save America. If last year is any guide they will have ample space and their free speech right to stand on the public sidewalk and wave signs and preach while being prevented from harassing festival goers on the Atrium's private grounds. Hopefully there wil come a day when we can have Gay Pride safely out in public in Charlotte like in other "world class" cities but we are still too taboo and "controversial" in this town to have any supported rights to public parks or get cooperation from the city on that front. But I digress ! Perusing the vendor list I see Susan Burgess will have a booth for her Council reelection campaign. That is nice to see. I don't know who the speakers are. Pat McCrory? So he can secure the gay vote? :rofl::rofl: To be consistent I would be shocked if Beverly Earle shows up. She is missing a good opportunity. The Mecklenburg Democratic Party will be there again so maybe they can enlighten me on her stances.

What are the dates?

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I just read in Q Notes that Chris Cole is running for a seat on Huntersville's town board. He is openly gay and will be on a Libertarian platform and hopes to work towards domestic partner benefits and a non-discrimination clause if elected. I have never heard of him but he has run several times for statewide office. Do you think he has a good chance of success Metro?

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I checked The Center City Partners Calendar today and just like last year they conveniently have not listed Pride on the 25th. The Center City Green Market and Meck County Football made the cut. Last year I emailed Michael Smith and Moira Quinn and politely and firmly asked why the Charlotte Pride was not included and got no response. I contacted Karen Shugart from Creative Loafing and she also heard nothing back from them and noted their deafening silence in her article profiling the event. I guess CCCP is so much in bed with our "world class" Mayor that they don't want to annoy him during reelection season by putting anything gay on their website. Little snubs like this may not seem important but to me they are continual evidence of Charlotte's "seem rather than be" attitude. All the mindless PR blather about how Charlotte is a "world class welcoming" city is put to shame by continuing mindset held by the establishment that it's ok to be gay in Charlotte as long as you stay under the radar and are not visible at all. And if you have to have a festival it has to be on private property completely tucked away. Because Charlotte as a whole still can't handle the "gay" thing. Pathetic.

Edited by voyager12
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These people will never list an event such as Gay Pride. They don't represent the city of Charlotte, but rather certain "interests" of the city of Charlotte who simply would become unglued at the though of acknowledging there are a Gays and Lesbians living in the city. This narrow minded thinking is one of the reasons why Charlotte is still basically considered a backwash on the national level, and is a non-starter on the global scale.

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I agree with you. I also think it's important to say that for me there are many wonderful aspects to Charlotte and I don't regret moving here. Dilworth and some of the other center city neighborhoods are relatively gay friendly. As much as I may rant and rave on here and plaster my car with a wide variety of left wing stickers I don't run around totally defining myself by my sexuality. It's an important aspect of my life and on a personal and political level it's going to be visible because we are not afforded the same rights as heteros. And if it comes up on a personal or professional basis I am simply straightforward :lol: and as blase as if I were straight and asked about my personal life. And if someone has a problem then too bad. But on a broader citywide level it's getting tiring hoping for change. This is not to say that progress has not been made as has been discussed on this thread. But on a national level Charlotte is way too far behind the curve for all of it's affluence and supposed "style" when it comes to diversity issues and it just may be a permanent trait. When I first moved here two years ago my friends in NC all told me I was crazy as a gay person not to move to Asheville or The Triangle because "everyone" knows how anti-gay Charlotte is. I am finding it harder and harder to disagree with them.

Edited by voyager12
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I ended up emailing CCCP this week to ask them to put Pride on their calendar. And got no response just like last year. Other forms of communication through other means and people failed as well. Which is quite puzzling because Hedwig and The Angry Inch is listed playing on the 25th at Actor's Theatre :huh: What is CCCP so afraid of? That they will be accused of "promoting" homosexuality? :rolleyes: I suppose there are some things one is never destined to understand.

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If you look back on Charlotte's recent history (last 20 years) you will find that it isn't exactly a place that one would look for progressive events. There isn't much online about it, but you might want to refer to this article on what happened in Charlotte less than 10 years ago and note that some of these people still hold elected offices in this city. In addition, there was a rather vocal fundamentalist anti-Gay preacher, Joe Chambers (listed in that article) who received a lot of support from Sue Myrick when she was mayor of Charlotte. As we all know, she is now our representative to the House of Representatives.

These people even organized a big protest against Dr. Ruth when she came to Charlotte to give a lecture.

The CCCP has remained silent through all of this and isn't likely to take a stand now given that we are talking about the same people who have always been there.

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I've never felt uncomfortable being gay here. I think Charlotte is fairly progressive and most people I know (not close friends, just those I know) don't really have an opinion pro or con about gays. We just are just like other ethnicities and races *are*. There obviously are bigots and a mayor who can't take the time to welcome the HRC dinner to town, but that isn't the whole city nor should the views of a few be used to label the city.

I've been asked by out-of-town friends before where the gay part of town is or why we have so few gay bars. I honestly believe it is because we are integrated and our gay population is mixed in with everyone else. We don't need a gay part of town any more than any other group *needs* their own place unless they want it. I've never felt unwelcome by neighbors in the areas I've lived. Myself and everyone I know have as many straight friends as gay friends and we go out to straight, gay, and urban bars (like Tutto Mundo). Most bars and restaurants we frequent usually have other gays there as well.

I don't feel any more or less comfortable anywhere. Now, get me outside the city into some of the surrounding counties and it is a different story...

I think the folks that don't want gays around are outnumbered by those that don't care either way or those that are supporters.

Edited by Charlotte_native
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I've never felt uncomfortable being gay here. I think Charlotte is fairly progressive and most people I know (not close friends, just those I know) don't really have an opinion pro or con about gays. We just are just like other ethnicities and races *are*. There obviously are bigots and a mayor who can't take the time to welcome the HRC dinner to town, but that isn't the whole city nor should the views of a few be used to label the city.

I've been asked by out-of-town friends before where the gay part of town is or why we have so few gay bars. I honestly believe it is because we are integrated and our gay population is mixed in with everyone else. We don't need a gay part of town any more than any other group *needs* their own place unless they want it. I've never felt unwelcome by neighbors in the areas I've lived. Myself and everyone I know have as many straight friends as gay friends and we go out to straight, gay, and urban bars (like Tutto Mundo). Most bars and restaurants we frequent usually have other gays there as well.

I don't feel any more or less comfortable anywhere. Now, get me outside the city into some of the surrounding counties and it is a different story...

I think the folks that don't want gays around are outnumbered by those that don't care either way or those that are supporters.

You're right, in Mecklenburg county it is much more common....if you go to a different county people look at you like you're crazy....I think that's how most metro areas are, given that most liberal/open minded/cultured people tend to live in the city limits or near them.....

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You're right, in Mecklenburg county it is much more common....if you go to a different county people look at you like you're crazy....I think that's how most metro areas are, given that most liberal/open minded/cultured people tend to live in the city limits or near them.....

Once again my favorite quote from a drag show I saw in Atlanta referred to the openess of ATL but "when you get out of the beltline you are back in Georgia..."

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You're right, in Mecklenburg county it is much more common....if you go to a different county people look at you like you're crazy....I think that's how most metro areas are, given that most liberal/open minded/cultured people tend to live in the city limits or near them.....

In the above article that I posted the county commissioner who said that Gays should be bulldozed of the earth (or something like that) was elected from central district 2. You really don't get closer to central Charlotte than that. On the other hand, the commissioner that lost his seat due to his very vocal stands against Gays was Joel Carter who basically represented the Lake Norman and University area.

The point is that it's not really possible to characterize Charlotte/Mecklenburg in such cut and dry terms as city good suburbs bad. Maybe it works in Atlanta, but we are not really made up like ATL either.

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I do not think classifying the city in cut and dry terms is fair, however, the suburbs do tend to be more conservative.

On the other hand, the commissioner that lost his seat due to his very vocal stands against Gays was Joel Carter who basically represented the Lake Norman and University area.

If I recall correctly, Joel Carter lost a close election following the revelation that he had an affair.

This is all history, the current make up of the board seems to show the current situation better. Bill James, a former member of the "Gang of 5," and Karen Bentley, who received a warning from MeckPac, represent the most suburban districts. On the other hand, the head of the commission was one of the most outspoken against revoking art funding.

As for the discussion of Center City Partners, has anyone attempted to contact the individual board members? The corporations represented tend to be supportive of equal rights. Gay pride is sponsored by Bank of America and Wachovia, both have a member on the board. This seems like it could be more fruitful than emailing the same people that seem to be ignoring the issue?

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As stated before there have been many different attempts to figure out the non-sensical omission of Pride on CCCP's calendar. All fell on deaf ears. This is all the more pathetic given that group's supposed mandate to encourage diversity and draw the community to Uptown. It may seem to be making a mountain out of a molehill but I think's its emblematic. CCCP will not rock the boat and that's that unfortunately. Maybe I am more hyper attuned or jaded having spent a lot of time in places that wear their gay friendliness with a badge of honor so it's hard to adjust to Charlotte's schizo attitude towards gays. I also agree that it's difficult to stereotype areas of town. But nationwide the more urban areas tend to be more liberal since they have the most diverse ethnic and social makeups and generally speaking suburbia does not. There are always exceptions. Anectdotally I have heard that Lake Norman is generally more gay friendly than the suburbs south of town and Gastonia. Maybe this is because Lake Norman is made up of many transplants from more liberal areas of the country. Nearby Davidson is liberal because of Davidson. Gastonia and Fort Mill/Tega Cay originally were old traditional Southern towns that have become booming suburbs. And perhaps some of the locals down there still are resistant to people with different orientations moving in. Will Charlotte's attitude toward gays evolve and be much more enlightened a few decades from now? I hope so. Atlanta proper did not become the gay mecca of the South overnight, it took years, it's just frustrating to me personally that for a town so focused on the progress and positive future we are still so stuck in the past on this issue. And it does hurt us nationwide and reputationwise when competing with other cities for college grads. Jennifer Roberts and Parks Helms are very supportive but they are in the end just two people who can only do so much when others refuse to help out of political fears and or bigotry.

Edited by voyager12
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...we are integrated and our gay population is mixed in with everyone else. We don't need a gay part of town...

On the other hand, this severely dilutes any political influence gays have. With no heavy concentration of gays in one voting district, we have a really difficult time directly influencing elections. An active and concentrated gay community could very possibly sway enough votes in at least one district to get and keep a gay friendly member on the city council or county board. The gay conclaves in NY, Chicago, Philadelphia have made great strides in positively influencing city policies. Being integrated ("assimilated"?) doesn't seem to be helping gays in Charlotte at all. :(

I'm not saying that a gay area would be a godsend and solve all our problems, but I do think they have helped people in the cities that have them see that Teh Gays are not as scary as people make us out to be. And any extra political influence we can gain by being a larger fish (voting bloc) in a smaller pond (one district as opposed to being spread throughout the city) is a good thing.

All IMHO.

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