Charlotte Pride

[uptownliving]

I assume its going to Raleigh because of their new Ballroom at the Convention Center there....if they can't match Charlotte's attendence then it will be back I'm sure. Plus when they come back we can have it in the new Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame! I can see it now: A Gay NASCAR theme for HRC. Get your motor running!

[voyager12]

Some interesting info from last night's guild meeting.

Jennifer Roberts has placed a proposal for domestic partner benefits for County employees on the Spring Agenda. It's all in the preliminary stage. And times being what they are it's going to have to be positioned for discussion carefully. In an ideal world it would sail through. All of the recently elected At Large members are relatively gay supportive, the votes are there. It's just always more politically advantageous to have as much consensus and unanimity as possible. It's clearly impossible to sway all of the Republicans on the Commission. But it's definitely worthwhile to take time to lobby those who are a bit more moderate. Hopefully some mindsets have changed since the rancorous brawl over the passage of the sexual orientation non-discrimination policy for county employees a few years back.

There is also hope that the City administration and Council will be more swayed to action as the inequity between the two bodies regarding this issue is shown. To that end, City Manager Curt Walton will be speaking to us next month at the Community Center @ The Music Factory. The decision made to move the venue from the usual spot at The VanLandingham House is to show him our "town hall". He gladly accepted the invitation to speak. This in itself was a huge step forward. Former longtime City Manager Pam Syfert treated us like a leper colony and would never communicate. Since the City Manager holds great power in our city government a strong turnout for this meeting from all members of the community is very important.

We need to show strength in numbers when advocating for equal treatment in this town or we will never be taken seriously.

Edited December 17, 2008 by voyager12

[uptownliving]

Is that going to be on Jan 20th?

[voyager12]

^ I believe so. There is a mingling and munchies hour that begins at 5:30 and usually the monthly speaker gets underway an hour later. I will reconfirm the date and time as it gets closer. Would be great if you could come

[voyager12]

Per Q-Notes, Velocity has shut down. I had no clue. Which probably goes to show how often I go dancing After having lived here going on five years I never went there. And I never heard anyone say they really enjoyed it much.

The Garden&Gun Club at the Music Factory is pretty cool I hear. Maybe they will benefit. I know it's popular with gays but it's not promoted solely as a gay bar I don't think...

Edited January 1, 2009 by voyager12

[InitialD]

Per Q-Notes, Velocity has shut down. I had no clue. Which probably goes to show how often I go dancing After having lived here going on five years I never went there. And I never heard anyone say they really enjoyed it much.

The Garden&Gun Club at the Music Factory is pretty cool I hear. Maybe they will benefit. I know it's popular with gays but it's not promoted solely as a gay bar I don't think...

Now I believe Scorpio's is open on Fridays and Saturdays, or at least Saturdays. Free 21+ and $5 18-21. Haven't been in a couple months, though.

[monsoon]

^The Scorpio has been open since 1975 and at its present location since 1978. Think about it. When it opened, people were still in polyester hip hugging elephant baggies and wearing foot high platform shoes. It has outlasted endless numbers of trendy dance clubs, cruise bars, drag clubs, leather bars, lesbian bars, Black clubs, you name it, it has out lasted it. It was even burnt to the ground not once but twice. Still it survives as a place to go out.

I know of dozens and dozens of past Charlotte Gay bars that are just memories now. At one time there was even a bar in Salisbury and one in Rock Hill. I am not sure why Scorpio lasts especially when you hear alot , "Oh it is so blue collar". lol I always enjoyed going to the place despite the fact my friends during my bar going days would want to go to something more suitable for the A-list. There is some sort of lesson to be learnt from that but I don't have the ability to put it to words. Maybe it was always the diversity always found in that bar.

[voyager12]

One of the few times I have really enjoyed myself at a gay bar was at Scorpio. It's still a great cross section of gay subculture.

[caterpillar2]

I assume its going to Raleigh because of their new Ballroom at the Convention Center there....if they can't match Charlotte's attendence then it will be back I'm sure. Plus when they come back we can have it in the new Ballroom at the NASCAR Hall of Fame! I can see it now: A Gay NASCAR theme for HRC. Get your motor running!

Good idea. RickyBobby's arch enemy in the movie "Talladaga Nights" was a gay Frenchman that raced in NASCAR? As a straight subscriber, I say, "Go For It!"

[voyager12]

From a diversity perspective I have researched and heard that Wells Fargo is more progressive on GLBT inclusion in the workplace then Wachovia has ever been. Having another gay friendly major business presence in town is a good thing HQ or not. It's still jarring to me how the large the disconnect is between much of the corporate world and government when it comes to gay equality.

Edited January 5, 2009 by voyager12

[davidclt]

From a diversity perspective I have researched and heard that Wells Fargo is more progressive on GLBT inclusion in the workplace then Wachovia has ever been.

Well both banks you mentioned as well as BofA score a 100 from the HRC in their 2009 Corporate Equality Index. Wachovia has scored 100 for the past three years, Wells for the last five and BofA the past three.

The only other Charlotte companies listed are Compass Group (65 for the past two years) and Duke Energy (from 60 to 75 this year).

Companies scoring abysmally low (0):

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Perot Systems Corp.

More here: http://www.hrc.org/issues/workplace/cei.htm

Edited January 6, 2009 by davidclt

[voyager12]

I guess it should not be too surprising that WF has a solid history of being gay friendly coming from San Francisco. I also like the fact that they have a great record of ignoring the ridiculous threats from "traditional values" outfits like the American Family Association.

Wachovia also had a good reputation on this score as you pointed out. And of course it would have better for them to have maintained their existing status and current jobs. Just glad here that the replacement also has a strong position on this issue. It's too late for them to sponsor the moving HRC Dinner. But I would not be surprised if they participated in the Pride festival here like Wachovia and BOA have. They support the Folsom Street Fair in SF.

[InitialD]

I would imagine Salisbury-based Food Lion would rank pretty high. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they had a booth and were a sponsor at Pride last year.

[monsoon]

Actually Foodlion was bought out years ago by the Delhaize Group which is a conglomerate based in Belgium. If it is Gay friendly I suspect that it is due to the European influence of it's parent.

[suburban george3]

I would imagine Salisbury-based Food Lion would rank pretty high. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they had a booth and were a sponsor at Pride last year.

While most corporate grocery store offices profess 'gay-friendliness', the management in their locations are usually quite homophobic. They may not do anything that would draw attention to a gay employee, but discrimination is rampant, especially in promotions and pay. I say this after having worked in many aspects of the grocery business for 21 years, including much contact with Food Lion.

[monsoon]

Now that you mention it, I've known two Gay people who have worked for Foodlion. One worked at the HQ in Salisbury and the other drove a truck for them. Both individuals were extremely closeted at work as they believed that if it got out, they would be fired in a heartbeat. It's been a few years since I have talked to either one so I am not sure is it is still the same there now or not.

[nonillogical]

funny because i know a manager of a food lion who is very much out and obvious. my several gay friends have all been fortunate to never really experience any discrimination at work.

[voyager12]

^ All of this is very interesting to me. Since at the local level at least Food Lion has gone to great pains to stress their gay friendly policies in the workplace. They have often sponsored meetings of the gay Charlotte Business Guild and have promoted their inclusive policies regarding benefits and non discriminatory hiring practices. But as Suburban George has already pointed out, the workforce at supermarkets is very segmented. A lower level closeted worker is not going to feel comforted by corporate PR. Reality is often quite different on the ground.

A side note. In SC Linda Ketner, an out lesbian lost in a close race ( relatively for South Carolina) this cycle to Republican Congressman Henry Brown. Her father was one of the original founders of Food Lion. So she has the cash to jump into politics. I met her a few times at Charleston meetings of The Alliance for Full Acceptance. She has also used her influence to help found this group to push for equality in SC.

[monsoon]

Yes, Ralph Ketner was her father. During the 70s and early 80s when Foodlion (actually Foodtown then) was taking off, he made many TV appearances to explain why his stores were different. He was almost something of a local celebrity in the Charlotte area because of it. I did not know he had a lesbian daughter.

[voyager12]

According to Q-Notes, newly elected Democratic Senator Kay Hagan will be the keynote speaker at the HRC Carolinas Dinner. This is a good sign. Someone told me last year that a distant cousin of hers is a big fundraiser for HRC. Of course she has the marriage is between a man and woman and civil unions are the same thing mantra down pat just like Obama. Unfortunately this line has become sacrosanct among the majority of Democratic leaders.

That aside hopefully her appearance is a harbinger of her willingness to work on other issues of importance to GLBT residents of NC.

[monsoon]

You guys may or may not have heard this, but msnbc did a story yesterday that said that as soon as Obama takes office, he will issue an order that will remove all restrictions on Gays and Lesbians serving in the US Military. If this does indeed happen then it will mark a fundamental change on the official view of our community by the US government. It will certainly be a marked change from the simply horrendously bad treatment that we got, officially, under Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.

I am glad that Charlotte and the state turned out the vote for Obama.

[Charlotte_native]

You guys may or may not have heard this, but msnbc did a story yesterday that said that as soon as Obama takes office, he will issue an order that will remove all restrictions on Gays and Lesbians serving in the US Military. If this does indeed happen then it will mark a fundamental change on the official view of our community by the US government. It will certainly be a marked change from the simply horrendously bad treatment that we got, officially, under Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.

I am glad that Charlotte and the state turned out the vote for Obama.

That's amazing! I really hope it happens.

On your second part, I saw a bumper sticker the other day that was the shape of NC, was blue, and said 'Finally Blue!'

[uptownliving]

While it will be a smart move when it happens I am not expecting it to happen on Jan 20th...or the 21st.

[orulz]

I don't think that Obama will run into nearly as much opposition over this as Clinton did. I predict it will happen within couple months of his inauguration

I think that to a certain degree the country has grown up since 1993. Not saying that things are perfect, but at least from my perspective (not gay) acceptance of gays is on the rise. Of course there will be a very vocal opposition, but I think the percentage of the US that either doesn't care anymore, or views this opposition as standing in the way of civil rights, is larger than it was 16 years ago.

[queensguy06]

Just to make things a little bit clearer...it's not Obama's decision as to whether or not gays and lesbians are allowed to serve in the military - it's a congressional obligation. And even though the Senate will have a dem. majority of something like 59 seats it still is a long shot for Congress to pass this so-called 'Military Readiness Enhancement Act'. This whole idea has been floating about through Congress since at least the end of 2006 when Martin Meehan and Barney Frank were trying to hold congressional hearings and trying to press the issue through their respective sub committees. Add in the fact that Obama's administration and the congress are going to have a heap load of items that take priority over gays in the military such as the stimulus package and distancing themselves as far from the last regime in terms of closing Guantanamo and possibly filing charges against certain military officials involved in the waterboarding of detainees that I just don't see this coming to fruition for some time.