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We hear from the friendly folks of the Alliance For Full Acceptance and the girls of The Chart:
Here comes the First Annual Drag King Contest for the benefit of AFFA and hosted by The Chart. We think it will be a huge success and plan to make this a yearly event.
Saturday, July 26th 10 p.m. to midnight (please be there by 9 to get a good spot!)
The Chart
1078-D East Montague Ave
North Charleston, SC 29405
843.225.9949
www.charlestonchart.com
www.myspace.com/charlestonchart
$10 at the door-all of which goes to AFFA
There will be prizes awarded for Crowd Participation, so make sure you get all your friends to come hoot and holler! More prizes for Best Dressed AND Best Over All (Best Over All will win a $150 bar tab)
Winners will be determined by audience participation and an unbiased panel of judges…who can be swayed by said audience participation.
What is it they say about boys and their toys…
Stephen Moller, who killed 20-year-old Sean Kennedy, will serve three years for involuntary manslaughter.
Moller used anti-gay slurs as he attacked Kennedy — pushing the young gay man to the ground, leading to the head trauma that killed him.
The defense attorney said after the hearing that Moller “didn’t know Sean was gay.”
We’re sure he probably didn’t. But it would certainly seem that he assumed Sean was gay. Hence the anti-gay comments as he hit Sean and the circumstances that lead to the attack which sound a little like gay panic.
A threat has passed for now, but only for the next couple of weeks. Please notify your friends in the the Midlands about this upcoming school board meeting.
District 5 postpones vote on club rules
(IRMO, SC) AP–Lexington-Richland 5 trustees postponed a vote on a controversial plan to add more regulations to noncurricular student clubs.
The proposal would add stringent rules to such clubs, including requiring parental consent for participation, banning those clubs from fundraising on school campuses and prohibiting clubs from using the school’s name.
The board is expected to take up the measure again June 23.
Eddie Walker, principal of District 5’s Irmo High School, said last month he would step down at the end of the next school year because a planned Gay-Straight Alliance club conflicts with his beliefs and religious convictions.
Officials had said the district couldn’t stop the alliance from forming because federal law prohibits discriminating against a club based on its purpose.
I suspect this new proposed requirement of parental consent is just another dodge designed to discourage enrollment in the proposed Gay-Straight Alliance at Irmo High School. Not all parents of LGBT teens are aware of their kids’ sexual orientation and for some kids, this awareness on the parents’ part has proven to be fatal.
Folks can’t expect the public schools to raise their children for them AND get to cherry-pick what gets discussed and what gets shoved under the mat.
Today, we hear things could go from bad to worse for LGBT teens in Lexington-Richland School District 5, mother ship of Irmo High School–home of a hotly contested proposed Gay-Straight Alliance student organization.
IRMO, S.C. (AP) — Rather than risk a lawsuit by banning a gay student organization, a South Carolina school district is considering whether to ban all student clubs that don’t relate to academics or sports.
The Lexington-Richland School District 5 school board plans to vote Monday night on whether the district should ban the clubs as a way to shut down a proposed group called the Gay-Straight Alliance.
A school spokeswoman says the district couldn’t stop the alliance from forming because federal law prohibits discriminating against a club based on its purpose.
Last month, Irmo High School principal Eddie Walker announced he would step down at the end of the next school year because the Gay-Straight Alliance conflicts with his beliefs and religious convictions.
I’ve heard several behind-the-scene stories about this controversy, including conjecture regarding the principal’s departure. This, to me, is only just so much noise that detracts from the very real problems faced by LGBT teens nationally that include ostracism, violence, suicide, substance abuse and the like. Besides, if you’ve never been to Irmo, SC before, I’m here to tell you that it’s not the most progressive environment in the Palmetto State. If you know anybody up there, get on the horn and make ‘em attend that school board meeting.
I mean, if the board bans all clubs lacking an academic of athletic reason for being, then just how-in-tarnation are they ever gonna get prayer back in schools?
From barackobama.com:
“I am proud to join with our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered brothers and sisters in celebrating the accomplishments, the lives, and the families of all LGBT people during this Pride season. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans.
“It’s time to live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. Let’s enact federal civil rights legislation to outlaw hate crimes and protect workers against discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Let’s repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and demonstrate that the most effective and professional military in the world is open to all Americans who are ready and willing to serve our country. Let’s treat the relationships and the families of LGBT Americans with full equality under the law.
“We are ready to accomplish these goals because of the courage and persistence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people who have are working every day to achieve equal rights. The gay couple who demand equal treatment in our family laws as they raise their children; the lesbian soldier who wants nothing more than to serve her country openly and honestly; the transgendered workers who asks for the simple dignity of being judged by the quality of their work. Generations of LGBT Americans, at once ordinary and extraordinary, have made possible this moment in our history. With leadership and hard work, we can fulfill the promise of equality for all.”
 Buddy Witherspoon, the Columbia dentist who is running in the GOP primary to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, was on the radio this morning when a caller asked something along the lines of “Do you support Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — the policy that is allowing Lindsey Graham to serve in the military?”
Witherspoon’s response didn’t address the second part of the question, but he said that he would repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (thus reinstituting the aggressive pursuit and removal of gay service members) because we need to make sure our soldiers are there for the right reasons (because us gays go into war zones for the expansive color palate — oh, and the showers! Oh, the showers!).
Two calls later, a listener wants to know Buddy’s opinion on gay marriage. He responded with all that sanctity b-s.
So, then I get to work, and what do I find in my e-mail box? A note from anti-immigration folks that refers to the Senator as Lindsey “The Pink Elephant” Graham.
In the wake of the Larry Craig scandal last year, we took a look at this speculation about Graham’s private life.
Is Lindsey Graham gay?
At 52, the life-long bachelor has been fodder for such rumors for years, but with the (since revoked) resignation of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho — the anti-gay politician who pled guilty to disorderly conduct after allegedly soliciting sex in an airport men’s room — the internet is abuzz over who’s next, and they’re dying to know what’s going on in Graham’s bedroom. Is it the latest grasp for the light switch in South Carolina’s powerful political closet? Or the inevitable labeling of “closet-clinging self-hater” that befalls any content bachelor?
When GQ asked last year, Graham wasn’t mean, just dismissive. He said he’s not gay, just a loner.
And, interestingly enough, we made this prediction.
With rampant calls for a primary opponent to challenge Graham next year, it likely won’t be the Dems that Graham has to be concerned about with the gay-baiting. While many in the Democratic Party have reveled at the scandalous exit of Sen. Craig, a long-standing opponent of gay rights, the most vocal calls for his ouster came from his own party, including presidential candidate John McCain, Graham’s Senate BFF.
The Footlight Players Theatre’s 2008-2009 season will end next year with back-to-back gay classics.
 Del Shores’ Sordid Lives will premiere March 20. The story revolves around a dysfunctional family that includes a mother struggling to come to terms with her sons sexuality and a drag queen uncle infatuated with Tammy Wynette. The film by the same name has been a cult classic for years. And, oddly enough, film star Leslie Jordan will be visiting Charleston this summer for a one-man show at the Music Hall.
Following Sordid Lives, the Footlight will close it’s season with La Cage Aux Folles (better known as The Birdcage). The play, also converted to film with some success and a cult following, is about a cabaret owner and his drag-performing partner as they struggle to act straight in front of their son’s prospective in-laws.
There will be a rally at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Dutch Fork Elementary School in Irmo, to show support for Irmo High School’s Gay Straight Alliance. The rally will be outside the district school board meetig.
Irmo Principal Eddie Walker announced last week that he would be resigning at the end of the next school year because the district is allowing the GSA to from. District officials have said their hands are tied because of equal access requirements.
Gay advocates are calling for Walker to leave now, suggesting that his continued administration at the school after such a high-profile proclamation that he can’t support the club could incite the type of dangerous environment that GSAs are looking to stop.
The South Carolina Equality Coalition has called for the resignation of the Irmo principal who announced he would leave his position at the end of the 08-09 school year because he’s being forced to allow a gay/straight alliance at the school.
C. Ray Drew, Executive Director of South Carolina Equality, states “This Principal has emphatically and publicly stated that he does not support a significant portion of his student body. He has created an atmosphere where intolerance is considered a principled stand.”
That is certainly the thing that got me. The school district’s response isn’t that this club provides a home base of sorts for gay and lesbian students to feel comfortable without fear of intimidation or harassment (or worse). No, instead the district argues that it had to allow the club — its hands were tied. More from SCEC:
National research from the Gay Lesbian Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) shows that 80% of gay students do not know a single supportive adult at their school. They show that 38% of gay students face hostility and violence in the course of their required attendance at school. 18% of gay students experience physical assault. Gay students face more verbal harassment and physical violence than any group of students. Yet, the one mitigating factor for students is when they know a supportive adult at school.
News from the Capital City that is Columbia via The State:
Irmo High School Principal Eddie Walker said this morning he does not plan to announce his resignation today.
Walker declined further comment noting the school is dealing with the death of a student.
Reports indicated Walker would announce his decision to leave the district during morning announcements. The decision was apparently related to personal conflict with the formation of the Gay/Straight Alliance Club at the school.
In a letter writter to the “Irmo Nation” Walker wrote:
“However due to a recent conflict involving my professional and religious beliefs I sent Dr. Angela Bain a letter of resignation effective June 30, 2009. On May 14, 2008, I was instructed by email to allow the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High School. On May 15, 2008 I told Ms. Ann Pilat to allow the formation of this club for the 2008-2009 school year. Allowing the formation of this club on our campus conflicts with my professional beliefs and religious convictions. I considered resigning this year but reconsidered because to not fulfill my written contract for the 2008-2009 school year would also conflict with my professional beliefs and religious convictions. In my opinion failure to fulfill my contract would constitute a breach of trust with School District Five of Lexington and Richland County, my student heroes, returning Irmo High School employees, and new employees who have chosen to work at Irmo High school for the 2008-2009 school year.”
Lexington-Richland 5 spokesman Buddy Price confirmed the resignation this morning and provided a statement from the district:
“While the District respects Mr. Walker’s position in this matter, our attorneys have advised us that because Irmo High School has permitted the formation of a number of non-curricular clubs at the school, the federal law known as the Equal Access Act does not permit the school to discriminate against a club based on the club’s purpose and viewpoint by not allowing it to form unless the purpose of the club is unlawful; for example, the school would not have to permit the formation of a marijuana club.”
– From Staff Reports
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