Best of the Worst 2024

The year started off with a particularly ugly bang as non-profit Campus Pride imploded and founder Shane Windmeyer admitted he misused funds. A lot of funds. He agreed to settle and pay back $100,000, although he also confirmed the amount he had misused was substantially more. What’s more, he used a lot of it on fabulous frocks and gorgeous gowns for his stage performing drag alter ego, Buff Faye! Initially shunned by the Charlotte LGBTQ+ community, he boastfully announced in ads and social media that “reports of his apparent demise were premature.” And with that, he is apparently back in the drag performance game as a brunch hostess.

Monroe Protests Drag in March

Oh, Union County. Just stop it, would you? First the city and county came after the small town’s LGBTQ Pride events. Once they got wind of a scheduled performance by drag artist Delighted Tobehere in conjunction with the Charlotte Gay Men’s Chorus, far right extremists showed up to protest the presentation, which was still successful nonetheless. Of course, conservative government elements in the area have attempted to institute public policy that would prevent any such related performances in the future. We’ll see how that turns out.

Local Gay Man Disappears

The sad story of Andy Tench, 37, was first reported in April. According to police reports Tench hooked up with D’Shaun Robinson on the night of Tench’s birthday at Bar 316. Sometime afterward, Tench was reported missing. His car was found abandoned in the morning hours of March 25 in Union County, which was not a place Tench was known to ever go. According to Robinson, the two had engaged in consensual sex and during that time Tench died of an overdose of drugs. In what Robinson described as a “knee-jerk reaction,” he used Tench’s car to dispose of his body in a dumpster behind a hotel and abandoned his car in Union County. Robinson was later arrested and charged with multiple felony counts including concealment of a death, identity theft, two charges of felony financial card theft, financial card fraud and larceny of a motor vehicle. To date, Tench’s body has not been recovered.

Lonnie Billard vs. the Catholic Church

If ever a man went on an unexpected roller coaster ride, that would be Lonnie Billard. The former Catholic High School teacher in Charlotte turned substitute teacher was fired from the school after it was discovered he had announced plans to marry his partner on social media. Even though Billard was recognized as a civilian employee and not a member of the Catholic church, his actions reportedly ran counter to the school’s policy. Billard took exception with this and instigated a lawsuit. After more than a decade and multiple appeals, losses and wins, an appeals court decided on May 9, 2024, that the Catholic school had the right to fire Billard. The fight however, continues.

Project 2025

We took a long look at Project 2025 in June of 2024, and what we found didn’t bode well for the LGBTQ+ community. The vociferously anti-everything not conservative organization the Heritage Foundation created the draft for Donald Trump to use as a guide plan for massive change in American government in the first 180 days in office. Among those changes, a complete ending of access to abortion and contraception, eliminating federal protections for LGBTQ people and erasing LGBTQ inclusive language throughout federal agencies. Trump distanced himself from the guidebook during his campaign, however, once capturing the office again, he appointed a number of its creators to potentially serve in his cabinet. For now, the fate of Project 2025 remains unclear, but we’re so used to Republicans lying, who knows?

Mark Robinson’s World Gets Turned Upside Down in August

It’s not like we didn’t see it coming. Mark Robinson was a hot mess. Seemingly patterning himself after his favorite politician Donald Trump, he opened his mouth and let forth a never-ending cacophony of epic and ridiculous proportions. The LGBTQ+ community was tantamount to excrement. “Homosexuality” and “transgenderism” are destroying society. If you need an abortion it’s because you couldn’t keep your skirt down. Some people need killing! But then came his comeuppance: CNN reported Robinson was claimed to have been a regular customer at adult pornographic book stores. Robinson wrote about his own sexual fantasies on a hookup site on the internet. Robinson called himself a Black Nazi and said he wanted to own slaves. Eventually, even Trumpublicans grew weary of him and tossed him to the curb. He lost his race for the governorship in a landslide and has retreated to non-entity status. Clearly, he dug his own hole, and we have to admit, we’re not sorry to see him go.

Lowe’s Hardware Turns Its Back on the LGBTQ+ Community

In September, Lowe’s removed DEI initiatives under pressure from the far right wing. They also withdrew their support for the Charlotte Pride festival. This came after years of sponsorship for the annual festival. While Lowe’s did not ask for sponsorship funding back for the last event, they reportedly indicated there would be no more forthcoming funding. The trend has set off a firestorm of corporation giants stepping back and refusing to take part in what they deem as the “American culture wars.”

Hurricane Helene Smashes Into Western North Carolina Sept. 27

Hardest hit in a storm that was recognized as something that happens only once in over a thousand years, the small town of Asheville, exceptionally popular with artists, musicians and the LGBTQ+ community, was left devastated. An estimated 50 deaths occurred in the region and an unknown number of individuals remain unaccounted for. Help continues to pour into the area from federal, state and local sources.

Kamala Harris Lost the Presidential Race to Donald Trump

After Joe Biden made the decision to step aside and allow Kamala Harris, his vice president, to take on the position of Democratic presidential candidate for 2024, a new level of vigor grabbed hold of the democratic party. Despite their hard fought efforts and poll numbers that showed Harris and a potential lead, she reportedly lost in both the popular and electoral college vote on Nov. 5. Despite evidence that nearly half of Americans seemingly wanted to repeat the nightmare of his previous term in office, many continue to question the legitimacy of his election.

Donald Trump (Appears to Have) Captured the Presidential Office again

An awful man who did a really bad job in the presidential office from 2016 to 2020 and lost in the following election, somehow managed to capture the office again in 2024. We don’t know how or why.

Sore and Scheming Losers

Before the last bell rang in December, North Carolina Republicans, wincing from defeat in all the major key offices of the state, made a quick behind the scenes move to strip the governorship of multiple powers, repeating the move with the office of attorney general. Both were won by Democrats, namely Josh Stein and Jeff Jackson who were stripped of important key powers. With the soon to be installed and newly elected chambers ending the Republican super-majority, we’ll see how long it takes Democrats figure out a work-around

Tariffs and Mass Deportations Will Likely Tank Our Economy and Send Prices Soaring

In what seemingly started out as an erroneous slip of the tongue, Donald Trump tossed out illegal border crossing accusations at Mexico and, suddenly, Canada! While any erroneous border crossings from Canada have been deemed of issue previously and our relationship has always been cordial and friendly, Trump announced he was going to punish both Canada and Mexico with high tariffs for importing goods and services because they could not, according to Trump, control their borders. Both Canadian and Mexican leaders have turned on Trump and are now threatening retaliatory tariffs, which will lead to prices far higher than what we are currently experiencing in food and other energy related products. This won’t end well.