Candidates advance in elections
[Ed. Note: We originally reported that the meet and greet was held at the Charlotte Pride offices which is housed at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. That was incorrect. We have edited the story below to reflect the actual location of the event, the church itself. We regret the error.]
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mayoral and City Council primary held on Sept. 15 reaped success for a number of TurnOUT Charlotte! coalition partners’ endorsees. Coalition members are Equality NC (ENC), Mecklenburg Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Political Action Committee (MeckPAC) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
TurnOUT Charlotte! issued endorsements for City Council only. In addition to City Council, MeckPAC and ENC also separately issued endorsements for mayor.
Endorsees Dan Clodfelter and Jennifer Roberts will duke it out for the mayoral slot in a run-off on Oct. 6.
At-large candidates Vi Lyles, Julie Eiselt and James “Smuggie” Mitchell, Jr. captured enough votes to advance on to the General Election. The only candidate that did not make it in that race was Billy Maddalon who fell short in his attempt.
District races also saw wins for incumbents. Patsy Kinsey (D1), Al Austin (D2), LaWana Mayfield (D3) and John Autry (D5), all advanced in their respective races.
TurnOUT Charlotte! sent out 25,000 pieces of mail, made 5,000 phone calls and has over 20,000 contacts with HRC members in the Queen City. Volunteers were on the ground creating visibility for the endorsed candidates.
On Sept. 9, a candidates’ meet and greet was held at Holy Trinity Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 1900 The Plaza. In attendance were Charlotte City Council at-large candidates Shawn Greeson, Lyles, Austin, Maddalon and District 1 candidate Patsy Kinsey. Moderators were Janice Covington Allison and Fernando Christian Cano.
info: hrc.org. meckpack.org. equalitync.org.
Clementi fundraiser held
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Stand Up. Sing Out. A Concert to STOP Bullying” was held on Sept. 3 at Central Piedmont Community College in the Halton Theatre.
Guest star was Ann Hampton Callaway. She was joined by Sound About, a 120-voice chorus, who performed “Tyler’s Suite,” named after Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University who was the victim of cyber-bullying and eventually took his own life. The piece was designed as an eight-piece choral movement assembled by lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz. Callaway also composed one of the pieces for the event. Additional non-suite music was performed as well.
Jane Clementi, mother, and James Clementi, brother, were in attendance. They also appeared on WFAE-FM where they discussed The Tyler Clementi Foundation’s Day 1 Campaign among other related topics.
Ann Hooper produced the show and Kathryn Mahan served as artistic director.
The Tyler Clementi Foundation’s Day 1 Campaign and Time Out Youth Center’s School Outreach Program were recipients of proceeds from the show.
info: tylerclementi.org. timeoutyouth.org.
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Does your organization or special interest group have events or great information to share with our readers? If so, be sure to send in your information to specialassignments@qnotescarolinas.com. In the upcoming months, we’ll feature one of you in our news notes section in each issue. Are you a part of a Meetup, Yahoo or Google group and do you do something that’s really newsworthy? Do you provide a service for the community or hold fundraisers for worthy causes? Do you educate the public about LGBT issues or concerns? Of course, this is only a sampling of things we are interested in. It’s the aim of these pieces to inform, enlighten and educate our readers about what we’re doing here in the Carolinas to champion LGBT rights, as well as offer resources for those who may be interested in what your group is doing.