Jim Yarbrough was born in Alabama and moved to Duluth, Ga., a small town north of Atlanta, at the age of nine. After high school, he worked in fast food and studied accounting. He would later take on a management training program in Roses Discount department stores.
Moving around Georgia and South Carolina, he worked as a senior manager for six years until he was fired for being gay. Yarbrough was working at a store in South Carolina until his boss explained that the vice president wanted to see him in the corporate office. He drove to meet the vice president, who told him to take the weekend off. He said he would call Jim back on Monday and let him know “where your next assignment will be.”
On Monday at 5 p.m., Yarbrough called back to follow up. His vice president responded, “Your services are no longer needed, and don’t worry about calling a lawyer, it won’t do you any good.” Yarbrough explained, “I don’t think I’ll ever forget those words.”
After he was fired, Yarbrough moved to Charlotte, managing Wendy’s restaurants and later convenience and office supplies stores.
In the mid ‘80s, Yarbrough received a proposition from his roommate, Robert Sheets, president of Queen City Quordinators (QCQ) and asked Yarbrough to serve as treasurer of the organization.
He agreed. “I paid the bills, wrote the checks and did the bookkeeping.” As Yarbrough handled finances, Don King, who worked for the Charlotte Observer at the time, was hired to be the editor and handle production. As the organization grew, so did Yarbrough’s role; he moved from treasurer to vice president to president of the organization.
QCQ provided information, emergency phone lines, a speaker’s bureau and fundraisers to support the gay community. The organization would later create the Qnotes newspaper in 1986. The first cover story was on the QCQ-produced Drummer contest, a leather event hosted at the Grady Cole Center next to Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in June 1986. Once the newspaper gained traction, the team felt empowered. “It was exciting,” Yarbrough recalls. “I don’t think any of us had the vision that it was gonna last this long. We knew the paper was needed.”
Needed it was, as Qnotes was one of the few queer newspapers in the south, along with Atlanta, Florida and Raleigh’s paper, The Front Page, which merged with Qnotes in 2006.
All of those publications existed during an oppressive and anti-LGBTQ+ government, both locally and nationally. Many people lived their lives in secret, and it was often challenging to find writers and individuals to interview who wanted to share personal information, like their full names, or any name at all.
“It was a hard time in the ‘80s…” Yarbrough continued, “We [Qnotes team] needed to be there to tell those stories and let people know who to vote for.”
For safety, the newspaper did not disclose the addresses of some events and fundraisers; instead, people called the number attached to the event’s description. Jim added, “We didn’t want to publicize where we were meeting, or where groups like AA were meeting –because it was dangerous to do so.” The only locations that gave address information were gay bars and churches, but their safety wasn’t guaranteed.
“People were genuinely scared of losing their jobs…” Yarbrough continued, “And their safety as well. It wasn’t unheard of for people to be gay bashed [assaulted because of one’s sexuality]. I had someone come to my front door with a baseball bat once,” he recalled. “You had to be cautious.”
Fear didn’t stop Yarbrough and the Qnotes team from supporting their community, and people were grateful. “We would go through thousands of copies just in Scorpio. It was amazing how much the paper got picked up, and people valued it.” Yarbrough said. “That’s where people could go to be themselves and pick up the paper when they left that night.”
As the papers’ audience grew, so did the visibility of queer people. Towards the ‘90s, people’s perception of the LGBTQ+ community started to move from fear to acceptance. More people were living out and proud, and Qnotes felt that change. This was amplified as the 1987 national march on Washington was approaching.
Then in September, Yarbrough received a call from King. After a few minutes King said, “Oh, by the way, there won’t be another Qnotes; I don’t have time to do it anymore.” Yarbrough answered back, “Yes, there will be another Qnotes. Somehow we’ll get it done.”
Three board members of QCQ – Yarbrough, plate maker Dean Gaskey and graphic designer Joel Smith – began work. Their first issue in October 1987 was only four pages long and a week late, but it still had a special place in Yarbrough’s heart. The next issue had a panoramic photo of the 1987 march on Washington. QCQ sponsored an adventure to DC by train with about 30 people to capture the historic moment. “It was amazing, that gave me energy to push this [Qnotes] forward.”
“Things were beginning to open up a little bit,” and QCQ, “had outlived its usefulness,” Yarbrough continued,” but the only thing that [we] did not want to go away was Qnotes.”
Yarbrough bought Qnotes from QCQ in 1989 and set up a company called Charlotte Advocacy Network to run the paper. The idea was to share ownership with all of the people who were involved, 32 in total. That model collapsed when one of the contributors stole most of its assets from their office. Being the majority shareholder, Yarbrough dealt with the loss and got back on track without missing a beat, running things out of his home.
In the early nineties, Qnotes moved to a two-room office suite in the Varnardore building – often called the Gay Tower. It was home to MCC Charlotte and a few small LGBTQ+-owned businesses and nonprofits, including Time Out Youth.
The paper flourished, 2007 being one of its best years. The recession that hit in 2008 complicated things. In 2009, Qnotes was the last tenant to move out of the Gay Tower when the owner shut the building down due to maintenance issues, notably the air conditioning system. After a two-year span on Commonwealth Ave., Qnotes permanently made its home in the back of White Rabbit, which Yarbrough had bought in 2007.
As Qnotes scaled back, other barriers rose, creating more challenges for Yarbrough and his team. To help, Yarbrough took on the role of editor and tried to figure out how Qnotes could thrive after its major setback in 2008.
Today, Yarbrough is still the publisher of Qnotes and can be found in the back of White Rabbit almost every day. He and his current team of writers and editors have made monumental decisions to ensure that Qnotes stays for another 40 years.
This 40th anniversary print edition will be the last of the regular biweekly newspapers as the publication moves towards digital and broadcasting. Though it will be sad to leave print in the past, Yarbrough is excited about Qnotes’ future.
“It’s time we move on with the times,” If you’re gonna be relevant, you have to evolve… and that’s what we’re doing. I think it’s going to be a good thing.”
Writer’s Note: I began interning for Qnotes in February, and throughout that time, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the paper’s publisher, Jim Yarbrough. The first time we met, he introduced himself with a smile and an open heart. This kindness wasn’t a one-time occurrence. He has spent decades dedicating himself to the LGBTQ+ community and, against all odds, has remained passionate about Qnotes and queer visibility. The conversations I’ve had with him have revealed how special Yarbrough is and has been for the community. He has faced personal and professional challenges that could have broken anyone’s determination, yet he prevails. Though I’ve only heard bits of Yarbrough’s story, the 40th edition of Qnotes has allowed me to learn more about his journey.