CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The second in an ongoing series of community panel discussions will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 6 p.m., in Room 340 GHI of the UNC-Charlotte Student Union.
The series, “The Present & Future of the Charlotte Queer Community,” is designed to allow community members to share perspectives on the current state of Charlotte’s LGBT community and where they would like to see it move forward. The series is held in collaboration with the Levine Museum of the New South and its ongoing “LGBTQ Perspectives on Equality” exhibits and hold particular importance following continuing news on troubles at the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte and other recent challenges faced by other local LGBT groups.
The first panel was held on Oct. 26, featuring panelists Mel Hartsell of PRISM, formerly of the LGBT Community Center, transgender advocate Paige Dula, Charlotte Business Guild board member James Rice III, Equality North Carolina’s Crystal Richardson and Time Out Youth’s Todd Rosendahl.
This week’s panel will include this writer and other speakers: Campus Pride’s Rebby Kern, One Voice Chorus’ Liz Fitzgerald, attorney Sarah Demarest formerly of the Freedom Center for Social Justice’s LGBTQ Law Center, the Latin American Coalition’s Jaime Villegas and the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network’s Francisco White.
The panels are being moderated by Malu Fairley.
Pat Cotham needs our help. Cotham, a leading advocate for the LGBT community on the county commission, got the most votes in her at-large race by a landslide 18,085 votes. Normally she would be elected chair of the commission due to such a resounding endorsement by the public, however some commissioners are trying to oppose her becoming chair. If you want to help Pat, please sign and share this petition calling on the board to elect Pat chair. https://www.change.org/p/mecklenburg-board-of-county-commissioners-elect-pat-cotham-chairman