Matt Comer
I know. You’re tired of hearing about Kim Davis. I am, too. But this one bit of overlooked news has a bit of an interesting local angle. Among the throngs of people who amassed in Kentucky to support the law-breaking court clerk were several of the Charlotte-area’s own homegrown anti-LGBT extremists. Flip Benham, his twin […]
You might not think there’s any LGBT interest in boring city zoning regulations. But there is, and Charlotte’s zoning laws have in the past been detrimental to and discriminatory toward the LGBT community. It’s all part of a larger picture wherein local laws and ordinances — zoning, licensing, policing and more — have a direct effect on the lives of LGBT residents and business owners.
An incident of anti-transgender discrimination at Central Piedmont Community College last year is cited in a new short documentary produced in collaboration with the Chronicle of Higher Education and Campus Pride.
Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis is in jail for repeatedly disobeying a court order to do her job. In North Carolina, her actions are completely legal.
Note to readers: The commentary that follows below was originally published at QNotes on Aug. 19. Per the instruction of publisher Jim Yarbrough, it was unpublished from QNotes’ website on Aug. 23. I have re-published it here. Though the commentary was clearly labeled as commentary and a personal reflection — adequately distinguishing it from news […]
Religion-based prejudice against LGBT people isn’t new. For millennia, anti-LGBT practices, teachings and beliefs of the Christian church have been at the root and the basis of anti-LGBT oppression. This basis is obviously and abundantly clear, even in the present day. In every state and in cities across the country, each and every movement to adopt […]
Below is an open letter I penned today and sent to several members of the Winston-Salem community, including officers of the Forsyth County Democratic Party. Please share with those you might know who will have the responsibility of choosing state Sen. Earline Parmon’s replacement. Dear Democrats, Hope all is well. I’m writing an open letter […]
Dr. Michael Brown, a rightwing religious leader from the Charlotte, N.C., area, delivered a lengthy response to Newsweek‘s recent commentary on the Bible by Kurt Eichenwald, entitled, “The Bible — So Misunderstood it’s a Sin.” Brown, who is most known locally for his opposition to LGBT equality initiatives and his protests of local LGBT events, […]
A rightwing Christian activist in North Carolina says a forthcoming Supreme Court decision to legalize same-gender marriage nationwide could lead to God’s destruction of the U.S., just like God destroyed Sodom. Quoted by a “correspondent” for his own organization’s website on Jan. 16, Christian Action League of North Carolina Executive Director the Rev. Mark Creech […]
Do journalists and news outlets have a responsibility to include information about an institution’s extremist discriminatory policies when writing about them? I think so. And I think it’s doubly important when news outlets write on schools that have extremist, discriminate policies. But in Charlotte, while one puff piece about a local Christian school heaped plenty […]
Bigotry doesn’t pay. In fact, it can break your bank. And a leading anti-LGBT advocacy group is learning this lesson the hard way. The Christian Action League of North Carolina,which helped lobby for the state’s anti-LGBT constitutional amendment, told its members and supporters today that it’s nearly $15,000 in debt, including outstanding office rent payments and back pay […]
On Thursday evening, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham shared on Facebook a hand-drawn map analyzing, by precinct, the results of the at-large commissioner election earlier this month. It’s just one simple map. But it contains several stories, each of a divided Mecklenburg County. Electoral divide The shared map comes as debates heat up over who […]
“I’ve been listening hard and can tell you with authority that I never hear the following phrases uttered in Charlotte,” Charlotte Observer columnist Mark Washburn wrote in July, before proceeding with his list of hilarious snippets very truly never said in Charlotte. Washburn followed up with a second list of 20 more “said no one […]
* The Weekly Month’s Wrap — the most important, impactful and interesting news stories, ideas, cultural trends or just plain-old fun and oddball items I found this week month. The Weekly Wrap returns — after a long several weeks of breaking, history-making news. If you follow regularly, you know that I haven’t been able to sit […]
The Weekly Wrap — the most important, impactful and interesting news stories, ideas, cultural trends or just plain-old fun and oddball items I found this week. This edition of the weekly wrap will be brief, for more than obvious reasons. Simpler sometimes is better (and, boy, doesn’t it help when I’m still slammed covering all […]