Rainbow Rundown: Early Voting, the Latinx vote, Charlotte Pride TV
We’re back with another weekly issue of the Rainbow Rundown, your end-of-week recap of all the important and notable LGBTQ news, arts, entertainment, upcoming events, and more that you need to know!
In this issue of the Rainbow Rundown:
- Massive turnout for first day of N.C. early voting
- Elections a ‘matter of survival’ for queer Latinx people
- Charlotte Pride TV premiere
- News from around the country and world
- Local and regional news spotlight
- Upcoming events
Massive turnout for first day of early voting in North Carolina
As Election Day draws ever nearer, North Carolinians got their first chance at in-person voting this week when one-stop early voting locations opened up across the state. In Mecklenburg County alone, voters can choose from 33 different early voting sites, where you can also register to vote for the first time or update your registration before casting a ballot.
Turnout on Thursday, Oct. 14, the first day of early voting, may have broken a record. The North Carolina State Board of Elections says more than 333,000 North Carolinians cast an early ballot — more than the previous record of 304,000 set on Nov. 4, 2016. Counting early votes and mail-in absentee ballots, nearly 900,000 people have already voted. Elections board executive director Karen Brinson Bell estimates that as many as 80% of North Carolina voters may cast their ballots prior to Election Day.
Additional data are in: More than 333,000 voters cast ballots on the first day of in-person early voting in North Carolina. We *believe* that is a one-day early voting record, beating the 304,000 total on Friday, November 4, 2016. Way to go NC voters!#ncpol#YourVoteCountsNC
— NCSBE (@NCSBE) October 16, 2020
The record numbers of early and mail-in ballots simply dwarfs the last presidential election in 2016.
Michael Bitzer, Chair of Political Science and Professor of Politics and History at Catawba College, reports on some fo the data. He notes that mail-in ballots are currently nine times greater than in 2020 and in-person early voting two times greater.
NC accepted absentee ballots (both mail & onestop/in-person) for both 2016 & 2020
On 2016's first day, 166K onestop ballot were cast, with another 60K mail in ballots in total, for total of 226K
Currently, 2020 is:
9X ahead for mail in
2X ahead for in-person
4X ahead overall pic.twitter.com/AKxsJNZFlH— Old North State Politics (@OldNorthStPol) October 16, 2020
Voters have until Saturday, Oct. 31 to cast an early ballot, after which the only remaining option to cast an in-person ballot is on Election Day, Nov. 3. If you miss out on early voting, you won’t be able to register to vote or update your registration on Election Day itself.
For local LGBTQ youth, Time Out Youth is offering transportation assistance for those who would like to cast an early ballot. Youth who would like to vote together can do so on Oct. 16, 3:30-7 p.m. and on Oct. 30, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Youth should contact Time Out Youth for more information.
Don't wait til election day come hang out with your TOY family and early vote with the cool kids!! pic.twitter.com/DOyuEAo6KA
— Time Out Youth (@TimeOutYouth) October 14, 2020
Election a ‘matter of survival’ for queer Latinx voters
A roundtable of LGBTQ Latinx leaders discussed this year’s election in an online forum this week.
Among the panelists was Charlotte Pride board president Daniel Valdez, who also works as the Hispanic Federation’s director of North Carolina and Mid-South Operations. Other panelists, among other special guests and speakers, included Maria Roman-Taylorson, Vice President & Chief Operation Officer, TransLatin@ Coalition; Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, Deputy Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality; Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity; and Louie Ortiz Fonseca, Founder, The Gran Varones Project.
Here some key takeaways and quotes from the event, as reported by The Los Angeles Blade:
“As a trans person, these elections are critical for our survival. It’s not only the presidency, but our health is on the ballot. us living authentically is on the ballot.” — Maria Roman-Taylorson, TransLatin@ Coalition
“The election in November will be the most important election of our lifetime, in the history of our nation. Either we can live with this authoritarian leadership of this president or we can raise our voice and objections to his bigotry, racism and defeat this dance with fascism that we are experiencing today.” — Richard Zaldivar, The Wall Las Memorias Project
“The queer and trans Latinx vote is the most important thing as Latinx people that we could be talking about right now. We are at a moment where our lives absolutely depend on this coming election.” — Tony Lima, Arianna’s Center
“We have seen our Latinx and immigrant communities vilified, our trans and queer communities used as scapegoats to win elections. We have the opportunity to change that in this upcoming election to let them know that kind of divisiveness is not going to work. We also need to send a clear message to our elected officials that our country cannot roll back civil right protections to our queer community, to our immigrant communities. That message starts on Nov. 3.” — Daniel Valdez, Hispanic Federation
The event was co-sponsored and presented by the Latino Institute, the Latino Equality Alliance, the Hispanic Federation, the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade.
You can watch a replay of the online forum on Facebook via the Washington Blade.
Charlotte Pride TV makes its premiere
This week, Charlotte Pride staff, community members, and volunteers were excited to debut the premiere episode of Charlotte Pride TV, a new monthly webshow that promises to highlight and uplift the people, places, and things that make LGBTQ Charlotte so special.
We wrote about the goals of Charlotte Pride TV earlier this week. Check out that post here.
Each episode of Charlotte Pride TV will air on Facebook and YouTube at 6 p.m. each second Wednesday of the month. Replays of the premiere episode are available on Facebook and YouTube, or watch above!
Many thanks to those who participated in making this premiere episode so special, including James Rice III, Angel Truesdale, Kendra Jonson, Artie Hartsell, Tiffany Crooks, Jenny-Jaymes Gunn, Lupe Silva, and Ms. Charlotte Pride 2019 DeVida.
News from around the country and world
- Over 500 LGBTQ candidates to appear on November ballots, shattering records (NBC News)
- National Coming Out Day: 20 people who came out in 2020 — From a former GOP congressman to a Tony Award-winning actor, a long list of entertainers and notables came out as LGBTQ this year, including “Outer Banks” star Including Outer Banks star Madison Bailey, who is dating UNC women’s basketball star Mariah Linney (NBC News)
- Activist Tiara Mack, who hails from South Carolina, could become the first Black LGBTQ state senator in Rhode Island (LGBTQ Nation)
- In town hall forum, Biden pledges to mom of trans kid to protect LGBTQ rights: ‘I will flat out change the law’ (Washington Blade)
- New Texas rule specifically allows social workers to discriminate against LGBTQ people (LGBTQ Nation)
- How a Chinese gay dating app blazed a trail to the US stock market (Nikkei)
- SARS might END, but for Queer Nigerians, this is just the beginning (Rustin Times)
- How Nigeria’s queer youth are fighting to #EndSARS (Vice)
- Queer Nigerians Are Being Beaten by SARS — I’m Trying to End That (Out)
Local and regional news spotlight
- Kinston residents reflect on Coming Out Day, LGBT History Month (Kinston Free Press)
- Gastonia couple loses $2,000 in rental scam (Fox 46)
- Organizing within Instagram Algorithms: Digital Radical Activism, Aesthetics, and the 2020 Uprising (The Davidsonian)
- What it was like to vote in North Carolina on the first day of this monumental election (Charlotte Agenda)
- UNC graduates step up to sponsor students’ attendance to the virtual NLGJA convention (Daily Tar Heel)
- Mano Agapion on the perks of being an outsider (Yes Weekly)
- New Summit to Celebrate Diverse Voices, Challenge Existing Power Structures in Country Music — including a panel named “90’s Country Was Pretty Gay,” “in which the Neon Boots podcast and members of the Durham, North Carolina-based House of Coxx drag family will discuss the co-opting of queer and BIPOC culture in mainstream country music videos during the 1990s.” (Billboard)
Upcoming Events
LIVE Q&A WITH KAREEM TABSCH
LIVE Q&A WITH KAREEM TABSCH
Director of “Mucho Mucho Amor”
Wednesday, October 21, 7pm
RSVP ON FACEBOOK
ABOUT KAREEM:
Kareem Tabsch is a documentary filmmaker whose storytelling focuses on documenting that which exists on the fringes of mainstream society. His feature films include Mucho Mucho Amor (2020) and The Last Resort (2018). Tabsch work has been included at prestigious festivals like Sundance, SXSW HotDocs, and been featured in outlets like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and NPR among others. He is a recipient of the 2020 South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship, was named a ’40 under 40′ Documentary filmmaker by DocNYC, America’s largest documentary film festival and was the recipient of the Knight Arts Champion award for his contribution to South Florida’s film culture. Tabsch is a first-generation American of Latino and Middle Eastern descent. He lives and works in Miami, FL.
Reel Out Charlotte – Virtual Film Festival
October 23-November 1
Hosted online!
On-demand, virtual access to 11 feature films and 10 short films for this year’s 12th annual Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s LGBTQ Film Festival. More details are being released later today! Stay tuned!
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