Rainbow Rundown: Top queer election headlines, local queens help get out the vote
We’re back with another edition of the Rainbow Rundown, your end-of-week recap of all the important and notable LGBTQ news and more! This week’s edition is extra special, because it falls on the first day of Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s LGBTQ Film Festival. Originally scheduled for the spring, we pushed back to the fall and have now gone all-virtual! The film festival runs today, Oct. 23 through Nov. 1, with 11 feature films and 10 short films available to screen on-demand and at your own leisure and comfort from home! We’ve got a special gift for readers of the Rainbow Rundown at the bottom of this week’s edition! Keep reading for more!
In this issue of the Rainbow Rundown:
- Top queer election headlines
- Carolina queens join get out the vote efforts
- News from around the country and world
- Local and regional news spotlight
- Reel Out Charlotte: Special Gift!
The top queer election headlines
This fall’s general election will end in less than two weeks on Election Day, Nov. 3. Early voting and absentee ballots are still available, and more than 2.5 million people in North Carolina have already cast their votes in what promises to be an incredibly high-turnout election. Nationally, more than 50 million people have already voted!
For this week’s top story in the Rainbow Rundown, we’ve pulled together some of the more interesting and notable bits of election news regionally and nationally:
- Biden calls anti-trans violence an ‘epidemic that needs national leadership’ — The Democratic presidential candidate criticized the Trump administration’s transgender policies, saying this violence doesn’t “exist within a vacuum.” (NBC News)
- Trump Pride: Gay Republicans on why they’re backing the president — While LGBTQ Americans have historically been a reliable Democratic voting bloc, some gay voters say they’re “100 percent on board” with Trump this year. (NBC News)
- Trump supporters in battleground states largely favor LGBTQ rights, poll finds — Likely voters in 10 battleground states were found to overwhelmingly support LGBTQ rights, according to a survey by Hart Research and the Human Rights Campaign. (NBC News)
- Transgender and non-binary voters face barriers ahead of the 2020 election — Including the story and experience of a trans woman voter from right here in Charlotte! (CBS News)
- New GOP ad claims lesbian candidate will close military bases to fund trans “reassignment surgeries” — While a Texas lesbian candidate is getting battered by this ad, a similar ad with a similar transphobic message is being used against a South Carolina candidate. (LGBTQ Nation)
- Queer women could be the the ‘secret sauce’ to a Biden-Harris victory, but Democrats are ignoring them — Some 107,000 queer woman are said to live in North Carolina, a key demographic in a key swing state. (PinkNews)
Carolina queens join get out the vote efforts
South Carolina’s Patti O’Furniture, a longtime Charlotte Pride Festival emcee, represented the Palmetto State in a video PSA from GLAAD.
Longtime Charlotte Pride main stage emcee Patti O’Furniture, a beloved drag performer from Columbia, S.C., was featured among a roll call of drag stars from across all 50 U.S. states in a get out the vote video PSA from GLAAD.
Patti’s appearance comes quick, and doesn’t have a speaking role, but it certainly brought a smile to see Patti, a face many in Charlotte will instantly recognize due to her Charlotte Pride appearances and regular performances at Charlotte’s LGBTQ bars.
North Carolina was represented by Raleigh-based Amazing Grace.
You can see the video here:
More nationally known performers, including several affiliated with RuPaul’s Drag Race, were also featured in the video.
Other queens and kings are also making their mark in election awareness activities. Ms. Charltote Pride 2019 DeVida and Ms. Charlotte Pride 2018 Kristin Collins have both signed up to be Drag Ambassadors for the Drag Out The Vote campaign. DeVida and Kristin have been sharing important voting reminders and resources via their social media channels.
News from around the country and the world
- Divided reactions in US as pope backs same-sex civil unions (AP/Charlotte Observer)
- Senate committee approves Amy Coney Barrett nomination to Supreme Court (LGBTQ Nation)
- The complex and dynamic legal landscape of LGBTQ student rights — An in-depth report on LGBTQ student rights across the U.S., including a brief mention of challenges in North Carolina, where private schools receiving taxpayer support are still allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ students. (Brookings)
- San Francisco moves to landmark historic Lyon-Martin house (Bay Area Reporter)
- New Zealand Elects World’s Gayest Parliament (The Advocate)
- Northern Ireland finally gets full marriage equality (PinkNews)
- Sri Lanka forced torturous anal and vaginal examinations on LGBT+ people charged with homosexuality, report finds (PinkNews)
- India grapples with legality of same-sex marriage (DW)
Local and regional news spotlight
- Greensboro’s Carolina Theatre to screen Hocus Pocus; announces additional shows in the Ghostlight Concert Series, including a performance from Debbie The Artist, a 2019 Virtual Charlotte Pride Festival featured performer (News and Record)
- Campus Pride announces 2020 Best of the Best LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities (Windy City Times)
- A NASCAR fan was bullied for being LGBTQ+ ally. Then he designed Jimmie Johnson’s car. (Charlotte Observer)
- Eye-opener: an interview with N.C.-based queer singer-songwriter H.C. McEntire (Bay Area Reporter)
- Students Organize “Imagining Davidson” Series on Activism and Community-Building (The Davidsonian)
- South Charlotte library sheds the name of NC governor who was white supremacist (Charlotte Observer)
Support needed: Queen City Nerve and Single Barrel Room’s Thanksgiving community dinner
For the second year, Charlotte’s alternative newspaper and Plaza Midwood’s Single Barrel Room will team up to provide a community Thanksgiving meal for underserved members of the LGBTQ community. This free dinner on Thanksgiving Day serves all those who are in search of community and car. LGBTQ people are often excluded from family functions during the holidays. The newspaper and bar are asking for community members’ support and assistance, both financial and volunteer. Click here to read more about how you can support.
Reel Out Charlotte: Oct. 23-Nov. 1
In our usual space for upcoming events, we’re putting all our focus on Reel Out Charlotte, the Queen City’s Annual LGBTQ Film Festival. We have an amazing line-up of 11 feature films and 10 shorts. As usual, we are hosting a FREE LGBTQ Short Films night! Hosted this Sunday, Oct. 25, 6 p.m., as a virtual Zoom watch party. Be sure to sign up to attend for free by registering online!
A special gift for readers of the Rainbow Rundown, get a FREE — yes, completely free — All-Access Pass by using this special promo code: RainbowRundown. This special discount code is valid only today and tomorrow, and expires on Saturday, Oct. 24, 11:59 p.m.
When you enter the code in our ticket options, a hidden ticket option for a free All-Access Pass will appear!
Our All-Access Pass gives you on-demand access to every single feature-length and short film, plus access to all our virtual events, including the Shorts Night and talkbacks with filmmakers!
Click here to learn more about Reel Out Charlotte and get your free pass today! But, remember, the discount code is only valid until Saturday, Oct. 24, 11:59 p.m.!
