The 2000s

1. 

   Domestic Partner Benefits, Durham City and County Government

   Family + Marriage

   Family + Marriage

   Domestic Partner Benefits, Durham City and County Government

   

   The city of Durham began offering domestic partner benefits to its employees in 2002, the third in state to do so. In 2003 the county followed suit.

2. 

   Gay-Straight Alliances

   Organizations + Businesses

   Organizations + Businesses

   Gay-Straight Alliances

   

   In the 1990s and early 2000s, organizations for LGBTQ and other youth started to form at Triangle-area schools, usually known as gay-straight alliances (GSAs) or queer-straight alliances (QSAs). Support for these organizations—and the ability to form them at all—varied greatly from school to school.

3. 

   North Carolina Lambda Youth Network

   Organizations + Businesses

   Organizations + Businesses

   North Carolina Lambda Youth Network

   

   North Carolina Lambda Youth Network (NCLYN pronounced “Incline”), a group of queer youth of color, formed in downtown Durham in the early 2000s. See this page from the Durham Civil Rights map for more information and an interview excerpt about NCLYN.

4. 

   InsideOut

   Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

   Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

   InsideOut

   

   SafeSchools NC, a statewide organization dedicated to making schools safe for LGBTQ students and educators, instituted a program called the Triangle Gay-Straight Alliance Network. In 2005, young people from that group formed InsideOut, a youth-run organization that supports LGBTQ and allied youth in the Triangle. InsideOut celebrated its 10th year in 2015. The group’s programming included workshops, retreats, queer proms, and “Queernival” events. A subgroup, UpsideDown, began, focusing on youth 12 or under who were questioning their identities, were children of LGBTQ adults, or otherwise just needed a safe space to be their full selves.

5. 

   Beaver Queen Pageant, 2004 to date

   Arts + Culture

   Arts + Culture

   Beaver Queen Pageant, 2004 to date

   

   

   The pageant began in 2005 when Duke Park lesbians, gay men, and allies (known as Beaver Lodge 1504) joined forces to protect a family of beavers put in jeopardy by the widening of I-85. Concurrent with the lodge’s work to save the beavers, the Independent Weekly newspaper was running a “Queen of the Triangle” contest. The lodge inquired, tongue firmly planted in cheek, whether they could enter a beaver in the contest. From these two events, the idea was born to hold the Beaver Queen Pageant, a family friendly beaver drag event that happens in Duke Park the first Saturday in June to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month. The event raises money for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association.

6. 

   Marriage Equality

   Politics + Activism, Family + Marriage

   Politics + Activism, Family + Marriage

   Marriage Equality

   

   In late March 2004 two Durham men, Perry Pike and Richard Mullinax, applied for and were denied a marriage license at the Durham County Register of Deeds office. They were turned away because the state's Defense of Marriage Act clearly stated that marriage is between a man and a woman. The couple filed a complaint in District Court, setting in motion the first lawsuit against the state of North Carolina to assert a right of same-sex marriage.

   A district court judge dismissed the lawsuit in May, saying that the case involved constitutional questions that belonged in a higher court. Mullinax and Pike had indicated they would pursue the matter in Superior Court, but dropped their legal efforts because of the costs involved. Their lawyer, Cheri Patrick, commented that, “Hearts and minds have opened, and Perry and Richard have moved the conversation on civil marriage forward in North Carolina. The dialogue has just begun.” Read article about Perry and Richard applying for license in Durham County.

7. 

   Amendment One

   Politics + Activism, Family + Marriage, Audio + Video Clips

   Politics + Activism, Family + Marriage, Audio + Video Clips

   Amendment One

   

   

   

   In May 2012, North Carolina voters approved Amendment One, an amendment to the North Carolina Constitution stating that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.” While state law already banned same-sex marriage, the amendment went one step further, denying recognition of any civil union, regardless of gender of the parties involved. However, 70% of Durham voters opposed the amendment, and Durham activists founded “All of Us NC” to oppose the amendment and work in the campaign against it.

   In July 2014, the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals struck down Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban, setting a precedent for every state in the district, including North Carolina. In October 2014, the US District Court in Asheville declared Amendment One unconstitutional, allowing North Carolina same-sex couples to be legally married for the first time.

   Durhamites Chantelle and Marcie Fisher-Borne were the lead plaintiffs in another lawsuit against Amendment One, this one filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of North Carolina to request the court’s recognition of same-sex couples’ rights to second-parent adoptions.

8. 

   Religious Congregations

   Arts + Culture, Audio + Video Clips

   Arts + Culture, Audio + Video Clips

   Religious Congregations

   

   Despite the often-publicized image of religion being incompatible with homosexuality, religious congregations such as Durham Friends Meeting, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and Pilgrim United Church of Christ were important early supporters of the gay and lesbian community in Durham, and LGBT events were often held in their facilities. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a rapid expansion of LGBTQ-affirming congregations, including the creation in 1997 of Imani Metropolitan Community Church, led by Rev. Wanda Floyd. That same year, controversy erupted at Calvary United Methodist Church after news coverage of a meeting held there by the Reconciling United Methodists of North Carolina. Some congregants and community members were upset that they had allowed a sermon by Jimmy Creech, a Methodist pastor who had come under fire for performing a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple. By 2012, there were at least eight LGBT-affirming congregations in Durham, and as progressive religious voices increased statewide, the faith community became an important component of the campaign against Amendment One. The case that eventually overturned the amendment in North Carolina, General Synod of the UCC v. Reisinger, was the first instance of a national Christian denomination challenging a state’s marriage statutes.

   In this audio clip, Cris Rivera and Beth Stringfield remember their decision to attend First Presbyterian Church in 2004, before the church officially welcomed gay and lesbian members.

   Transcript Cris Rivera But I just didn’t want to necessarily go to a church where people were not going to accept me the way I was, or accept us, and I didn’t want to make waves. So we actually went to a Sunday school. I think that’s how we got to that church, is because we went to that Sunday school. Because First Pres[byterian Church] has a Sunday school class on Sundays that’s called Faith and Community, where they have different speakers come in, either people that go to the church or other outside speakers that work in different civic organizations. And the one that we went to just so happened to be one where they were discussing–what was the specific topic? It wasn’t HIV, it was …

   Beth Stringfield No, they were talking about homosexuality in the church. And it turned out that someone who I worked with was a member of the church and was speaking, her and her partner were. And they had this discussion, and it was all kind of nice and friendly. [To Cris:] I’m taking over.

   Cris Rivera Go ahead.

   Beth Stringfield And an old woman raised her hand and started talking. And she said, “Well, I don’t see what the big issue is. We just need to …” The gist of it was, I don’t understand what the issue is. We just need to all get along, and of course we need to have gay and lesbian folks in our church. And the woman was Ella Fountain Pratt, who we did not know. She was a pillar of the Durham community, amazing, and did wonderful things in her life around arts in Durham, and she was also a pillar of the church. And so Ella Fountain spoke and in some ways that was the end of the discussion.

   Cris Rivera Yeah, I think for me, when a 90-year-old lady gets up and says, “This is ridiculous. Move on,” then you’re like, “Okay, I’ll come back next week.” [laughter]

   Beth Stringfield But at that time, First Presbyterian did not have a welcoming statement. It wasn’t until about three years later that the Session passed a welcoming statement that is now printed in all of our bulletins and it covers sexual orientation, economic status, nation of origin—it covers a number of things. And so they did that on their own, and actually our church also ordained gay and lesbian folks to be on the Session and the Diaconate before it was approved by PC-USA.

   I’m sure there were people that were unhappy. Was there any public thing that I heard? No, no one ever said anything to us. When there was the article in the newspaper and someone—and I don’t even remember the statement that was said, but something was said about the tension about accepting gays and lesbians, at that time we stopped going. And after, I don’t know, four weeks or so, we got a call from [Pastor] Joe [Harvard]. And he said, “Can I come over?” And I can’t remember if this was the time, but Lord help me, Joe was known for this. I can’t remember if we said, “No, now’s not a good time,” and he still showed up, but he did that one time. He showed up that night, and we hadn’t said anything about why—he had no idea. Though clearly he did know. Because he came and he said, “Y’all haven’t been to church. We know that there was this article. And I want to show you the statement that’s going to be approved by the Session.” And that was the new inclusion statement. And that’s when we started going again.

   Selection from interview with Beth Stringfield and Cris Rivera, interview by Luke Hirst, October 17, 2015, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

9. 

   El Centro Hispano’s LGBTQ+ groups

   Organizations + Businesses, Family + Marriage, Health, Audio + Video Clips

   Organizations + Businesses, Family + Marriage, Health, Audio + Video Clips

   El Centro Hispano’s LGBTQ+ groups

   

   El Centro Hispano, a community center for Latino immigrants, became a pioneer in the South when it started its LGBT programming in the early 2000s. It started with one general LGBT group and within 10 years was home to four groups—men who have sex with men, transgender women, lesbians, and LGBT. As the number of local Latino LGBTQ folks grew, they also found a home at the bar El Chino Latino, which hosted regular shows featuring travesti performers (similar in style to drag queen shows).

   In this audio clip, Alex Cordova talks about the way that he sees El Centro Hispano’s different LGBTQ groups come together and grow over time.

   Transcript Lo que a mi me ha hecho muy feliz es que todo los grupos al final son una familia. Eso es bien importante. Una se enferma, ya nos ha tocado ir al hospital ha estar días enteros con una de las chicas que está enferma. Nos ha tocado ir a ver a la mamá de una de ellas que está enferma. Como nos ha tocado que tienen su nueva pareja y van a comprar casa o se van a mover de casa. O su hermana va a celebrar su quinceañera o su cumple, o sea esa necesidad de pertenecer, familiar, eso si me gusta. Y ellas–lo les llamo y les digo ‘Oiga, que fulana va cumplir años.’ ‘Ok’ dicen. Y estamos diez, treinta, cuarenta personas juntas haciendo esa comunidad. Y eso verdad es parte de todos los grupos. Si viene cierto, algunos vienen a los grupos y no quieren ser vistos, no quieren ser fotografiados. Pero en un proceso pasan los años y ellos son los mismos que toman las fotos para los demás grupos. Y es un proceso muy lindo. Es como tener una organización que tenga kindergarden y de repente los gradúes.

   What has made me really happy is that at the end of the day, all the groups are one family. That is very important. We’ve spent entire days at the hospital with one of the girls who’s sick. We’ve gone to see the mom of one of them who was sick. And when one of them has a new partner and they’re going to buy a house, or move houses, or their sister is going to celebrate her quinceanera or birthday. That need to belong to a family–that, I like. And I’ll call them and tell them, “Hey, so-and-so is going to have a birthday.” And they say, “Okay.” And we’re 10, 30, 40 people together creating that community. And that’s really part of all the groups. Some people come to the groups and don’t want to be seen, they don’t want to be photographed. But a few years will pass and they’ll be the ones taking the photos for the other groups. And it’s a beautiful process. It’s like having an organization that has kindergarten and suddenly they graduate.

   Excerpt from Alex Córdova oral history, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

10. 

    Cuntry Kings

    Arts + Culture

    Arts + Culture

    Cuntry Kings

    

    The Cuntry Kings were a Durham-based drag king troupe founded in 2002. They traveled around the country and internationally to drag king festivals to perform their feminist, antiracist shows that often were as political as they were entertaining. They also held monthly “Drag It In, Drag It Out” shows in venues in Durham and Chapel Hill, where anyone could sign up to perform.

11. 

    Drag Bingo

    Arts + Culture

    Arts + Culture

    Drag Bingo

    

    Once a month, people pack the 800-seat Durham Armory in North Carolina for family-friendly, alcohol-free drag bingo nights led by BVD (bingo-verifying diva) Mary K. Mart. The crowd is about half gay and half straight, and on a typical night, $10,000 is raised for the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina. In 2002, when the Alliance ran its first game, “We thought that if we got a hundred people and a thousand dollars, it would be a miracle,” says John Paul Womble, director of development. The event sold out and the Alliance eventually moved to the much larger Armory. Nervous about filling such a large space, Womble got in touch with North Carolina resident Tammy Faye Bakker Messner—yes, that Tammy Faye, former wife of fallen televangelist Jim Bakker—and asked if she'd call the numbers. She agreed, and the Armory sold out. “Talk about surreal,” says Womble. “I was standing on stage with Tammy Faye Bakker and 12 drag queens.” The event is often held at the Durham Armory but has grown so large it moves around the Triangle. The current host is Durham’s Ms. Vivica C. Coxx.

    Quoted from “How Drag Queens Took Over Bingo,” By Barbara Kiviat, Time Magazine, Wednesday, May 02, 2007

12. 

    The Butchies and Other Local Music Groups

    Arts + Culture, Audio + Video Clips

    Arts + Culture, Audio + Video Clips

    The Butchies and Other Local Music Groups

    

    Continuing its legacy as home to a groundbreaking music scene, Durham spawned The Butchies, a nationally known queercore band. (“Queercore” is a type of aggressive rock music derived from hardcore punk music, with lyrics focusing on LGBTQ themes and issues.) They formed as part of the Riot Grrrl movement in the late 1990s and toured until 2005. (Riot Grrrl is an international underground feminist movement that emerged from West Coast American alternative and punk music scenes of the 1990s.)

13. 

    Durham Unstalled

    Politics + Activism, Safety

    Politics + Activism, Safety

    Durham Unstalled

    

    In 2011 several Durham activists started an initiative to increase bathroom access for trans and gender-nonconforming people. Upon discovering that the plumbing code used by North Carolina restricted the ability of small businesses to have single-stall, gender-neutral restrooms, Durham Unstalled members brought about a change in the statewide code.

14. 

    QORDS (Queer Oriented Radical Days of Summer)

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips

    QORDS (Queer Oriented Radical Days of Summer)

    In 2012, QORDS, a queer-oriented summer camp, was founded in Durham to empower Southern queer and transgender youth and create community. They joined with InsideOut and the Raleigh-based Youth Organizing Institute to form the NC Youth Power Coalition.

15. 

    Durham Gender Alliance

    Organizations + Businesses

    Organizations + Businesses

    Durham Gender Alliance

    

    The Durham Gender Alliance is a discussion group that has met every month since its founding in 2008. The group ranges in size from 2 to 22 people and is largely made up of transgender women who gather to talk about issues in their lives relevant to gender. Lea Córdova has led the group since the founders moved away shortly after its inception. In an oral history recorded in 2016, she said, “I’m there no matter what, because even if it’s one evening a month, it gives someone the opportunity of being who they are in a welcoming environment.”

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