With the General Assembly out of session, the gay NC political scene remains somewhat quiet

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I don't know if anyone has noticed or not, but gay politics here in North Carolina just seem to have become a lot more quiet since the General Assembly went home. There really ahsn't been much news about any political initiatives that would help or hurt gay North Carolinians and neither have their been any major clarion calls for people to come out and support anything on the political scene. If you take away last week's NC Pride Fest, NC's gay political landscape looks pretty bleak; well, at least until the General Assembly starts its session again. But there are some things which have been happening. For example, during last week's NC Pride Fest Equality NC (www.equalitync.org) sat up a booth and continued to gather signatures against anti-gay initiatives which will probably end up making their way into the General Assembly. They also talked to people about the past session's politics and helped to create awareness on the issues. All of this is a good thing. At UNCG and other schools around the state, LGBTQA college student groups are meeting and holding events in order to raise awareness and educate their campuses on the issues of sexual orientation. Groups at both UNCG (http://pride.uncg.edu) and Wake Forest University (http://gssa.wfu.edu) plan on holding Coming Out Day Celebrations. In Winston-Salem, the PFLAG group (www.pflagwinstonsalem.org) is also planning on holding a Coming Out Day event as well as a workshop on transgenderism in the near future. PFLAG Winston-Salem recently held its very successful first annual Kaleidoscope Awards Banquet on September 8, 2005. Approximately 130 community members were in attendance. In the Triangle, a group of committed volunteers have come together to create www.outtriangle.com an online resource for LGBT persons. Although it is starting of slow, the site is growing and offering another section of the state access to great community information and resources. In Charlotte, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center (http://www.gaycharlotte.com/) continues to provide support and give LGBTQA groups and people a place to call home, whether that be for events or for any other reason. Hopefully, such a center could be established in the Triad in the future. So although the political climate has seemed to become somewhat quiet, at least for now, many things are happening around the state in terms of support, education and awareness. Get out there and get involved people... when the General Assembly starts back up, we'll need all the help we can get! Find valuable resources and ways you can get involved on the MattHillNC.com Resources Page