Tag Archives: North Carolina

On his way out of a Democratic fundraiser headlined by Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-NC) got physical with a student journalist. Video posted to YouTube today shows Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-NC, tussling with two men who approached him on a sidewalk asking about his support for the Obama administration. One of the men, who identifies himself as a student, …

Now that she has submitted a letter to them formally revealing that she is gay, the ROTC may force University of North Carolina senior Sara Isaacson to repay nearly $80,000 in tuition scholarships. Isaacson, 21, said she thought the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was unfair years before she realized she was a lesbian and realized she had the …

Pam Spaulding reports from Saturday’s HRC gala in Raleigh. HRCs’ President Joe Solmonese delivered some news at the HRC Carolinas Gala on Saturday night. I was there reporting for the Blend as he made these emphatic statements to the members of the LGBT community and allies from North and South Carolina in attendance at the Raleigh Convention Center about what …

Closet case Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has submitted legislation removing Ulysses S Grant from the $50 bill and replacing him with Ronald Reagan. “Every generation needs its own heroes,” McHenry said in a written statement. “One decade into the 21st century, it’s time to honor the last great president of the 20th and give President Reagan a place beside Presidents …

Pam Spaulding recorded the below clip of pop star Clay Aiken’s speech at Saturday’s HRC gala in North Carolina. Not bad, Clay. Visit Pam’s House Blend for full coverage of the event.

Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Commissioner Bill James is under fire for mocking the AIDS death of a fellow commissioner’s son during a debate on adding same-sex partner benefits. Toward the end of an emotional, two-hour debate on the topic, James leaned over to commissioner Vilma Leake and asked: “Your son was a homo, really?” Leake responded: “You’re going to make …

Remember the Asheville, North Carolina city councilman whose election was opposed because he’s an atheist? Well, the wingnuts are gunning to have him booted.

Some folks tried to prevent newly elected Asheville, North Carolina city councilman Cecil Bothwell from taking office. Because he’s an atheist. And that’s still against the law there, as it is in five other states. North Carolina’s constitution is clear: politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office. Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are seizing on that …

Somebody really really doesn’t know her history. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) gets up to set her straight. Good stuff.

Among last night’s good news, and there was a lot folks, really, was the election of Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s openly gay mayor, Mark Kleinschmidt. Here’s a great recounting of the final moments from Indy Week. Supporters erupted. His mother burst into tears. His sister shouted. Mark Kleinschmidt just smiled contently, arms crossed but giving the kind of ear-to-ear grin …

Think Progress reports: Few Republican congressional members have served as a greater fount for hyperbolic and uninformed ranting about health care reform as has Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC). As ThinkProgress previously documented, Foxx has claimed Democratic reforms would mean seniors are “put to death by their government,” that health reform is a “distraction,” and that “there are no Americans who …

Pam Spaulding reports that country singer Matt Boswell and his Hillbilly Blues Band have been banned from future performances by the city of Reidsville, North Carolina after a live broadcast from a city festival where he performed an altered version of a Merle Haggard song that included the anti-gay lyric, “And you can’t get married, you stupid gays and queers, …

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina will stage a Halloween book burning of evil, dirty ideas. Like versions of the Bible they don’t like, and the works of the Pope and Rick Warren. The website for the Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C., says there are “scriptural bases” for the book burning. The site quotes Acts …

Some nice news from my birth state! The City Council got a standing ovation Monday night when it unanimously passed, without discussion, a resolution supporting civil marriage for same-sex couples. “It is simply a statement” and has no effect on the law, City Attorney Patrick Baker said before the vote. Nevertheless, when the outcome was announced much of the full-house …

“Hitler used the ovens and Obama is going to use hospices to get rid of people he finds undesirable.” *Yes, apparently we’re now calling them “deathers.”

Researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill report that they have successfully decoded the entire HIV genome, a breakthrough that may lead to new antiviral therapy. “We are beginning to understand tricks the genome uses to help the virus escape detection by the human host,” said Kevin Weeks, a professor at the University of North Carolina at …

Led by Pastors Michael Brown and Lou Engle, about 500 red-shirted Christianists protested at Charlotte Pride this weekend. “We don’t think it’s best for a little boy to go to school dressed as a girl,” Dr. Michael Brown, director of Coalition of Conscience, said. “We don’t think it’s best to have male-male, female-female couples that guarantee a child won’t have …

Anti-gay preachers Lou Engle (left) and Michael Brown plan to bring a thousand protesters to Charlotte Pride this weekend to scream about at attendees about Jeebus. This rally is a Spirit-birthed response to Charlotte’s annual gay pride event. More than one thousand believers will be gathering to worship the Lord, intercede in prayer, and proclaim that “God Has a Better …

Oh, ha ha ha…my sides! Barney Frank is gay and talks funny! Comedy FAIL. (Via – Good As You)