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Liberal Unfriendly Place: Charlotte, NC
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You'd think that the biggest city in North Carolina would be a hotbed of liberalism, but that isn't the case. Except for Dilworth, on the south side, it takes guts to be a liberal here--even though Charlotte is overwhelmingly Democratic. Charlotte's city council is controlled by the Democrats, but we've had Republican mayors for over a decade since Harvey Gantt lost. The last two--Richard Vinroot (1991-95) and Pat McCrory (1995- ) have been tolerable, but Sue Myrick (1987-91) was Charlotte's worst mayor ever. She said that the city didn't need improvements in our transit system, among other stupid comments. Now she's embarassing Charlotte again in Congress. The only reason why she got elected was because when they carved the 12th district out of a section of Charlotte, sections of even more conservative Gaston and Cleveland counties were placed in her 9th district.

It gets worse. Charlotte has its own version of Jerry Falwell--Joe Chambers. He was defrocked as a Church of God minister, but his credibility is still strong. He called "Barney" satanic, and led a fight to keep the play "Angels in America" from being performed all because it had a brief (and nongermane) nudity scene. There are some scoundrels among local Democrats as well--Mecklenburg County commissioner Hoyle Martin didn't vote for an anti-gay measure, but he later said that he wished "we could push these people (gays and lesbians) off the face of the earth." And if you're a liberal, stay away from the northwest side of town. It's full of Christian Coalition types.

But there's hope for Charlotte. A slew of Northerners have moved down here in recent years, and they're liberal almost to a man. Also, Jesse Helms has gotten shelled here in the last two senatorial elections. Still, if you're a liberal, Charlotte is not the place to be right now.

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I must say the place is showing a split personality. On one hand, the city's (and North Carolina's) leading newspaper, the Observer, is unabashedly liberal. It has served as a gadfly to conservatives in this state since time out of mind--hence its nickname around here, the "Disturber." Also, there was enough of an outcry over the Mecklenburg County commission's decision to cut off funding to the Arts and Science Council from all sides of the spectrum that a settlement was recently agreed to.

However, there are signs that my beloved hometown is becoming a conservative, holier-than-thou version of Atlanta. Until Tom Bush bolted from the ranks to support the recent settlement with the Arts and Sciences Council, the four Republicans on the Commission plus Democrat Hoyle Martin were known as "the Gang of Five" because of their ultraconservatism on social issues. Ever since Harvey Gantt lost in 1987, the Democratic Party has deteriorated here to the point that it may be on life support. And the city's public access channel is largely dominated by programming from fundamentalist churches. Most galling is the police department's handling of a cruising problem on the city's westside. The initial step in the crackdown was admirable--stopping all cars on Beatties Ford Road to check for revoked licenses, drugs, etc. But later in the summer, they decided not to allow anyone onto Beatties Ford Road on Sunday afternoon--even people who lived in the area! Just when Charlotte shows signs of hope, it takes another step back.

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Things are looking better! In the last election, the so called "Gang of Five" has been reduced to one! It gives renewed hope in the American political process....

The Art funding fiasco has opened up alot of people's eyes to what was going on in town. There is now MORE dialog between the straight community and the gay community.

One of the largest employers in town now has domestic partnership benefits (Nationsbank/BofA)

It is SLOWLY getting better!

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