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Our big semesterly drag show is coming up this Tuesday, and I’m nothing but excited.  Last spring’s was a huge success, drawing in a crowd of about 500 students, faculty, staff and Greenville community members.  Then I saw the news report the next day.

The Daily Reflector covered the event and took some great photos (seen here).  The pictures were easily viewed on the website and created quite a controversy in the comments section.  I was overwhelmed by some of the comments I saw.

Gayhater

09/19/2009 05:44:49 PM

Faggots… I guess if you’re not cool or attractive enough to get a girl go gay huh? This is ridiculous, I can’t imagine waking up one day and saying, “Man, I just don’t like vagina anymore, it doesn’t feel good, but you know what would be great? A big hard weiner in my butthole.”

Rhonda

04/10/2009 12:36:05 PM

I cannot believe that any administrator at ECU would promote this program.Certainly there must be positive programs about diversity. I am an ECU graduate and I am sorry that the current students were subjected to such low moral standards. Students can find immorality on their own! Satan makes sure of that!! I pray that God will convict the administrators at ECU to lead our students to morality–not away from it.

Vickie

04/01/2009 11:08:28 AM

What is our world coming to? Men w/men women w/women.No wonder many kids are messed up early on.Imagine being raised by one of THESE things and tell me you would grow up normal! By the way don’t they have any of these things that are NOT fat!

And there were also many in support of the event and the community.

Carrie D

04/02/2009 12:39:12 PM

People spend so much time and effort spreading such hate, it is so sad…what will you all do if your children come to you one day and say they are gay?? Will you hate your children??? I always thought the golden rule was do unto others as you would like done to you…guess not all of us practice what we preach. I am an ECU alum and I applaud the university for providing diverse activities for students of all kinds.

Good grief.

03/28/2009 08:46:34 PM

I AM a Christian and I’m educated enough to know that being gay isn’t a choice. I’m also of the mindset that God is the only one who can judge.

People like you make others not want to be Christians.

For a while I debated whether or not I should click the “suggest removal” button on some of these hateful comments.  On one hand, I want people to see the hate that is put upon our community.  On the other, reading those comments is very hurtful and upsetting.

I often forget that I’m in Greenville, NC.  I tend to stay in the university area – working with faculty, staff, and other students.  The environment is for the most part very supportive; at least in my experience.  I don’t always remember that the world outside of ECU isn’t so kind.  Especially in Eastern NC.

So, I’m hoping this semester’s show will be as much if not more successful than before.  I’m hoping The Daily Reflector will come again, take more great pictures, and show support for our community.

Who knows what comments will see this year…

Jason Simone

From PinkPaper.com

The European Court of Human Rights has combined cases stemming from Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov’s bans on gay-pride events in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and instructed Russian authorities to file a response by 20 January.

Luzhkov has banned pride for four years and has sent riot police to violently arrest small groups of activists who ignored the bans.

The mayor has said the bans are for gays’ own good so that “radical Christians” don’t “kill them.” Russian society, he has said, “does not accept all these homos.”

But Luzhkov also has called gay pride parades “satanic” and, reportedly, “weapons of mass destruction.”

Full story here…

I’ve been following the LGBT movement in Russia for a few months, mostly because Russian Studies is one half of my double major, and I was thinking of studying abroad there. Now that I’ve done some research about the LGBT climate there, I’m a little hesitant. I used to think North Carolina was bad; but at NC Pride there were six protesters out of four-thousand people. There were no police riots, hospitalizations or arrests. Here we’re starting the fight for marriage and in Russia they are fighting just to gather. I’m not sure I would be able to live in such a place…

More updates on the movement in Russia to come.

Jason Simone

Can you say, “Wow!”?

We never expected a same-sex marriage campaign to reach NC anytime soon, but it’s here!

This billboard was placed in Greensboro by the Triangle Equality Alliance:

Will it last?  I hope so.  Will it come to Greenville?  NOPE.  But it’s good to see that progress is being made in the state, and not just in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area.

UNC Greensboro is hosting the NC Equality Conference this year as well, which in past years has been hosted at Duke University.  Go Greensboro!