Carter, who moved from San Francisco to Durham 34 years ago, has been leading the battle to repeal this backward bill. As she tells us, “On March 13, our Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the entire country into law in North Carolina. HB2 overturns all local LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinances already existing in North Carolina, and bans local governments from passing non-discrimination ordinances in the future.” “HB2,” she continued, “also bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity unless they have their gender marker changed on their birth certificate. This law is an omnibus piece of legislation, combining a ban of any LGBTQ+ ordinances and anti-transgender bathroom policies.”
Mandy Carter
Carter said, “And we now have the federal government involved via U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. Lynch, who was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the first ever African American woman to be the U.S. Attorney General of this county. On May 9, she held a news conference in Washington, D.C., to respond to North Carolina Governor McCrory’s lawsuit over HB2.”
Woolworth department store chain. While not the first sit-ins of the Civil Rights Movement, the Greensboro protests marked key, instrumental actions. They led to increased national sentiment at a crucial period in our nation’s history. The primary event took place at the Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth store, which is now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. North Carolina is therefore once again at the center of attention concerning a civil rights matter. With the
tireless work of Carter, Lynch and many others, there is hope that HB2 will soon go the way of racial segregation and other hateful practices. On the same day as Lynch’s news conference, the United States Department of Justice sued Governor Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, and the University of North Carolina system, stating that HB2 violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Violence Against Women Act.
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The good news is that there is an ongoing massive show of support for the efforts of Carter and others who are against the bill. From major businesses to international celebrities and numerous hard-working North Carolinians, countless people have been standing up against HB2.
That same day as well, North Carolina’s governor and legislative leaders filed two separate lawsuits against the Department of Justice to defend the law. Two private lawsuits are also underway, one challenging and the other defending HB2, so the fight against HB2 is far from over.
It is interesting to note that Lynch’s birthplace was where the Greensboro sit-ins took place in 1960. These nonviolent protests led to the removal of a policy of racial segregation at the
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Mandy Carter has been, as she puts it, an “out, southern, black, lesbian, social justice activist” who has advocated for human rights for five decades. A Co-founder of the National Black Justice Coalition, Carter is traveling from North Carolina to be with us for the San Francisco Pride Parade with two other main efforts in mind: the Maud’s 50th Anniversary Reunion, which she and her team are leading (see other story on this page), and the f ight against House Bill 2 (HB2): The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, officially called “An Act to Provide for Single-sex Multiple Occupancy Bathroom and Changing Facilities in Schools and Public Agencies and to Create Statewide Consistency in Regulation of Employment and Public Accommodations.”
EVE STRASSMAN
North Carolina #NO HB2!
Logo of the pro HB2 campaign promoted by the North Carolina Family Policy Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom
We therefore invite you to attend a free related event that Carter is organizing. The event, “Indivisibility of Justice: North Carolina #NO HB2; #WeAreOrlando”—A Free Community Forum,” will be held on Tuesday, June 28, from 7 pm to 9 pm at the San Francisco GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th Street. Presenters will include Carter as well as Kris Hayashi of the Transgender Law Center and Kenneth Monteiro of San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies. The event will provide a rare chance to hear directly from those who are in the trenches against HB2, and to show your own support for their often challenging work.
By Paris Poirier and Karen Kiss As patrons heard “last call” at Orlando’s Pulse earlier this Pride month, they were ambushed by a madman. We all know the gruesome and horrif ic details. We are reminded that the sickening attack is the latest installment in a much larger story of how bars have been key to forming and cultivating our LGBTQ culture. Those of us old enough to remember San Francisco’s Maud’s, Amelia’s, Peg’s Place, A Little More, Kelly’s and other fiercely-proclaimed women’s bars feel like survivors from a far distant planet sometimes. Fifty years back seems like an eternity ago, particularly in the age of marriage equality and dating apps. We fondly remember our “sacred spaces” as secure outposts in a world engulfed by war and swift social change throughout the 1960s and1970s.
That is when a community bar was the only place to connect as a group within our tribe. (Even if that meant grappling with surprise police raids, the threat of being unceremoniously outed, and constantly overf lowing toilets.) Since the 1980s, the demise of these havens has happened in a steady trickle. With the AIDS pandemic hitting at the early part of the decade came mounting closures of gay male bars. With growing acceptance of same sex relationships and increased female earning power, lesbian households flourished in ways that no lon-
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MANDY CARTER
One ‘Last Call’ as Maud’s Turns 50
ger required the unique nurturance that the bar scene of previous decades offered. Maud’s finally succumbed to the inevitable. It is important for us to remember, and to tell others, that from its first night in 1966 through to its last in 1989, Maud’s was special. Though ruled by the regulars—those zany and, at times, intimidating “Maudies”—that unassuming hole-in-the-wall on Cole Street was a serenely sacred space. From the onset, owner Rikki Streicher knew exactly what kind of bar she wanted it to be, and understood intuitively the major role it served for the women it served its drinks to. As Rikki said, “If it’s open every other day, it better be there for ‘em on Christmas.” For many women it was a second (or, sometimes, primary) home filled with music, laughter, and enough dyke drama to keep gossip churning coastto-coast for weeks. Maud’s was a surv ivor, not just of historical upheaval, but of fashion trends, too. Janis Joplin stopped by for a shot and a beer. Carole Migden began her pol it ica l career in a booth at the back of the bar. 1960s beehives made way for 1970s
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bellbottoms, which morphed into 1980s power pantsuits. The softball team usually stunk, but never stopped trying to score that fleeting home run. The “Pussies” serenaded the throngs at special anniversaries. And the proposal of “marriage” recurred with absolutely perfect timing, every night, and always before the “last call” of the early morning. Through it all, there was a “sexy secrecy” to hanging out there. In her review of Last Call at Maud’s (1993), Village Voice writer Martha Baer noted: “What makes it so interesting are the intersections of the sweep of history with the smallness of one social circle. The cultural moment and the tiny bar stand off, each alternately throwing down a card across history, each card changing the game.” Fifty years ago, Maud’s first opened its doors in the pre-radicalized Haight. On Saturday afternoon, June 25, we’ll gather again in that cozy bar Maud’s 50th Anniversary Reunion: 1966–2016 Dedicated to the memory of Rikki Streicher Saturday, June 25, 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm Finnegan’s Wake (formerly Maud’s Study) 937 Cole Street @ Carl Street, San Francisco
on Cole Street to toast that milestone, honor our collective and personal histories, and just plain celebrate our lives. With the passage of time, Maud’s has essentially been gone longer than it was open. This Pride Weekend, which is filled with so much poignancy as we remember those killed and hurt at Pulse, we’ll raise a glass in memory of those no longer with us, including Dear Rikki. Everyone is welcome. Whether you frequented Maud’s back in the day, or just want, now, to soak up some of that old time dyke bar spirit, we encourage you and yours to celebrate one more last call. Paris Poirier and Karen Kiss are the creators of the award-winning docu m e nt ar y “L a st Call at Maud’s.” www.lastcallatmauds.com