LGBTQ
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How Gender-Affirming Haircuts Celebrate Personal Identity
Everyone has had a bad hair day. Maybe it looks too flat, or the side part is strange; it’s been put up and it’s been put down; for some reason, the dry shampoo is making it look greasier; for some other reason, a few strands look like coils in a…
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One Voice Chorus Announces New Competition for LGBTQIA+ Composers
One Voice Chorus of Charlotte (OVC) this week announced the launch of their first Queer Composers Commission Competition, an initiative to elevate the voices of queer composers and promote their work. The competition winner will receive a $2,000 commission and create a 4-to-6-minute soprano, alto, tenor and bass choral work…
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Paula Cole Set to Headline Charlotte Pride Festival in August
Kicking off Pride Month in fashion, Charlotte Pride on June 1 unveiled the headliner for its upcoming 2024 Charlotte Pride Festival Weekend, scheduled for Aug. 17-18. Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Paula Cole will close things out on the main stage in Uptown on Sunday, Aug. 18. The organization also announced…
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Grassroots Groups Steer Resurgence of Charlotte’s Sapphic Scene
In Queen City Nerve’s February 2023 deep dive into the historical and economic reasons for the decline in lesbian-centered spaces in Charlotte, we found that owners and investors had become reluctant to dedicate business models to such a niche community. With rising rent, gentrification and queer assimilation into cisgender, heterosexual…
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Local Couple Launches Inclusive Pop-Up for Plus-Size Clientele
All too often, one’s aesthetic is assigned at birth based on apparent gender; you wear pink or you wear blue. In an instant, we are assigned a gender to identify how we are to move in the world and how we are to be labeled within its social parameters. That’s…
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Harmonic Tales from Sayurblaires Tune Into Identity
On “Double Helix,” the energetic tune that kicks off Sayurblaires’ debut album, You No Longer Live Inside My Head, I’m Just Waiting for You to Take Shape, Blaire Fullagar’s treated vocals thread through a cloud of swarming harmonics, coiling electronics and galloping beats. “The background is in the foreground/ I’m…
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Janelle Sy’mone’s Unexpected Win and Evolving Music Journey
Janelle Sy’mone says she wasn’t supposed to win the 2019 Carolina Music Award for Best Female R&B artist. The eclectic singer-songwriter, just two years into her fledgling music career, was sitting in the audience at the Raleigh gala when she was announced as the winner. She didn’t think she heard…
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Charlotte Area Drag Story Hour Promotes Literacy, Diversity for Kids
Over the past year, Queen City Nerve has delved deep into the discrimination and legislative attacks faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Drag kings, queens and other royal artists have been at the epicenter of many of these attacks, but it’s not all negativity. For years, drag culture has brought joy…
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Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce Brings Vibrant Energy to Charlotte Pride 2023
“Charlotte is one of my favorite cities anywhere,” Big Freedia says. “My fans are strong here and so welcoming to me and my team, so when I was invited to Pride, I was like, ‘Yaass!’” With her booming voice, infections enthusiasm, and vibrant personality, the brash 44-year old nonconforming, nonbinary…
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What to Do at Charlotte Pride in 2023: A Comprehensive Guide
Our 2023 guide to Charlotte Pride is sponsored by the Charlotte Pride Parade & Festival. Enjoy week-long festivities throughout Charlotte as the organization celebrates 40 years of Pride legacy in the Queen City. A Guide to Charlotte Pride 2023 When the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade returns to Uptown Aug.…
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Freedom House Church Leader Heads Harassment Campaigns, Spreads Misinformation
The video seems normal at first glance: a blonde woman, driving a car with her phone in one hand, recording a video using her front-facing camera to post on her Instagram page as she travels down a rural road just outside of a major city. As she speaks to the…
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Drag Community Launches Boycott of South End LGBTQ Bar
More than 250 leaders of the LGBTQ community from across the Carolinas have signed on to a boycott campaign against The Bar at 316, an LGBTQ bar in South End, following reports that owner Jeff Edwards harassed a performer at the bar mid-show. In announcing the boycott on Wednesday, members…
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Charlotte FC Players Discuss Pride Night Following Seattle Draw
Charlotte FC’s June 10 Pride Night was personal for midfielder Ashley Westwood. “For me it’s massively [important],” said Westwood as he told Queen City Nerve the story of his niece, who had recently come out. “It was a big thing to her.” As captain, the English Westwood wore a custom…
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OPINION: An Open Letter to Tricia Cotham
Former allies, friends and colleagues of N.C. Rep. Tricia Cotham — who in April announced she would switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party — gathered in Raleigh on Tuesday to support newly proposed legislation that would penalize elected officials who switch parties in the middle of their…
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Carolinas CARE Partnership Launches LGBTQ+ Life Center During Turbulent Time
Less than three weeks ago, in the lead-up to Trans Day of Visibility, we reported that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) had tracked a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state legislatures across the country. In the short time since then, the numbers have nearly doubled. According to HRC,…
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New Bill Restricting Drag Performances Introduced in Raleigh
Republican lawmakers in the North Carolina House of Representatives introduced House Bill 673 on Tuesday, clarifying the regulations on adult entertainment in N.C. The bill has been compared to one signed into law in Tennessee in March that bans drag performances in the state. The North Carolina bill states it…
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