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Watauga County, North Carolina: We are the MountainQueers, 1969-2009

Contents

• LGBTQ Life in Watauga County, North Carolina, 1969-2009
• Pages
• Timeline
• References
• Categories

LGBTQ Life in Watauga County, North Carolina, 1969-2009

While Watauga County, North Carolina, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, remains rural and retains many conservative practices, its university, Appalachian State University, acts as a liberalizing factor in the area. ASU, as Watauga County’s main employer and the primary draw for in-migration, has similarly acted as a focal point for cultural activities and community development, especially with many students and employees active in civic and political organizations. Within the span of a century, attitudes toward LGBT people have moved from complete silence to one of open tolerance in many segments of the county.

Pages (Coming not-very-soon!)

• AIDS in Watauga County, North Carolina, 1985-2009
• Appalachian State University LGBT Life, 1969-2009
• Comprehensive Time Line
• County-wide LGBT Life, 1990-2009
• Older Women in Watauga County, North Carolina, [dates tba]
• Sources for LGBTQ Life in Watauga County, North Carolina
• Women’s Studies at Appalachian State University, 1976-2009
• Watauga High School LGBT Activism, 1999-2009

Abbreviated Timeline

• 1976: Appalachian State University (ASU) Women’s Studies Program founds and Counseling Center homosexual support group begins
• 1979: ASU official recognizes Appalachian Gay Awareness Association (AGAA) after much controversy (disbands by 1986)
• 1987: Watauga County’s first reported AIDS case soon followed by first reported HIV+ ASU student
• 1988: Community-based AIDS support group begins (disbands in 1995)
• 1989: PFLAG chapter begins
• 1990: Sexual Awareness Group of Appalachian (SAGA) begins meeting at ASU
• March, 1991: Gays and Lesbians of Watauga (GLOW) organizes, receives a bomb threat, and ceases meeting
• Fall, 1991: ASU's first Gay Studies course is offered
• December, 1992: Mountain AIDS Support Committee set up in Boone (disbands in 2001)
• January, 1993: ASU student reports a gay-related assault
• 1993: Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) of the High Country opens
• 1993: ASU adds “sexual orientation” to its Equal Employment Opportunity statement
• 1995: Delta Love Delta sponsors first Miss Gay Boone World pageant
• 1997: Boone Gay Pride march
• October, 2000: First annual “Queer Film Series” at ASU
• 2003-2004: Watauga High School students attempt to organize a gay-straight alliance; Watauga County School Board says no
• 2005: First annual Boone Pride
• Fall 2007: ASU student organization transACTION begins
• October, 2008: ASU's LGBT Center opens
• Spring, 2008: ASU adds “gender identity and expression” Equal Employment Opportunity policy
• October, 2008: Watauga High School principal approves Gay-Straight Alliance
• March, 2009: Town of Boone votes unanimously to add “sexual orientation and gender identity” to its Equal Employment Opportunity Statement, to oppose NC Senate Bill 272, which calls for a state-wide vote for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, and to support NC House Bill 207, “The Safer Communities Act.”

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