User:Boone
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. Appalachian, 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.”
References
Categories
Categories: Appalachian State University | Bisexual | Gay | Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) | Hate Crimes | Lesbian | LGBT High School, College, and University Groups | North Carolina | North Carolina -- Blowing Rock | North Carolina -- Boone | North Carolina -- Watauga County | Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) | Rural Life | Transgender | 20th century | 21st century | Youth