Our day began in Nashville, where we stayed overnight in halfway housing. After a much needed coffee pit stop, we were off.
Everyone in Lady Donatella, our lovely Chrysler Town and Country
7 hours later, we arrived at St. John's Baptist Church, where we will be staying for the next week. Everyone we have talked to thus far has been extremely kind and helpful. We even have mattresses to sleep on! With a full kitchen, lounge, really hot showers, and gym skates, we could not have asked for more.
Our beds, in a circle formation :)
And endless supply of (probably painful) fun!
From St. John's, we went to the LGBT Resource Center of Charlotte and met with O'Neale Atkinson, one of the main coordinators and our principle contact for setting up our Break. After a brief tour of the building, we discussed the many activities, events, and projects the Center will be hosting in the future. We learned that in the coming months the Center would like to relocate to Plaza Midwood, a downtown area in Charlotte, where it will be more effective in providing the city, and especially the LGBT community, with fun and engaging programming.
I was particularly interested in the voting statistics that O'Neale told us about on Amendment One. While ultimately the legislation passed by around 60%, the city of Charlotte voted against the measure by nearly 85%. In particular, Plaza Midwood voted against the Amendment by an overwhelming 95%. These statistics show that the Center has done a lot to improve attitudes towards the LGBT community in Charlotte, even if the state as a whole has not seen as much progress.
I can't wait to begin work at the site tomorrow!
-Drew Harger
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