08/18/2009
News: Durham N.C. City Council Unanimous on Marriage Resolution; Jim Neal Reports
Last night, the Durham city council joined North Carolina neighbors Chapel Hill and Carboro passing a supportive gay marriage resolution. Though non-binding, former US senate candidate Jim Neal, calls it hugely symbolic in its unanimity from an unexpected and diverse community.
Towleroad graveyard shift is a a bit short-staffed, and contrary to rumor, Andy does sleep. So via the latest citizen journalism tool, Google Voice, Jim Neal reports via text message...
(Among the notable locals mentioned are Towleroad friends and allies at Blogads and Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend. Spaulding's family started the largest black-owned insurance company in the country and she's got full coverage, text, and photos of the hometown win.")
TRANSCRIPT:
jim neal : Durham, NC city council passes unanimous resolution in favor gay marriage 8:16 PM
Me: Awesome. Right on. Gimme a little more and ill post righy now. 8:17 PM pm
jim neal: City Council convened tonight in packed meeting and voted unanimously topass non-binding resolution supporting gay marriage. Durham is thelargest Afric 8:31 PM
jim neal: an American metro area in NC; second largest statewide voter turnout inDurham County hugely contributed to Obama victory in NC. Vote embraced by African 8:31 pm
jim neal:American mayor Bill Bell. Though symbolic only, hugely so in opposition to conventional wisdom in "gay circles" that pits gays vs. AA religiouscommunit 8:31 pm
jim neal: yover same-sex marriage. If you compare Bay area and Research Triangle area of NC: Durham is Oakland; Chapel Hill is SFO and Carrboro isBerkeley. Now, 8:33 pm
jim neal: all three have passed similar resolutions.Personally, debunks to extent notion that "gay guy can't win" in NC....I'm surprised but not shocked by this 8:36 pm
jim neal: . Durham is vibrant community sending message around world that "you're welcome here." 8:36 PM Me: nice. i'll put something up. already twittered you. 8:40 PM
Me: I think I might just publish a series of texts fm you. Feel free to call if u like. 8:49 PM
jim neal: Goingdown for the count. I'd ask readership in rest of nation: does yourtown have a resolution: LA, NYC, Miami, Austin, Chicago, Seattle,Redmond, Taco 9:09 pm
jim neal: ma,Palo Alto, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, Mill Valley, Oakland,Sacramento, Philadelphia, Manchester? If not, why? Can you be catalyststo follow Dur 9:09 pm
jim neal: ham, NC? (We don't have state constl amendment banning gay marriage either.)Conventional wisdom be damned. 9:09 PM
jim neal: more trivia...Durham is home of Pam Spaulding & Pam's HBlend. Her familystarted country's largest black-owned life insurance company NorthCarolina Mutu 9:14 PM
jim neal: alLife. Durham once known as "the black Wall Street." Carrboro home toindy label Merge Records, Blogads, Adam & Eve and co. hosting PerezHilton site. 9:14 PM
Me: You done yet? I'm publishing as is up to the trivia 9:16 PM
jim neal: variousresponses: Gay staffer on the Hill: "wow! thanks for passing this on:-) congrats to all who are working on this. we live in amazing/inspiri 9:25 PM
jim neal: ng times"One of my straight AA peeps from Queens: "That's very cool! Now all you need is the state to recognize gay marriages. "Major Dem straight bu 9:25 pm
jim neal: ndler from CA: "Yippee!"Congressman from NY: "now look what you've started Neal. Send to Schumer? Way to go NC- raise the bar."Front-page HuffPo blog 9:25 pm
jim neal: ger: "WTF- where in carolina is durham"NYT reporter: "can we talk in the am?" 9:25 pm
jim neal: Just sent last......hodge podge of responses 9:26 pm
jim neal: NYC straight heiress, philanthropist and socialite:"Yea!" 9:30 PM
Posted 1:22 AM EST by Michael Goff in Gay Marriage, Jim Neal, News | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Regardless of anything, Durham is still the crime-ridden craphole of North Carolina (which is quite a feat in a state so awful it gave us Jesse Helms, Mike Nifong, Victoria Petrerson, and John Edwards).
Posted by: JT | Aug 18, 2009 3:56:12 AM
Durham is one of the three "corners" of the Research Triangle area in NC. The other 2 are Raleigh and Chapel Hill. Durham is home to Duke University, NC Pride and the NC Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
JT: You really need to lighten up about the city of Durham and the state of NC. Just be happy about the progress.
Posted by: NMA | Aug 18, 2009 9:54:54 AM
@JT.
more on NC as "an awful state." In addition to those you enumerated, we've also given you-- well, a quick list: David and Amy Sedaris, Rachel Wood, three US presidents & Dolley Madison, the first black US Senator and the second openly-gay person to run for the US Senate, Gov. Terry Sanford (ranked by Harvard U. as one of the Top Ten Governors of the 20th Century), Jesse Helms' granddaughter Katie Stuart (Alliance for AIDS Services), Charlie Rose, Edward R. Murrow, Thelonious Monk, James Taylor, Cecile B. DeMille, Tori Amos, O. Henry and Thomas Wolfe, Tupac Shakur, Ava Gardner, Michael Jordan and Sugar Ray Leonard, John Hope Franklin, Mary-Louise Parker and Maya Angelou. Just a few.
That "crime-ridden craphole of North Carolina" as you refer to Durham. It's also the home to the American Dance Festival, the largest and most prestigious dance festival in the world; the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the premier documentary film festival in the US (presented in assn. with the NY Times), and the NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the largest LGBT film festival in the southeast. Durham was chosen by Entrepreneur Magazine as the #1 city in the US for small business. And, lastly, Durham has a medical center which Sen. Ted Kennedy chose over all others world-wide for his emergency brain surgery.
If that's a craphole city- please introduce the honey pot ;)
Posted by: jim neal | Aug 18, 2009 10:09:52 AM
This is great news!
JT, try to spare us your bitterness.
Posted by: KFLO | Aug 18, 2009 10:42:13 AM
Durham is a great place and shouldn't be subjected to such petty spite, JT. Grow up.
Posted by: Gabe R L | Aug 18, 2009 11:21:20 AM
An impressive list but you cheapened it tremendously by including a talentless dullard like Charlie Rose.
Posted by: Anonymous | Aug 18, 2009 11:58:45 AM
Durham is by far the best place to live in the south. I can't believe that Jim Neal characterized it as the "Oakland" of NC. That is so off base. No wonder he didn't win the primary! And while we may be drug and crime riddled we also are highly educated and diverse and we all work hard to get along with each other. Durham is a great place and the fact that Durham's City Council did unanimously support this resolution is simply one more example of what makes Durham special.
Posted by: Rebecca | Aug 18, 2009 2:29:30 PM
@REBECCA
Chill please~
My family’s from Durham. Read my comment in response to JT above in which I laud Durham. I didn't characterize Durham as the Oakland of NC; I was making a comparison between Carrboro/Chapel Hill/ Durham in the Triangle area of NC to Berkeley/SFO/Oakland in the Bay area of CA. I referred to Durham as a 'vibrant community.'
You're preaching to the choir. My campaign HQ was in Durham (a decision I made against the wishes of all others objecting b/c it was a longer commute from Chapel Hill where I live.) I'm a unabashed booster of the city. So please lower you muzzle-- we're on the same side ;)
@ANONYMOUS
Re. Charlie Rose, well, like Richard Nixon and Ron Paul……he's a Duke graduate?
Posted by: jim neal | Aug 18, 2009 6:41:32 PM