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So Logsdon joined the QCQ board and helped grow the event even larger.įast forward now to June of 1994, when Charlotte was picked to host the North Carolina state pride. "It was in the parking lot of a local gay bar, and it was very good that they were supporting that and helping to get that launched, but when I went, I thought, 'Gosh, I wonder if we can take this to the next level, and have something a little more public,'" he said. QCQ continued hosting annual pride events, and more and more people kept showing up - among them Darryl Logsdon, who moved to Charlotte in 1982 and attended that year's pride.
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WFAE Darryl Logsdon, who helped organize the 1994 North Carolina State Pride, held in uptown Charlotte. "I was just on a cloud the entire weekend," Rose said, "It was like we could actually breathe there, you know?"
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There were speakers, a softball tournament, a family picnic and a "gold cabaret." Roughly 100 people attended. That was a conscious nod to the Stonewall Riots, Rose said. They formed a group called QCQ - Queen City Quordinators - and staged Charlotte's first gay pride event, to be held in June, of course. "We were tired of living in everybody's shadow," she said, "And we decided it was time for Charlotte to come into the light." They saw gay rights organizations starting to form around the country, and decided to start one here. At the time, she was living in secret with her partner Billy Rose, and the two were friends with a guy named Don King. WFAE Samis Rose, who along with her partner Billy Rose and others, helped organize Charlotte's first gay pride in 1981.īut there was a small group of locals who wanted to change that.