East Carolinian

Issue date: 6/17/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Carlton Purvis

Blockbuster Video's community favorites section is two long rows of movies that cater to Greenville's growing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Movies like "The Big Gay Comedy Sketch Show" and "Milk," the true story about one of the first openly gay politicians.

Moving through the titles, it is obvious that Blockbuster takes appeal to their local niches very seriously. This, along with online petitions, Greenville's popular gay nightclub and one ECU alumni's plans for a LGBT youth center are subtle indicators of a growing awareness -- and a growing movement among Greenville's LGBT community and their supporters.

Greenville's gay community is using formulas reminiscent of the civil rights movement of the '50s and '60s. The twenty-something crowd is the catalyst and there's no shortage of public demonstrations.

Blockbuster's community favorites section ranges from action and adventure to documentaries about growing up gay. Their interest in Greenville's gay community shows that Blockbuster is prepared for what Greenville may not be.

In 2000, the National Opinion Research Center published data that estimated 5.9 percent of the U.S. population was homosexual. The study didn't include people who identified themselves as transgender or bisexual. These statistics, if applied to the ECU student body, would mean there could be possibly 1620 students that identified themselves as LGBT -- possibly more. The percentage for college-age students was slightly higher at 6.1 percent.

Recent ECU graduate, Kevin Boyette has a dream. A dream that he used as his motivation while earning his degree in public relations.

He plans to open a teen center in Greenville. His motivation behind the idea: the total isolation he felt growing up as a gay teen.

"As a person who grew up without anyone that was LGBT to talk to, I felt alone but strived forward with my life to figure out who I was as an individual," he said in an online statement about the project. "We want to give visibility to the history, culture and diversity of the LGBT community."

He also wants to have a section of the center devoted to the gay rights movement. "A library of gay books … stuff about the gay movement," he said.

Recently Boyette was the face of this visibility campaign. He led the March of Silence on April 17, from the top of College Hill to the campus mall. The demonstration was in recognition of gays that remain silent for fear of discrimination or violence.

Continued...

Page 1 of 4 next >

Article Tools