"So the Indigo Girls called on Friday..."

Welcome to Equality NC's new blog. Read a bit about our hanging out with the Indigo Girls this weekend.

Hi, this is Shawn, and I'd like to welcome you to Equality NC's brand-new blog.

I like to call it ENCspot, i.e., 'inkspot,' but mainly I hope other folks will call it interesting, informative, and entertaining, or at least distracting. We'll be posting at least twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, to let folks know about things that we're working on, thinking about, discussing, or simply find noteworthy.

Our website’s front page will still be your source for key news from Equality NC. The blog is our way of bringing you behind the scenes of our work. You’ll be hearing from me and the rest of our staff plus occasional special guests.

When I mentioned I was writing the first inaugural blog for my work to a friend of mine, he jokingly asked what kind of augury I planned to use. (He hoped for haruspicy, which is divining the future by reading animal entrails – he voted specifically for sheep.)

While I cannot absolutely predict the future of Equality NC, I can tell you something about how we're doing right at this moment by a single thing that happened last week.

Late on Friday afternoon, I got a call from the Indigo Girls. Yes, those Indigo Girls: Amy and Emily, long-time lesbian icons of the folk scene and gay rights and eco/animal activists, singers of hits like “Closer to Fine” and more recently, “Dear Mr. President” (with Pink).

All right, actually it was their agent calling for them, but the basic idea is the same. ENC was specifically invited to set up at their concert in Charlotte this past Sunday. Their agent said they were familiar with the great work Equality NC has done and its involvement at the national level with the Equality Federation. She said we'd be a good group and source of local information to have at their concert.

Consider that. The Indigo Girls, folk rock superstars for almost two decades, called us directly to participate in their event when they came into the state. We weren't just one of a bunch of groups that received a mass-mailed invitation to sign up – Equality NC, because of its work and reputation, at both the state and country level, was requested and contacted individually.

And thanks to our brand-new community organizer, Rebecca (our token straight employee – look, we embrace diversity!), we were there. More significantly, we were the only ones there besides the singers. It was the Indigo Girls, Missy Higgins (their opening act), and us. We weren’t on the stage, but we were the only other table there, right beside their agent and merchandise.

They also asked about the issues we were working on so they could plug them from on-stage. The Indigo Girls have been long-time gay rights activists, and it was thrilling that they came to us not just as a resource but in fact, as the resource in North Carolina.

Judging by that, I’d have to say we’re doing pretty well right now.

Your comments and suggestions for our blog are always welcome. We don't have comments currently enabled directly (due to the administrative burden of reviewing and moderating them and protecting our website content), but please do send them. You can e-mail enc@equalitync.org.

-T. Shawn Long