Digital Transgender Archive
In this second of several interviews, Janice Covington, a transgender woman and political activist in Charlotte, North Carolina, continues to discuss her personal history and reflects on transgender experiences over time in the Carolinas. She describes her married life and her conflicting identities as a husband, father, and fire chief, and as a transgender woman. Although she characterizes experiences for LGBT people in Charlotte during the 1970s and 1980s as dangerous, she also describes how she was able to find a community to identify with in the city's various gay bars and establishments. Ms. Covington describes these LGBT venues in detail, including Oleens, Scorpios, the Brass Rail, the Odyssey, Cinema Blue, Daks, the Bar at 316 (formerly Liaisons), Tags, the Woodshed, Independence News, the White Rabbit, and others. In particular she describes the drag culture of Oleens bar on South Blvd where she performed as a drag artist, and her interactions with the co-owner Oleen Love, the manager Greg Bradford, other drag queens including Casey King, Boom Boom LaTour, Tiffany Storm, and Gypsy Star, and various patrons. Ms. Covington notes that at the time of the interview the transgender community in Charlotte had only been publicly identified for about four years. She relates the history of transgender support groups in the Carolinas, describing Phoenix in Asheville, Kappa Beta in Charlotte, and Tri Gender Association in Greensboro. In contrast to these early support groups, Ms. Covington relates how she founded TransCarolina in the early 2000s to address workplace rights and to serve as a social group with a public face. She relates how many hotels were welcoming of the group, which met around the state two or three times a month.
Item Actions
- View At
- https://repository.charlotte.edu/islandora/object/uncc%3A2332
- Share
- Citation
- Cite
- Identifier
- kk91fk890
- Collection
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Audio and Video Clips and Transcripts
- Institution
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UNC Charlotte Atkins Library, Special Collections and University Archives
- Creator(s)
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Allison, Janice Covington
Wright, Christina
- Publisher
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J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections & University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Date Created
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May 14, 2016
- Dates Covered
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1940 to 2020
- Genre
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Oral Histories
- Subject(s)
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Boom Boom LaTour
Casey King
Gypsy Star
Janice Covington Allison
Kappa Beta
Oleen Love
Phoenix Transgender Support
Tiffany Storm
TransCarolina
Triad Gender Association
- Places
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North Carolina
>
Buncombe County
>
City of Asheville
>
Asheville
North Carolina > Guilford County > Morehead Township > Greensboro
North Carolina > Mecklenburg County > Charlotte
- Topic(s)
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Drag community
Drag queens
Gender identity
LGBTQ+ bars
LGBTQ+ support groups
LGBTQ+ veterans
Married people
Older transgender people
Trans women
Transgender community
Transgender parents
Transgender people
Transgender people in the workplace
Transgender political activists
Transphobia
- Resource Type
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Audio
- Language
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English
- Related URL
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https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/0p0967267
https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/70795798w
https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/h702q670t
- Rights
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Copyright undetermined
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