Exploring the LGBT community in Charleston, The Charleston City Paper examined the importance of select people, places, and events to the local LGBT community.

I found these three of their eight articles the most interesting:

Jenny Badman, the marketing and PR manager of Patrick Properties, promoted the reopening of Fish, one of the Patrick Properties, and recommended that the group donate to the AFFA. She explained that because the gay community supports Charleston's food and beverage industry so fervently, they should be recognized with a donation to their non-profit.

South Carolina native, Kate Higgins works with Soul Force, an organization spreading political and religious awareness and acceptance of LGBT people in America by traveling to schools spreading notions of equality.

A former student of The Citadel, Cadet Koob, shares his story with the city paper, reflecting on his days as a closeted student at this conservative military university. He exposes his tales as a confused youth juxtaposed by his current sense of homosexual integrity. He is now a member of the Citadel Gay and Lesbian Alliance network, where he feels he can help insure that no cadet will ever feel the suffering he did as a student.

And there's certainly room for debate about the (intentional or not) impact of tossing out politician's names in an issue titled "The 2008 Gay Issue" three weeks before one of the most critical elections in recent memory. That's a point that the City Paper has already seen direct results from.

At any rate, go read it all for yourself.