NC town’s Pride month proclamation leaves out LGBTQ+ people. Was it deliberate?
For the first time, Holly Springs has recognized Pride Month with a proclamation.
But the omission of references to the LGBTQ+ community that the month celebrates has angered some residents who sought the town’s recognition.
The Pride of Holly Springs proclamation, which Mayor Sean Mayefskie signed Tuesday night, says “all people, regardless of age, gender identity, race, color, religion, or disability, have the right to be treated on the basis of their value as human beings.”
There is no specific mention of sexual orientation or of gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or other people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Mayefskie rejected a Pride Month proclamation last June, and Holly Springs is also one of the few Wake County towns that has not adopted a non-discrimination ordinance that furthered protections for LGBTQ+ people and other minorities.
The mayor told ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner, that the omission of sexual orientation in the proclamation was not intentional. Mayefskie wrote the document after meeting with Thomas Rushing, a resident of 20 years who was outspoken about the mayor’s rejection of Pride recognition last year.
“If you’re a part of Holly Springs, we’re proud of you. That’s where the pride came from and that’s what it was geared toward,” Mayefskie told ABC11.
Jack Turnwald, a resident of Holly Springs who uses they/them pronouns, said they approached the mayor after Tuesday night’s meeting to ask about the wording. Councilman Aaron Wolff and Rushing also asked the mayor about the document’s wording, Turnwald said.
Turnwald said they find Mayefskie’s statement to ABC11 “troubling.”
“He indicated to none of the people who approached him that this was any sort of error,” Turnwald said. “He seems very clear that this is what he intended.”
Turnwald said they believe the proclamation was drafted with “every effort not to include the queer community in any obvious way.”
“Words matter to me, and I know how the value of rhetoric impacts people,” Turnwald said. “It feels to me a lot like the mayor was trying to placate to two groups. When you go that route, you actually demonstrate a master class in how to piss everybody off.”
The News & Observer contacted Mayefskie for comment Thursday morning, but he has not yet responded.
Differences in opinion and a peaceful protest
Rushing told The N&O that he was not completely happy with the proclamation when he saw the final draft after meeting with Mayefskie. An initial draft did not include gender identity, and Rushing asked the mayor to add it.
Sexual orientation was also included in the first draft of the proclamation, Rushing recalled. He thinks Mayefskie mistakenly removed sexual orientation to add gender identity to the text.
“I do think it was an honest mistake with (the mayor) switching out gender identity with sexual orientation,” Rushing said. “I know sexual orientation was in there. I just wouldn’t have OK’d that if not.”
After the document was published, Rushing asked the mayor if changes could be made but was told no without an explanation why not.
Still, Rushing said he was glad Mayefskie took the step to declare Pride after last year and worries the mayor will get “a lot of flack that is not completely deserved.”
Michael Yates, the chair and founder of the newly formed Pride of Cary, said removing the mention of LGBTQ+ people from the document cuts “at the heart and soul of what Pride is.”
“I call it the ‘unproud’ proclamation,” Yates said. “Pride has grown over the years, and I will stand firm that it will never be exclusionary.”
Pride Month is celebrated each June to recognize the LGBTQ community and honor the Stonewall Uprising in New York City in 1969 after police raided a gay club. The uprisings galvanized the Gay Rights Movement.
Yates said the Holly Springs proclamation needs to be amended or changed.
Pride of Cary and LGBTQ+ rights advocates plan to meet outside of the Holly Springs Town Council meeting Tuesday, June 13, for a peaceful protest calling for changes.
This story was originally published June 8, 2023 at 1:45 PM.