For the past few weeks I’ve been on an activism-through-journalism swing over at my day job. In a two-part, pre- and post-election opinion column, I ranted and raved over the lack of LGBT equality and recognition in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city.
In the column prior to Election Day, I wrote:
I’ve lived in North Carolina my entire life and I’ve visited all of its largest cities. I’d been to Chapel Hill numerous times, but the IGLTA Fam Tour was the first time I’d experienced the town as an adult and outside of the university bubble. While there, I felt completely comfortable, warmly embraced and unconditionally welcomed and accepted. In Charlotte, I work for a gay-owned company and most of my time is spent traveling in LGBT political or social circles. Yet, the warm feeling I had in Chapel Hill is found rarely in the Queen City. Even in my primarily LGBT-involved life, a sense of coldness, rejection and conservative, anti-gay moralism invades my time in Charlotte.
The facts, unfortunately, support my experiences.
Elected officials in other cities across the state uniformly welcome and embrace their LGBT communities. Other cities offer domestic partner benefits. All major cities in North Carolina, excluding Charlotte, include at least sexual orientation in their employment non-discrimination policies and some include gender-identity.
The truth of the matter is that, while Charlotte leads the state in population and business, we’re dead last when it comes to diversity, inclusion and LGBT recognition.
Where in the hell have I been?
