HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. — This June, many towns across North Carolina have issued Pride Month proclamations. For one town, just south of Raleigh, some people believe their mayor didn't go far enough. Last year, Holly Springs didn't issue a Pride Month proclamation. This year, the town did. But some say it left out one key phrase: sexual orientation.
On a personal level, Pride Month can serve as a time to reflect. It can also be a time to take action.
“I'm 43 now, and I was 39 at the time. I came out first as queer and then a year later as trans nonbinary,” said Jack Turnwald, who lives in Holly Springs.
Turnwald says it was encouraging to see the Holly Springs mayor issue the first-ever Pride proclamation on June 6, but they believe it falls short.
“The proclamation that was issued included kind of all areas of diversity except sexual orientation. So it left out the queer community, who Pride is really supposed to be about,” Turnwald said.
Turnwald says they, as well as other members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies, are frustrated that it doesn’t include any mention of sexual orientation. The proclamation lists the following: age, gender identity, race, color, religion and disability.
“Apex, Morrisville, a lot of other towns have Pride proclamations. They state very clearly in them what they're about and for the LGBTQIA community. They name things like lesbian, gay, transgender. They say the words,” Turnwald said. “We don't want to wait for next year for it to be fixed. We can do this right, and we can do it right this year. And that's the ask.”
Turnwald says they asked the mayor about the exclusion of those words and was told it was written how the mayor wanted it to be.
“It didn't feel like it was the kind of move that was actually trying to be inclusive. It felt like an action that was trying to placate a lot of different people,” Turnwald said.
Turnwald says proclamations may seem insignificant, but they believe it means more than some may realize.
“The Emancipation Proclamation was a proclamation. Documents, and how we acknowledge things in our communities, are important,” Turnwald said.
Turnwald says they’ll continue to use their voice to make others see that this issue is important too.
“It's been disheartening, but it also tells me that maybe I'm in the right place, because we have work to do here, and I can be a part of making some kind of shift,” Turnwald said.
“We’re going to continue to show up. In the original conversation I had with the mayor, a year ago, I told him that. I said, ‘I’m not going away.’ So we’re going to continue to organize. We’re going to continue to bring people to the table, and we also have an election coming up, so we’ll see what happens with that,” Turnwald said.
Spectrum News 1 reached out to Sean Mayefskie, the mayor of Holly Springs, for a comment on this and received the following statement, “This was always intended as a celebration of inclusion and a statement against discrimination. It’s a great first step. My door is always open to residents who want to have a dialogue about any issue, and I look forward to hearing feedback on this over the coming year.”
Turnwald also says another great step would be for the Town of Holly Springs to adopt a nondiscrimination ordinance, which would protect many groups of people, including veterans, people who are pregnant and natural hair styles.