Meck commissioners pass Pride proclamation after past squabble over procedural issues
Mecklenburg County commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday recognizing Charlotte Pride and Charlotte Black Pride, weeks after a spat among commissioners derailed a previous resolution.
Some county commissioners attempted to pass a resolution recognizing Pride in June, but it was blocked over a dispute over procedural issues. Members of Charlotte’s LGBTQ+ community expressed frustration at the time, saying they were “tired of being politicized.”
Proclamations typically pass unanimously and without debate, recognizing causes, awareness of illnesses or social issues and holidays. Commissioners have passed Pride Month proclamations in previous years.
On Wednesday, LGBTQ+ leaders expressed gratitude they finally got their resolution this year.
“Honestly, June was a tough month … Wrongs were righted today,” said Liz Schob, communications manager for Charlotte Pride.
Pride Month is observed nationwide in June, but Charlotte Pride is in August. Charlotte Black Pride was in late July this year.
Tension over Pride proclamation at past county meeting
At the June county commission meeting, commissioners were in agreement about publicly supporting Mecklenburg’s LGBTQ+ community. But a squabble over rules derailed the typical proclamation.
Commissioner Pat Cotham tried to get it on the June agenda but was denied. Board Chairman George Dunlap said everyone on the board supports the LGBTQ+ community, but that Cotham failed to follow a rule that requires agenda items to be filed with the County Clerk’s Office at least 11 days before a meeting.
“Their failure to know and follow the rules does not fall on me,” Dunlap said previously.
Cotham tried to get the proclamation added to the agenda at the June meeting, but adding an item to a meeting agenda at the meeting requires a unanimous vote. Dunlap and Commissioner Elaine Powell voted against Cotham’s motion.
“He’s just trying to follow the process,” Powell said of Dunlap at the time.
Cotham in June rejected the notion she was late in trying to get the proclamation added to that meeting’s agenda. She said for the decade-plus she’s been on the board, commissioners have been allowed to file items with the clerk as late as the Friday before a meeting.
“We have more than 100,000 residents in our county who are LGBTQ. They need to know that we have their backs and we honor them,” she said.
LGBTQ+ advocates: Support, recognition matter
Commissioner Leigh Altman, who introduced the new resolution, said at Wednesday’s meeting there was a “stampede” of support among the board when the proclamation came back up for the August meeting.
“We had so many people who immediately rushed because we do stand so strongly with you,” she told the LGBTQ+ community leaders gathered to accept the proclamation.
Rayvon Moore, chaplain for Charlotte Black Pride, attended the meeting and said it was an emotional experience to be recognized alongside his community for their “full authentic” selves.
“Never in my life would I think I would be standing here in this room, looking at all these wonderful faces and (seeing) someone taking a moment in time to recognize, just to let us know that we are seen,” he said.
