LGBTQ residents protest Horry County Council’s decision to nix Pride Month resolution
A quiet stroke of Horry County’s pen has now earned county leaders a forceful rebuke from residents.
Scores of residents descended Tuesday on the Horry County Government and Justice Center to protest the council’s decision earlier this month to rescind a resolution recognizing June as Pride Month.
The council in May had approved a resolution recognizing Pride Month but then reversed the decision earlier this month.
Holding signs and waving rainbow-striped flags, nearly 150 people protested outside county offices in Conway before lining up to address the council during its public comment period during the council meeting.
The message from the LGBTQ residents and allies was clear: We live here, we pay taxes and we deserve to be recognized.
“We are part of the community,” said Dan Baines, one of the protesters. “We just wanted to be recognized like everyone else.”
Protester Veronica Walters said the council’s actions “shows we still have work to do to be fully accepted.”
“The true majority of people across the country and down here in Horry County accept gay, lesbian and trans people.”
Council members took no action on Tuesday, though that was permitted. County rules allow measures like non-binding resolutions to come up again on the agenda at any point throughout the year, without any time restrictions on re-addressing issues.
Council Chairman Johnny Gardner told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting that he wasn’t sure whether the Pride Month resolution would come up again. He noted that he would need to win re-election at next week’s run-off to be able to consider recognizing next June as Pride Month.
He said the council had made its decision and he couldn’t change that.
How controversy began
The conflict began in March when Grand Strand Pride submitted a resolution to the council to recognize June as Pride Month, a symbolic gesture that governments around the country make to recognize LGBTQ people. The City of Myrtle Beach, for example, adopted a similar resolution earlier this year.
The council approved the resolution May 17 without discussion or comments. The resolution was included on the council’s consent agenda, a procedural tool that allows the council to pass multiple pieces of non-controversial legislation with a single vote.
But some council members, including Johnny Vaught, later said that they hadn’t read the consent agenda fully and didn’t realize they had designated June as Pride Month with their vote. Gardner declined Tuesday to address the council members’ explanation.
Pastors and other residents began calling council members, demanding to know why they had supported the resolution. Clergy like Rev. Mack Hutson, of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Conway, were among those who called and demanded the council rescind the declaration.
The council acted quickly in response, and at their June 7 meeting, asked for a reconsideration of “resolution R-51-2022” and unanimously rescinded the Pride Month declaration.
Hutson on Tuesday, after protesters addressed the council during the public comment period, thanked the council for their vote.
“I want to commend you for having the fortitude in rescinding the gay Pride Month of June,” he said in brief remarks.
Worries about the message being sent
But the protesters said while the resolution is not legally binding, the council’s decision sent a message that LGBTQ people are not welcome in Horry County.
For the Lefevre family, the council’s move sent a “chilling” message about their new home. Joyce and Dennis Lefevre said they attended the protest on Tuesday to support their son, a Coastal Carolina University professor, and his husband. The Lefevres moved to Conway from Massachusetts just weeks ago, and said they’ve already encountered antisemitic fliers and the council’s decision on Pride Month.
“It’s really at odds with the people we have met who have been warm, welcoming and caring,” Dennis Lefevre said. “And then this is the official view of the area and I’m not so sure it is.”
Alex Lefevre, the CCU professor, said he serves on a committee to make the college welcoming to LGBTQ students and was appalled by the county’s decision.
“It’s a statement that we are not welcome here, it’s a statement that they do not want LGBTQ people in Horry County,” he said. “It’s an easy thing for them to ratify, it’s an easy thing for them to do and they chose to take the extra step to go against it.”
Other protesters on Tuesday said the council could have given them a chance to weigh in before rescinding the resolution.
“They kind of secretly, sneakily took it away and I feel like we didn’t have a chance to get a say,” protester Daniel Walton said. “That kind of hinders our rights, and I honestly feel like they should’ve let us have a say first before they go in and decide.”
Council member Danny Hardee, who led the effort to rescind the Pride Month resolution, defended the move on Tuesday after hearing from some of the protesters. He said he doesn’t have anything against LGBTQ people but said the county shouldn’t be in a position of declaring holidays.
“We don’t need to be in the business of creating holidays, that’s just not our purview to do things like that,” Hardee added. “If I don’t believe it why would I vote for it?”
Still, he said, he understands the protesters’ point of view.
“I can see their side that they felt like it was a slap in the face. You approve it and then disapprove it,” Hardee said. “But it happened. And I wish it hadn’t but I’m not for it and I’m not going to vote for it.”
Some protesters said the council’s move will influence how they vote and how they spend their money in Horry County.
“We vote and we pay taxes and I think our voices need to be heard as well,” Clyo Wilson said. “We’re here, too, we’re constituents, too. We’re a demographic that has a lot of disposable income so if you want to break it down to brass tacks, the bottom line, we have a lot of money to spend.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 9:33 PM.
