'Slap in the face': Drag event sparks dispute, divides North Carolina Bar Association
Some members of the North Carolina Bar Association have quit the organization in protest after it canceled a drag show event.
The June gathering was organized by the association’s own Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Committee, which was established in 2021.
Roessler
“The idea was that it was just going to be a social gathering … fun and fellowship for people who wanted to attend who are lawyers, who are friends of lawyers, and just have a good time,” Charlotte attorney Michael Roessler said.
Drag queens were included “just because that is a part of the LGBTQ community,” he added.
However, bar association President Clayton Morgan notified the Sexual Orientation committee on May 5 that he was canceling the event.
According to minutes from a May 8 meeting with committee members, Morgan said that even though the event was not meant to be controversial, it would be misconstrued by bar association members, the public and the General Assembly.
Morgan noted backlash from the event could affect legislative changes sought by the bar association in areas such as family law.
“The ramifications of jumping into a political space will affect those practice areas as well as our clients,” the minutes quote Morgan as saying.
But Roessler said the cancellation amounts to something else: a betrayal.
“Just two years ago, the bar association made a public commitment to stand for … full equality for LGBTQ people and they also promised to stand against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression,” Roessler said. “And this decision is an abandonment of that commitment.”
Roessler, who has since quit the North Carolina Bar Association, accused Morgan of being fearful of the General Assembly. “We have a homophobic, anti-queer Republican supermajority, and you are afraid of it,” he said, according to the minutes of the meeting.
In a telephone interview, Roessler said planning for the event occurred late last year, before Mecklenburg County Rep. Tricia Cotham switched parties to Republican, giving the GOP a supermajority in the legislature. That means Republicans now have enough votes to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Through a spokesman, Morgan declined to speak to the News & Record. In a written statement, the association said “the NCBA does not endorse political candidates, routinely assume positions in politically-charged debates or present programs and events through which divisive political statements may be expressed or implied.”
The bar association’s leadership determined that the drag event would “most likely be interpreted as a political statement on behalf of the NCBA,” the statement said.
It went on to praise the Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Committee’s contributions to “making it a better and stronger organization.”
But Roessler noted that the bar association has previously waded into a politically-charged issue, citing its release of a 2020 report on the relationships between the organization and systemic racism.
“They went out of their way to say, ‘Hey, we acknowledge systemic racism exists,’” Roessler said. “And that’s certainly an issue that would count as a political issue.”
Saldana
Candelario Saldana, who helped formed the Pauli Murray LGBTQ+ Bar Association in 2020, said his organization has raised enough money to host an alternate drag trivia event in Durham on June 8. Saldana, who’s also a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, said cancellation of the initial event was “a slap in the face.”
“If you can’t even stand with us for a drag event, then what’s your stance on all the other issues?” he asked. “What’s your stance on the transphobia and homophobia that’s currently sweeping the country?”
Saldana said his bar association, which initially had 75 members, has gained 38 more new members since the May 8 meeting between the Sexual Orientation committee and Morgan.
Meanwhile, the Sexual Orientation committee has issued a lengthy resolution that seeks, among other things, a retraction of the decision canceling the event and acknowledgment that House Bill 673 is inherently discriminatory against the LGBTQ+ community. HB 673 would ban drag shows from being performed on public property or in the presence of minors.
It also seeks education for bar association leadership on the importance of drag to the LGBTQ+ community and the history of drag bans.
Saldana said he’s heartened by the support he’s seen.
“This isn’t just LGBTQ attorneys that are helping out,” he said. “I have allies that have called me and asked how they can support us, what they can do. They’re listening.”
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