POLITICS

Open Letter to Mayor: Drag Queens Barred From Reading to Kids at NC Pride

An open letter to the Mayor of Apex, NC and the Apex Festival Commission, and the confusing response I received

Instead of celebrating Pride, or spending all of my time trying to flee to a more progressive location for LGBTQ+ people in the United States, I just wrote an open letter protesting local leadership’s concessions to bigotry in barring drag queens from reading to children at an LGBTQ Pride festival. I sent one copy to Mayor Jacques Gilbert ([email protected], 919-522–9823) of Apex, a small town in North Carolina. He requested any such letters go to the Apex Festival Commission (AFC), so I sent another copy to them at [email protected].

I think both the mayor and AFC need to receive this feedback, so I hope you will consider sending them your thoughts. They should hear from outside of their small bubble of gender-policing bigots to see what the larger LGBTQ+ community and allies think of these behaviors. This is happening in several other places around the United States, so you can also reach out to other politicians attacking drag queens in this way.

They should hear from outside of their small bubble of gender policing bigots to see what the larger LGBTQ+ community and allies think of these behaviors.

For some context, Mayor Jacques Gilbert posted the following message on his Facebook page on June 4:

“It continues to be my goal to ensure that all voices in our community are represented. I have received a variety of feedback regarding the Drag Queen Story Hour at the upcoming Apex Pride Festival. Given that this part of the event was not originally presented when the event was proposed, I met with representatives from the organization hosting the event, the Apex Festival Commission, and presented the feedback I have received from citizens. Today I was notified that that the Apex Festival Commission has taken the feedback into careful consideration and has decided to remove the Drag Queen Story Hour from the event. Any further questions or concerns regarding the Pride Festival activities can be forwarded to [email protected].”

I sent a slight variation of the letter below in an email to each of them, changing only the name, a few pronouns, and grammatical details in each letter:

Dear Mayor Jacques Gilbert and Apex Festival Commission,

It gave me great joy to hear that a Drag Queen Story Hour was planned for the Apex Pride Festival. As a trans man who is married to a trans woman, it warmed my heart to see this affirmation that people of all gender expressions are welcomed around children as valued humans in the town of Apex. I considered this a wonderful change from the hysterical fanaticism of those who wanted to verify birth certificates before allowing anyone in our great state to use the bathroom not so many years ago.

Then, I saw Mayor Gilbert’s statement on Facebook. I felt betrayed as a member of the LGBTQ+ community to learn that he supported the Apex Festival Commission’s decision to cave to the whims of prejudiced people who want to police gender expressions in the presence of all children. He called it his “goal to ensure that all voices in our community are represented,” yet allowed our community’s voice to be silenced without the slightest indication of disapproval in that statement. When one considers the voices of bigots to be of equal value to the voices of people who see all in our community as humans, they are not ensuring that all voices in our community are represented; they are simply supporting prejudice wholeheartedly. There is no difference between being a bigot and being one who supports bigotry by allowing it.

I am disappointed to see that you both refused to stand with the LGBTQ+ community by clearly supporting the Drag Queen Story Hour and unequivocally condemning the threats and hate that Apex Pride and our community have received.

I hope you will consider changing your stance. There is still time to condemn hate and support the equal treatment of people of all gender expressions. There is still time to welcome Apex into a progressive future that someone like my wife and I would be proud to inhabit.

Sincerely,

Logan Silkwood*

Mayor Jacques Gilbert responded to my letter. I want his side to be adequately heard, so I am including his full letter below, with only my name redacted.

Thanks for your message. I have and will continue to support all members of our community. Apex is the place I was born and raised. Therefore, I will continue to serve with love and compassion for all. I continue to be proud to be the first mayor in the history of Apex to sign a Pride Month proclamation. Additionally, I have close family members and friends of the LGBTQIA+ community who I love dearly.

As mayor, I will continue to welcome varying feedback from everyone with respect leading the way. All voices need to be heard. Including yours. We have to continue to work together as a community to not disrespect others even when we don’t agree. I’m saddened to see the hate speech of many people from the LGBTQIA+ community and supporters. This unfortunately causes more harm in our efforts to be a unified community.

I prefer to have conversations in person. Emails often present unintended assumptions. Thanks again for presenting your feedback. As I presented in my original statement, all questions or concerns can be directed to Apex Festival Commission.

All the best to you and your wife. I hope to speak to you in person soon. There is nothing we can’t accomplish when we work together. This is Apex!

Jacques K. Gilbert Mayor

Here was my response to him.

Thank you for your response. I did also contact the Apex Festival Commission at the same time with my feedback, as you had requested. I felt that you should hear my feedback as well. I will also be publishing my letter to you publicly. In the spirit of fairness and promoting an open dialogue, I will post your response given in your official capacity as mayor publicly as well to ensure that your perspective is heard.

To clarify, are you considering my use of the word “bigot” in this context to be “hate speech”? I was not aware of any other hate speech coming from my LGBTQIA+ community in this debate, though I was aware that members of my community had received threats in response to simply hoping to promote an image of it being okay for drag queens, and people like my wife and myself who are transgender, to be around children. If I have misinterpreted your response, please feel free to provide other examples of the hate speech that my community has used against you. I’m afraid I will not have time to meet in person, so I will only be able to report on your words in writing. I would also love to hear about your efforts to protect our LGBTQIA+ community from threats in response to the idea of having a Drag Queen Story Hour.

Thanks again!

As of publication of this article, I have not heard back from the Apex Festival Commission. However, the Apex Festival Commission’s chair stated in an interview published on June 6 that he had received 2 threatening phone calls as well and that this caused him to cancel the Drag Queen Story Hour event (Advocate, “Drag Queen Story Hour Canceled in N.C. Town Due to Violent Threats”, June 7, 2022).**

*My pen name was substituted for the name provided here for the purpose of this article.

**Thank you to the editor of this piece for sending me the linked article from Advocate.

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