County of Durham issued the following announcement on Oct. 15.
The Durham Board of County Commissioners has issued a unity statement in response to controversial remarks made about the LBGTQ community by North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson over the weekend. During the October 11th Regular Session, Vice Chair Wendy Jacobs read the statement on behalf of the Board condemning the state leader’s comments and rebuking hate and discrimination of any kind.
“As citizens in this community, we do not condone any isms,” Chair Howerton remarked before Vice Chair Jacobs read the statement.
“The Durham County Board of Commissioners stand together in solidarity to condemn the hate speech of Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson. Words matter. There is no place for acceptance of hate speech from anyone, especially our local, state, or national elected leaders.
As we have witnessed in recent painful, horrific, and deadly national events and throughout the history of our country-racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, white supremacist and discriminatory language of any kind- has real consequences and impacts the lives of people in our community and country. We, the Durham County Board of Commissioners, strongly state our abhorrence for hate speech of any kind and our commitment to tolerance, inclusion and upholding the human rights of our LGBTQ+ community and all people. We support the efforts of our staff to finalize a draft Non-discrimination Ordinance and look forward to this being brought forward and adopted by our board as soon as possible.
To our friends and neighbors who have been hurt by this vicious language, the Commissioners of Durham County see you, accept you and love you.”
Following the reading of the solidarity statement, Chair Howerton reiterated that Durham County honors all people. The statement can be heard on demand on the County’s Youtube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZYTp5xz2Pk&t=2840s.
A Non-Discrimination Ordinance for Durham County is on the table is planned for discussion on next BOCC Work Session scheduled on November 1st.
Original source can be found here.
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