Personal reconciliation turns to action for two young leaders in Charlotte, N.C.

Paul Willoughby, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC), remembers well the hardships cast upon him and his family when his twin brother came out of the closet.

"That was the worst time in my life, for real," Willoughby says of the summer between his junior and senior years in high school.

Unbeknownst to all but him, he, too, was gay -- a revelation he dared not disclose in the face of his parents' conservative, religious leanings and their treatment of his brother.

"My parents said a lot of mean things, calling [my brother] names they shouldn't be calling him," Willoughby recalls. "It was hard to see how my parents reacted to him coming out -- they even tried to send him to therapy to try to change him. Here I am -- I'm gay, too -- and I didn't know what to do. I was terrified that they would find out."

Now 21 years old, Willoughby is a member of the UNCC men's soccer team. Just last fall, he came out to friends on campus and to friends on his sports team.

Read the rest of this article after the jump...

Charlotte-based National Gay Rights Advocate Speaks Out After Horrific Rock Hill Attack

ROCK HILL -- The brutal beating of a gay man has prompted local representatives to re-introduce a hate crime bill when the state Legislature reconvenes next week, but those intentions are being met with resistance.

The measure, led by SC state Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, was prompted by the beating of Joshua Esskew at a convience store, which was caught on the store's video tape.

King's hate crime bill, which went nowhere in the General Assembly when first introduced last year, is expected again to be met with opposition. A spokesman for Gov. Nikki Haley told a reporter from the Rock Hill Herald that the newly elected governor does not support state hate crime laws.

Shane Windmeyer,
Campus Pride Executive Director
"Individuals who believe that a crime is a crime is a crime do not understand the definition of a hate crime or the unique impact a hate crime has on an entire targeted community," says Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride, a national, Charlotte-based nonprofit for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.

Civil rights leader and highly-acclaimed furniture designer Mitchell Gold
to speak about his book CRISIS and the toll based bigotry

Charlotte, NC, Tuesday, Jan 19, 2010 – The national, Charlotte-based Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) and local Time Out Youth (www.Time Out Youth.org) have partnered for a joint fundraising event on Thursday, Feb 25 to bring attention to lesbian,gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally youth in the Charlotte area.The fundraiser will take place at 6 p.m. at Myers Park Baptist Church(1900 Queens Road) and then continue at 8 p.m. at Petra’s Piano Bar(1919 Commonwealth Avenue). No tickets are necessary; however, donations are encouraged.

Titled “Believe In Youth,” the one night only event will feature civil rights leader and author Mitchell Gold and his book "CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay In America." A resident of Hickory, NC, Gold is a nationally recognized leader in the furniture industry as well as the founder of Faith In America, a national nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of the harm caused to LGBT Americans by religion-based bigotry and prejudice.

Gold has been honored nationally for his work and most recently in 2009 received a "Visionary Award" from the Stonewall Foundation in New York for his work with Faith in America and for publishing his recent book CRISIS. The book has been hailed as an important tool for understanding the immense harm to LGBT people when prejudice, discrimination and violence toward them is given moral and religious approval.

LOCAL NEWS -- CHARLOTTE, NC

Campus Pride & Time Out Youth Condemn Remarks by Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James as “intolerant and harmful to area LGBTQ youth”

Both organizations call for an immediate reprimand of Commissioner James

Charlotte, NC, Thursday, December 17, 2009 – Campus Pride and Time Out Youth today condemned remarks made by Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James at the Tuesday night county commissioner meeting where domestic partner benefits for same sex couples were considered and then passed by the majority of commissioners. Both Campus Pride and Time Out Youth call for an immediate reprimand of Commissioner James to send a clear message that incivility and disrespect will not be allowed in public county commission meetings.

During the meeting, Commissioner James interrupted Commissioner Vilma Leake and leaned over to her saying, “Your son was a homo, really?” The comment was made after Leake shared an impassioned speech about her son being gay and passing away of HIV/AIDS. Commissioner James has repeatedly used slurs like “trannies and homo” and likened bisexuals to a “Three’s Company of the sordid and icky kind” to demean LGBT people.