Carrboro’s LGBTQ municipal firsts

In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 21 dated events in the chronology →

1. June 1986 Carrboro Mayor Jim Porto makes a statement against discrimination toward gay men and lesbians In the same pride week, gay and lesbian rights were on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen's agenda for the first time, and the mayor made what a speaker at the Durham march called a strong statement on their behalf. Place: Carrboro · Also named: Jim PortoLambda (Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association, UNC), October 1986, p. 1
2. November 13, 1990 Carrboro aldermen vote 6-1 to bar sexual-orientation discrimination in the town's transit agreement The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 6-1 to add a clause against discrimination by sexual orientation to the federal transit-funds agreement with Chapel Hill and Durham, which already had such rules. Alderman Jacquelyn Gist pressed for the clause and for adding it to the town's own employment policy. People: Jacquelyn Gist Place: Carrboro Town Hall, CarrboroThe Daily Tar Heel, November 20, 1990, p. 2
3. December 18, 1990 Carrboro adds sexual orientation to its equal employment opportunity policy The Board of Aldermen unanimously amended the town's personnel ordinance to add sexual orientation to the characteristics protected in its merit principle and equal employment opportunity policy. On November 13, 1990 the Board had written a sexual orientation nondiscrimination clause into a planning grant agreement with the City of Durham and asked for the code amendment to be scheduled. People: Jacquelyn Gist Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Board of Aldermen minutes, December 18, 1990
4. 1993 Carrboro lets town employees take sick and bereavement leave for domestic partners Carrboro adopted a rule letting town employees take sick leave and bereavement leave for an unmarried partner, which the Daily Tar Heel reported in 1994 made it the first local government in North Carolina to do so. Supporters cited it as the groundwork for the domestic partners registry adopted in September 1994. Place: Town Hall, CarrboroThe Daily Tar Heel, September 14, 1994, p. 1
5. November 2, 1993 Mike Nelson is elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen Nelson won a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in the election of November 2, 1993, finishing second of six candidates with 1,231 votes, and was sworn in on December 7; the Daily Tar Heel called him the only openly gay elected official in North Carolina. As an alderman he championed the domestic partners ordinance the town adopted in 1994. People: Mike Nelson Place: CarrboroSearch the index · UNC Wilson Special Collections Library: Michael R. Nelson Papers, circa 1890-2012 (#70140) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, November 3, 1993, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, December 9, 1993, p. 3
6. December 7, 1993 Hank Anderson and Mike Nelson take seats on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen Hank Anderson and Mike Nelson were sworn in as Carrboro aldermen on December 7, joining re-elected alderman Jacquelyn Gist and replacing Tom Gurganus, whose term had ended, and Hilliard Caldwell, who had lost the mayor's race to Eleanor Kinnaird. The Daily Tar Heel described Nelson as the only openly gay elected official in North Carolina; Anderson, a vice president of the local NAACP, said he wanted to organize the community against crime. People: Hank Anderson, Mike Nelson, Jacquelyn Gist, Hilliard Caldwell, Ellie Kinnaird Place: Town Hall, Carrboro · Also named: Tom GurganusThe Daily Tar Heel, December 9, 1993, p. 3
7. September 6, 1994 About 80 residents debate Carrboro's proposed domestic partners ordinance At the aldermen's public hearing in Carrboro Town Hall, 14 residents spoke for the ordinance to register unmarried couples and extend town benefits to them and eight spoke against it, many of the opponents from Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, whose pastor the Rev. Gary Webb argued that it conflicted with state law. Doug Ferguson of the Orange Lesbian and Gay Association said it would strengthen families. People: Mike Nelson Place: Town Hall, Carrboro · Also named: Gary Webb, Doug FergusonThe Daily Tar Heel, September 7, 1994, p. 1
8. September 13, 1994 Carrboro Board of Aldermen adopts a domestic partnership registry The Board voted unanimously to amend the Town Code so that statements of domestic partnership could be filed with the Town Clerk, set the effective date at October 11, 1994, added a $40 registration fee, and extended the financial disclosure required of elected officials to cover their domestic partners. The Board took no action on a third proposal to extend health insurance benefits to domestic partners of town employees. People: Mike Nelson, Jacquelyn Gist, Ellie Kinnaird Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Board of Aldermen minutes, September 13, 1994 · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, September 15, 1994, p. 3; The Daily Tar Heel, September 28, 1994, p. 1
9. October 11, 1994 Carrboro registers its first domestic partners On Oct. 11, the first day of registration under the domestic partnership ordinance proposed by Alderman Mike Nelson, three couples signed the register before Town Clerk Sarah Williamson at Carrboro Town Hall: a heterosexual couple, a lesbian couple and a gay male couple. The Daily Tar Heel called it the state's first domestic partnership registration, and one couple called themselves the South's first registered domestic partners; a week later they were still the only couples registered, and an Apex lawyer had asked for copies of every application. People: Mike Nelson, Ellie Kinnaird Place: Town Hall, Carrboro · Also named: Sarah WilliamsonThe Daily Tar Heel, October 12, 1994, p. 1
10. June 6, 1995 Carrboro votes to pay for domestic partner coverage in its employee health plan Setting town employee health insurance for fiscal 1995-96, the Board of Aldermen voted that the town would bear any expense of adding coverage for domestic partners to its Kaiser plan, after asking staff on May 23 to find out why the insurer Healthsource did not offer such coverage. The vote was six to one, with Michael Nelson opposed. People: Mike Nelson, Jacquelyn Gist, Ellie Kinnaird Place: Carrboro · Also named: Michael NelsonTown of Carrboro: Board of Aldermen minutes, June 6, 1995
11. November 7, 1995 Mike Nelson is elected mayor of Carrboro Michael R. Nelson, then a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, won the mayor's race at the municipal election held on November 7, 1995, becoming the first openly gay mayor elected in North Carolina. The Board approved the Orange County abstract of votes from that election at its meeting of December 5, 1995. People: Mike Nelson, Ellie Kinnaird Place: CarrboroTown of Carrboro: Board of Aldermen minutes, December 5, 1995
12. December 5, 1995 Mike Nelson is sworn in as mayor of Carrboro At the Board of Aldermen meeting of December 5, 1995, outgoing mayor Eleanor Kinnaird gave closing remarks and Mayor-elect Michael R. Nelson took the oath of office, along with aldermen-elect Jay Bryan, Hilliard Caldwell and Alex Zaffron. The Board then appointed Diana McDuffee to the alderman seat Nelson vacated. People: Mike Nelson, Ellie Kinnaird, Hilliard Caldwell, Diana McDuffee, Alex Zaffron Place: Carrboro · Also named: Jay BryanTown of Carrboro: Board of Aldermen minutes, December 5, 1995