RALEIGH: Governor Roy Cooper has proclaimed June as Pride Month in North Carolina to honor the state’s LGBTQ+ community, their fight for equality and the goal of creating a welcoming community for all North Carolinians.

“The world now knows the progress North Carolina has made in becoming a safer and more inclusive place for our LGTBQ+ community,” Governor Cooper said. “But there’s more work to be done, and this month is an opportunity to renew our commitment to fight for equality.”

Pride Month commemorates the riots held 52 years ago at the Stonewall Inn on June 28, an event often recognized as the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ movement.

In June 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States extended discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ employees under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Several other landmark Supreme Court cases have been issued in June, including striking down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013 and affirming same-sex couples’ right to marry in 2015 under Obergefell v. Hodges.

Approximately four percent of North Carolinians identify as LGBTQ+. Governor Cooper has taken several steps to make North Carolina a safe, welcoming place for people in the LGBTQ+ community to live and work.

In August 2019, the Governor issued Executive Order No. 97, which made North Carolina the first state in the South to ban state funding for conversion therapy. Governor Cooper also issued Executive Order No. 24 in October 2017, which prohibits employment discrimination in the Cooper Administration, including on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression, and requires those doing business with the state to do the same. Executive Order No. 24 also created the Commission on Inclusion, which identifies policies and measures to promote inclusion and address discrimination, harassment and retaliation.

Read the full 2021 Pride Month proclamation