A prominent North Carolina LGBTQ advocacy group welcomed a known convicted pedophile to their gala despite knowing about his criminal past.
Chad Turner, 45, was among the attendees at the Human Right Campaign’s annual event on Feb. 10 called “Without Exception,” which was sponsored by Bank of America.
HRC Press Secretary Brandon Wolf and Democratic Senator Lisa Grafstein both spoke at the dinner held at Le Meridien Charlotte. Turner previously received an honor from the HRC, which at the time declined to say whether they were aware of his past as a child molester. Reduxx reported.
Turner, a former youth minister, was accused of sexual abuse by three boys in 1998 when he was 20 or 21 years old. The victim he was convicted of was 14 years old. When he woke up, he saw the predator caressing his genitals.
He served only two years of a 10-year sentence for committing lewd acts against a minor under 16. After his parole, he was ordered to register on the North Carolina sex offender registry.
Despite his criminal past, Turner, Chief Executive Officer at the Carolina LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, has managed to become a prominent member of Charlotte’s LGBTQ advocacy community.
Turner pictured in a silver vest with his colleagues at the Human Right Campaign’s annual dinner at Le Meridien Charlotte. In his post, he wrote in part, “Always great to come together in support of @hrcnorthcarolina. So many people united in achieving equality – without exception
Mugshot of Chad Turner, formerly Chad Turner-Sevearance, who was accused of sexual abuse by three boys in 1998. One of the boys was only 14 years old. He was convicted of committing lewd acts against a minor under the age of 16, in relation to the first victim.
His Linkedin profile shows Turner’s current role as CEO at Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, and his 500+ connections
In August, Turner received the 2023 Harvey Milk Award, presented to him by the Charlotte community, which highlighted his “exceptional leadership and dedication to the community,” according to the Post-millennial.
At the gala event, Turner dressed in a bow tie and matching gray paisley tuxedo vest as he smiled with his colleagues.
Taking to his Instagram, he wrote in the post: “always so great to come together in support of @hrcnorthcarolina.”
“So many people united in achieving equality, without exception,” he said in part.
Turner was the music director of the New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina, where he met his three young victims, according to a 2000 report in GoUpstate.com.
Each of the boys testified to Turner about their terrifying and inappropriate encounter with their predator boy leader.
The 14-year-old boy had testified that Turner had invited him to spend the night at his home in Bessemer City, North Carolina, and during the visit, Turner had questioned him about how he would feel if a man performed oral sex on him, the news station said.
The boy initially said, “I thought he was joking.”
During their conversations, he talked to the boy about sexual acts between men and women and how he felt about them. The boy said it “upset him because of the man’s position in the church.”
The situation became more complicated when the minor woke up during a night with other young people and saw Turner “fondling” him.
He said he didn’t immediately report it out of shame. “I was ashamed,” he said. “I thought there was something bad about me.”
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest lobbying group for LGBTQ rights, with an annual budget of approximately $45 million.
The campaign, founded in 1980, spent the first decades fighting for equal treatment for gays and lesbians.
But like many similar organizations, it was left rudderless after same-sex marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court in 2015.
It has since taken up the mantle of transgender rights – with incendiary consequences.
The HRC insists that transgender women should be allowed to participate in sports and that children should be able to receive so-called ‘gender-affirming care’, including puberty blockers and surgery.
DailyMail.com has contacted the Human Rights Campaign, North Carolina for comment.