(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Each year, Charlotte Pride gives an LGBT activist the Harvey Milk Award, named after the controversial San Francisco politician (and Sean Penn biopic subject), whose 1978 assassination made him a martyr to “gay rights” activists—despite accusations that he sexually molested teenage boys.
But for community backlash, this year’s recipient may have been a particularly fitting standard-bearer for Milk’s tainted legacy.
The honoree was set to be Chad Turner, who has been convicted of sexually molesting teenage boys. According to North Carolina’s sex offender registry, Turner served prison time for committing a “lewd act on a child under 16.”
Despite the similarities between Milk and Turner, Charlotte Pride reportedly decided to cancel this year’s award ceremony.
“We do not give every single award out every year,” organizers told local news station WSOC-TV last week. “Charlotte Pride was originally going to do Harvey Milk, but upon further discussion, decided not to give out that award this year.”
Charlotte Pride didn’t give a reason for canceling this year’s award.
The Daily Wire speculated that the decision was prompted after Turner’s sex-offending history was unearthed. Turner had been listed as the forthcoming recipient on Charlotte Pride’s website until Reduxx.info published an article about Turner’s sex crimes on Aug. 5.
Apparently, Charlotte Pride didn’t even bother conducting a basic internet search before announcing Turner as the 2023 Harvey Milk Award recipient, as Turner’s past is well-documented.
Indeed, the North Carolina pro-Christian group NC Values Coalition reportedly exposed Turner in 2016, leading to his resignation as the president of Charlotte’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. At the time, Turner was pushing to expand the city’s non-discrimination ordinance to allow men to be in women’s bathrooms and showers.
Turner said at the time that his resignation from the LGBT Chamber had nothing to do with his sexual history. Since then, he’s rejoined the LGBT Chamber and is listed as its president and CEO.
Turner was initially arrested in in 1998, when he was 20, and charged in Cherokee County, S.C., with a “lewd act, committing or attempting a lewd act upon a child under 16.”
According to a GoUpstate report on the case from 2000, three minor victims accused Turner. They all reportedly met him through his position as the music director at the New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The cases were reportedly tried separately due to the nature of the charges, and Turner was ultimately convicted on one offense.
Turner has used various names over the years, including Chad Sevealance and Chad Sevealance–Turner.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
