When Wake Forest mayor Vivian Jones walked back her Pride Month proclamation in September, she did so at the request of leaders of what’s arguably the town’s most powerful institution: the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, which owns hundreds of acres of land in the northern Wake County municipality and occasionally partners with the town on development projects.
Public records from the Town of Wake Forest, initially reported by Wake Forest resident Tom Baker IV in a local Substack called Wake Forest Matters, show the seminary’s president emailing Jones on September 5—three days after Jones announced her intention during a town board of commissioners work session to make the proclamation in October—urging against the move.
“While I fully affirm the dignity and worth of every individual, including those in the LGBTQ+ community who are made in the image of God and deserving of love and respect, I must respectfully express my opposition to a government-sponsored celebration of sexual identity,” wrote Daniel L. Akin in an email with the subject line “Reaching out on a Concern” and addressed to “Vivian.”
“Government has the difficult task of serving all its constituents, and sometimes that means refraining from actions that elevate one perspective over another,” Akin continued. “Not issuing a proclamation does not diminish anyone’s humanity or rights. It simply acknowledges the diversity of our town.”
Akin signed off on the email, “Danny.”
In a Facebook post to the Town of Wake Forest’s page on the evening of September 9, a message attributed to Jones stated that she had mixed up Pride Month, which traditionally happens in June, with LGBTQ History Month, which “is observed in October in cities and towns throughout the United States.” Jones added that she had come to the decision that Wake Forest will not recognize Pride or LGBTQ History Month at all. Some of the language in Jones’s statement echoes language in Akin’s email.
“A government-endorsed PRIDE month, while intended to support one group, may unintentionally alienate another,” Akin wrote. “It risks sending a message that the town officially supports one set of beliefs while disregarding another deeply held by many in our community.”
“I now realize that by expressing support for our LGBTQ community I may have unintentionally suggested the Town’s official support for one set of deeply held beliefs over another set just as deeply rooted,” Jones wrote in her statement. “Therefore, after careful consideration and as an acknowledgement of the diversity of convictions throughout our community, I have decided not to proceed with issuing any proclamation related to LGBTQ History Month.”
According to the public records, which were shared with the INDY, Ryan Hutchinson, the seminary’s executive vice president for operations, forwarded Akin’s message to Wake Forest town manager Kip Padgett with the brief note “FYI,” just one minute after Akin sent his message to Jones. (Town of Wake Forest staff did not respond to multiple requests from the INDY to verify or provide copies of the records.)
On the afternoon of September 9, Hutchinson emailed Padgett again referencing Akin’s original message.
“Our desire is not for the town to act in a discriminatory manner, but to represent all the people of Wake Forest,” Hutchinson wrote. “We hope that the mayor changes her position on this matter. However, the seminary does need to consider its partnerships and whether they can continue to exist in situations when parameters change. This does not mean our values have to align perfectly in those partnerships. However, some issues mean that we cannot partner.”
That evening, records show, Bill Crabtree, the town’s communications and public affairs director, emailed town staff about a draft of Jones’s social media post that he was planning to publish on the town’s Facebook page.
“Please let it marinate and—unelss absolutely necessary—hold off on posting anything else on the Town page until tomorrow,” Crabtree wrote. “We are aware that it will provoke a firestorm, but it must be done.” He posted the message after eight p.m., and by the next morning, it had racked up nearly a thousand comments.
According to the records, a call between Jones and Hutchinson also took place on September 9. The call is referenced in a September 12 email from Akin to Jones, thanking her for making contact regarding “[her] decision to remove the proclamation from the [October town council] agenda,” which would have made the town’s proclamation of October as Pride Month, or LGBTQ History Month, official.
“I know this was not an easy decision, but I appreciate your willingness to listen,” Akin wrote. He added that he had seen the responses to Jones’s Facebook post and lamented “that social media is so often a seedbed for unhelpful interactions that mischaracterize and spread false information.”
Jones responded to Akin on September 16. She said the proposed Pride proclamation “became political immediately,” unlike others in the past marking Arbor Day or Building Safety Month, for instance.
“This proclamation was different; it created division and discord,” Jones wrote. “It was not what was best for the Town.”
Akin and Hutchinson did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Jones sent along a brief response to a request for comment on the September emails.
“As I have stated, I always try to make decisions based on what is best for Wake Forest,” the mayor wrote in an email to the INDY. “I realized very quickly that this was causing deep divisions in our community and that was not in the best interest of our community. This did not stop the Pride Fest; it was held as scheduled. I attended and enjoyed it.”
While town and seminary leaders exchanged correspondence over the proposed proclamation, the North Carolina Values Coalition—a socially conservative Christian group that has lobbied for book bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation, including House Bill 2—was email-blasting its members about the issue, urging them “to stand with” Wake Forest town commissioner Faith Cross, who had said she opposed the Pride Month proclamation during the September 2 work session.
The group’s messages provided prewritten language for members to send to Wake Forest commissioners to oppose the proclamation, asking town leaders not to promote a “second Pride Month,” a confusing request as Wake Forest Pride has, for the past two years, been celebrated only in October. The subject line of the group’s initial email referenced the upcoming municipal election, in which Jones is being challenged for the mayor’s seat by a fellow commissioner, Ben Clapsaddle.
Hundreds of people from across North Carolina emailed the commissioners and mayor with the subject lines “Do Not Proclaim October Pride Month,” “Stand With Commissioner Faith Cross,” and “Respect Community Values in Wake Forest,” the public records show.
The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and has operated in Wake Forest since 1951, when it was a part of the original Wake Forest University’s campus. The seminary owns about 600 acres of land in Wake Forest, including its central campus, student housing, a golf course, and undeveloped land. The town and the seminary have partnered on various projects in the past, including a 200-acre mixed-use technology park and an 18-hole disc golf course. Last year, UNC Health Rex announced it was seeking approval to build a $462 million hospital in Wake Forest on a 50-acre parcel of land the seminary owns. But in February, state regulators turned down the proposal.
In his email to Jones, seminary president Akin referenced the long-standing “partnership” between the town and the seminary and praised Jones’s leadership of the town for more than two decades. The two are apparently personal friends; Akin mentions his “earliest days [in Wake Forest] when I was a regular at your beloved restaurant, Jovi’s” in the 1990s, and Jones wrote that she considers herself “blessed to have known you for so many years.”
“I want to express my sincere appreciation for the way the Town of Wake Forest and the Seminary have worked together over the years,” Akin, who announced this month that he will retire in July of next year, wrote in his initial email. “This partnership has flourished in large part because of the tone you’ve set as Mayor, one of mutual respect, shared heritage, and a commitment to the good of all who call Wake Forest home.”
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