Rep. Cecil Brockman Says LGBT Community Has Voice At Capitol

North Carolina state Rep. Cecil Brockman has come out as bisexual after recently witnessing the passage of House Bill 2, the stateâ€™s infamous anti-LGBT bill, and Senate Bill 2, which allows magistrates to refuse to marry gay couples if they do not agree with marriage equality.

Brockman has a history of standing up for the LGBT community, even before he publicly came out. When SB2 passed, he stood at the end of the House session to â€œpersonally apologize to all the gay and lesbian couples in North Carolina.â€

Brockman cites an incident where he went to dinner with fellow state Rep. Chris Sgro, the executive director of Equality North Carolina, and Sgroâ€™s partner Ryan Butler as a driving factor in his decision to come out. The three were approached by an intoxicated man who asked if they were gay after seeing their anti-HB2 buttons. When he found out they were LGBT, the man went into a homophobic rant.

â€œDiscriminating against folks in the LGBT community has become legal. You should be able to be who you are and love who you are and not be afraid to go out and feel like someone will harass you.â€ Brockman said.

Brockman does not want to be considered a single-issue candidate. He hopes to focus on economic development and education in the next session, along with expanding Medicaid.

However, he also wants to be an advocate for LGBT people in the state.

â€œI want people to recognize that members of the LGBT community are your sons and your daughters, your aunts and uncles. You canâ€™t turn away from those members of the community. Itâ€™s important for me as a black person to stand up for the black community, as well as stand up for the LGBT community. Iâ€™m a part of both communities, and I want to push my community to be more tolerant and accepting.â€

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