Several community activists are calling for the resignation of Charleston County school board member Carlotte Bailey after videos were released of her allegedly stating gay children don’t exist and Black parents mostly responsible for racial achievement gaps in schools.
According to reporting from the Post and Courier, activist Elvin Speights posted recordings he made in a meeting he had with Bailey on October 3 at Bailey’s request. The meeting took place at North Palm Church in North Charleston, and Speights said he recorded the interactions for his “own protection.”
According to the Post and Courier, Speights provided screenshots of text messages between him and Bailey arranging the meeting, as well as a video not posted to social media of a woman sitting across from him who appeared to be Bailey.
The woman who speaks in the recordings tells Speights she believes being gay was “not God’s desire,” going on to say she thinks queer youth are “confused.”
“There’s no such thing as gay children; those children are confused about who they are and what they are,” she said. “Those children, if they’re not of legal age to vote, and you’re not of a legal age to vote until you’re 18, cannot make conscious decisions about what gender they are.”
The person in the recordings goes on to say conversations surrounding sexuality and LGBTQ+ topics don’t belong in the classroom. The woman also said Pride month and people within the LGBTQ+ community are “trying to make something that’s personal a civil right.”
Queer folks weren’t the only target — the woman Speights identifies as Bailey went on to blame Black parents for racial achievement gaps in schools. She said most Black families have a “different concept of the value of education,” and won’t help their children with homework or read to them.
“They didn’t help the child practice their name, but you expect your child to know how to write their name and you’re not helping them at home?” the woman stated.
Bailey is a Black woman herself, but that (allegedly) didn’t stop her from generalizing and, in some cases, demonizing Black people in the Charleston school system.
Bailey voted with four other board members to suspend Superintendent Eric Gallien after he had been on the job for three months. Gallien — who is also Black — was placed on paid leave on September 25 after he discussed a complaint an employee made about him in executive session, which meant the conversation wasn’t public. However, according to the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act, there are four reasons a public body can go into executive session.
According to the Municipal Association of South Carolina:
“The SC Freedom of Information Act limits municipal executive sessions to four open meeting exceptions (Section 30-4-70): discussion of employment, appointment, compensation, promotion, demotion, discipline or release of an employee, or an appointment to a public body; discussion of negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements, discussions of a proposed sale or purchase of property, receipt of legal advice, settlement of legal claims or discussions of the public agency’s position in adversary situations, discussion about development of security personnel or devices; investigative proceedings or allegations of criminal misconduct; and discussion of matters concerning the proposed location, expansion or provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body.”
Gallien was in well in his rights to discuss the employee in executive session according to South Carolina law, though Bailey and four other board members seem to disagree. Gallien sued the school district claiming his contract was breeched. He also cited the five members who voted to have him put on leave, including Bailey, were endorsed by the conservative group Moms For Liberty.
Bailey has also voted to completely overhaul the district’s health advisory committee, which was in charge of creating a health and sexual wellness curriculum for students. Members of the board said they worked to create a “medically accurate” course as what was available previously only mentioned heterosexual relationships and abstinence, claiming other forms of sexual relations were “unusual.”
The woman in the recordings released by Speights explained her reasoning for her vote: she claimed Black community leaders called her to influence her vote. Speights told members of the media during an October 9 press conference that Bailey’s “homophobic, racist beliefs were unsettling.”
Darlene Roberson, who also serves on the school board, said Bailey’s alleged statements were, at the bare minimum, problematic and offensive.
“Ms. Bailey consistently places herself in the position of a moral judge or moral authority rather than being concerned about the job she was elected to do, which is to represent the interests of her constituents on the CCSD Board of Trustees,” Roberson said. “It is dangerous and counterproductive for her to continuously interject her personal moral beliefs into governance and decision-making.”