Over five years after moving to North Carolina to join Equality NC (ENC) as its executive director, Kendra Johnson recently announced her departure from the organization in the following statement:
“I made the decision to come to the Tarheel State because I witnessed a dramatic increase in vitriol directed toward minority communities as Trumpism began to rise and ultimately reach the White House,” she wrote. “Amid the resurgence of mainstream racism, xenophobia, transphobia and homophobia, I knew I needed a bigger playing field to fight back, alongside strong allies working for undocumented immigrants, Black folks, women, differently abled people, the resource poor and the LGBTQ+ community. I found just that, with incredible partners working on issues from voting and reproductive rights to incarceration.”
During her time at ENC, Johnson oversaw the expansion of the organization from the diversifying of ENC staff to the physical expansions to western and eastern North Carolina. ENC has also served a crucial role in advocating for LGBTQ+ North Carolinians, including, but not limited to, demonstrations at the North Carolina General Assembly to protest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, showing up at community events at booths or handing out information and more.
Through Johnson’s five years as executive director, ENC was able to work with municipalities to pass 22 ordinances protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. ENC was also able to establish a Rural Youth Empowerment program, which provides resources to LGBTQ+ people and allies in rural communities across the state.
Johnson said in a time when legislators continue to dehumanize and attack queer residents, the work of ENC is more important than ever.
“As I look at where the movement is nationally, with more anti-LGBTQ+ bills than ever before and an open attack on our youth, I know that we need strong organizations like Equality NC to keep fighting,” she wrote. “White supremacists and Christian nationalists have moved from the shadows of our society to the center stage of our government, taking aim at our rights and our very existence. Now more than ever, we need to be telling our stories differently, flanking and supporting organizations that serve as a container for organizing and working across identities to build a movement for us all.”
ENC’s boards — led by Milan Pham and Ivan Canada — are working to name a new executive director before Johnson’s departure. A new director or an interim hasn’t been named at the time of writing.