CHARLOTTE — LGBT community members in North Carolina’s western neighbor will make the short trek to the Queen City this September for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Tennessee’s 109-member delegation to the DNC will include five LGBT delegates, according to Nashville’s Out & About Newspaper. They’ll join hundreds of other LGBT delegates, including the eight LGBT representatives in North Carolina’s 158-member delegation.
“We are extremely proud that for the first time, we have met our party’s goals for diversity with more youth, LGBT and ethnic representation than ever before,” Tennessee delegation leaders said.
For the first time, North Carolina’s delegation will include a transgender representative. Charlotte’s Janice Covington will represent the 8th Congressional District.
This year’s DNC in Charlotte is expected to be among the most diverse in history. DNC planners have maintained a commitment to diversity since organizing began last year, appointing openly gay Steve Kerrigan as CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee and inviting openly gay North Carolina businessmen and philanthropists Bob Page of Greensboro’s Replacements, Ltd., and Mitchell Gold of Taylorsville’s Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams to sit on the Charlotte in 2012 Host and Steering Committees.