A year ago, Horry County rescinded its Pride Month support. What will happen in 2023?

A year after retracting its support for Pride Month, it remains unclear if the Horry County Council plans to take on the matter again.

Adam Hayes, a member of Myrtle Beach’s human rights commission and Grand Strand PRIDE, said he submitted a proclamation for the council to consider several weeks ago but had not heard back.

“I’m assuming they chose not to respond, which would be my guess after last year,” he said.

Last May, the council approved a resolution recognizing June as Pride Month but then reversed course at a later meeting after several members said they hadn’t thoroughly read the agenda before voting.

It was included under items for consent, which typically cover routine items that only need a single vote, like proclamations.

The county’s reversal prompted outrage from the LGBTQIA+ community and allies, with more than 150 people turning out for a protest in front of county headquarters.

Council Chairman Johnny Gardner did not respond to a Sun News inquiry about whether the Pride Month resolution appears on the June 6 agenda, which will be made public on June 2.

On May 23, Myrtle Beach carried on its long tradition of acknowledging Pride Month with a proclamation handed to Hayes and Grand Strand PRIDE co-founder Terry Livingston.

“WHEREAS, Pride Month also is a platform for raising awareness of the discrimination and marginalization that the LGBTQ+ community has faced and continues to face, and for supporting their rights and achievements,” the resolution says in part.

Livingston gave the council rainbow flags before thanking them for adopting the resolution.

“There has been an unprecedented number of legislation going on across the country this year, but I am just so happy that my hometown of Myrtle Beach, instead of trying to divide the citizens, y’all try to bring us together and for that I am very grateful,” he said.

Myrtle Beach is ranked as one of South Carolina’s most LGBTIA+-friendly cities

Nonprofit think tank Movement Advancement Project ranks South Carolina a -2.5 out of 43.5 on its equality profile.

A 2019 UCLA Williams Institute of Law study estimated that roughly 3.5 percent of the state’s population is LGBT — or 137,000.

And a February 2020 Campaign for Southern Equality report found above-average rates of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation among its 404 respondents. Many said they delayed or avoided seeking health care and mental health services for fear of judgment or high out-of-pocket costs.

Real estate website Movoto, however, puts Myrtle Beach near the top in its list of South Carolina’s most LGBT-friendly communities, crediting the city’s large pride festival and anti-discrimination ordinances in place locally.

Other cities have been provided a draft version of Myrtle Beach’s Pride Month resolution

Hayes said he sent boilerplate versions of the Myrtle Beach resolution to Conway, North Myrtle Beach and Surfside Beach, but also hadn’t gotten verification on whether it will end up in front of their councils.

Surfside Beach has approved dozens of resolutions since 2012, according to its website, but never for Pride Month.

Last week, town councilman Michael Drake was rebuked by Mayor Bob Hellyer and other officials after a Facebook exchange with a gay man. Drake plumbed through Drew Blake-Nesbitt’s profile and reposted a picture of him kissing his husband that he called “creepy.”

A day after The Sun News reported on the matter, the town distanced itself from Drake’s remarks.

“Though the Mayor and Council are still reviewing the circumstances surrounding the controversy, the comments and actions of Councilmen Drake were made in his personal capacity and do not represent views or policies of the Government of the Town of Surfside Beach,” the statement said.