Personal reconciliation turns to action for two young leaders in Charlotte, N.C.

Paul Willoughby, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (UNCC), remembers well the hardships cast upon him and his family when his twin brother came out of the closet.

"That was the worst time in my life, for real," Willoughby says of the summer between his junior and senior years in high school.

Unbeknownst to all but him, he, too, was gay -- a revelation he dared not disclose in the face of his parents' conservative, religious leanings and their treatment of his brother.

"My parents said a lot of mean things, calling [my brother] names they shouldn't be calling him," Willoughby recalls. "It was hard to see how my parents reacted to him coming out -- they even tried to send him to therapy to try to change him. Here I am -- I'm gay, too -- and I didn't know what to do. I was terrified that they would find out."

Now 21 years old, Willoughby is a member of the UNCC men's soccer team. Just last fall, he came out to friends on campus and to friends on his sports team.

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Charlotte-based National Gay Rights Advocate Speaks Out After Horrific Rock Hill Attack

ROCK HILL -- The brutal beating of a gay man has prompted local representatives to re-introduce a hate crime bill when the state Legislature reconvenes next week, but those intentions are being met with resistance.

The measure, led by SC state Rep. John King, D-Rock Hill, was prompted by the beating of Joshua Esskew at a convience store, which was caught on the store's video tape.

King's hate crime bill, which went nowhere in the General Assembly when first introduced last year, is expected again to be met with opposition. A spokesman for Gov. Nikki Haley told a reporter from the Rock Hill Herald that the newly elected governor does not support state hate crime laws.

Shane Windmeyer,
Campus Pride Executive Director
"Individuals who believe that a crime is a crime is a crime do not understand the definition of a hate crime or the unique impact a hate crime has on an entire targeted community," says Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride, a national, Charlotte-based nonprofit for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities.