'What can we stand up for?': NC Bar president faces backlash after canceling drag trivia night

The president of the North Carolina State Bar Association triggered an explosion of outrage this week after he canceled a drag trivia night so that the organization's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee could "present both sides" of the right-wing-led culture war, The Daily Beastreported on Sunday.

The incident is but the latest in a long line of LGBTQIA+ scapegoating by state-level Republicans across the country, who insist without evidence that drag queens are a negative influence on kids.

"NCBA president Clayton Morgan said the committee wouldn't be 'perceived as trying to advance just your agenda on the world'" through his approach," The Daily Beast explained, noting that the event had been on the calendar "for many months."

READ MORE: 'Missed the mark': Judge shoots down Tennessee GOP anti-drag show law

Per the Beast, Morgan wrote in an email that he "did not come to this difficult decision lightly or without a lot of thought and consideration."

But the "special meeting" that he promised to hold on the matter was a disaster, according to individuals who spoke with the outlet.

“I think all of us went into this meeting thinking that it was not going to be great. It somehow managed to be about 100 times worse,” Charlotte-based attorney Michael Roessler told the Beast.

Despite Morgan stating that "there are individuals in society who have now chosen to use this very type of event for something that it's not, and it will therefore be hard for the association to help create the correct understanding of it by actually having an event," Roessler revealed that the discussion "went off the rails."

READ MORE: Anti-drag laws are part of a long history of policing gender

Morgan also reportedly claimed that scrapping the event was out of safety concerns for those involved, however, that too was panned by committee members who disagreed with his initial decision.

"These bills, Clayton, are a death sentence for our community," one of them said of anti-LGBTQIA+ proposals. "Forty percent of homeless youth are LGBT. Every time these bills pass more of our young people decide that it's not worth it to try to make it to adulthood. And if we as a profession can't stand up for that, then what can we stand up for?"

READ MORE: Proud Boys bloodied and jailed during NYC drag queen story hour protest

The Daily Beast's full report is available at this link (subscription required).