The most nationally prominent of the controversies was one surrounding a law known as HB2 (or the “Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act”), which the Charlotte Observer described as a “sweeping law that reverses a Charlotte ordinance that had extended some rights to people who are gay or transgender”: At the time of the rumor’s circulation, a cluster of controversies were occurring in North Carolina over gender, sexual orientation, and bathrooms (leading to confusion among viewers who spotted related memes on Facebook). The online rumor involving Sevearance mentioned a “boys-in-girls-bathrooms” bill while simultaneously describing homosexual acts between teenaged male minors and a 20-year-old man. However, the Breitbart piece offered little context regarding the effort Sevearance purportedly headed and whether he was truly the primary opponent of the (unreferenced) legislation in question. The details of that piece of information is verifiable: Sevearance’s sex offender registry page is accessible here, and details of the ensuing court case were published in a July 2000 article.
His most recent mug shot and registration took place at the end of last year. One boy testified that he woke up to find Severance “fondling him.” Severance was convicted on one charge of sexual molestation of a minor.Īs a result of his 2000 conviction, Sevearance must register with the police on a regular basis for a minimum of ten years. In 1998, Sevearance worked as a youth minister and in that capacity allegedly lured younger men to his apartment to spend the night where Severance showed them pornography and tried to talk them into sex. That article went on to explain that Sevearance was arrested in 1998 at the age of 20 for engaging in sexual acts with teenaged boys: Sevearance was quoted in the Charlotte Observer saying that because a recent bathroom “nondiscrimination ordinance” bill did not pass, “someone can ask me to leave a restaurant because I’m presumed to be gay or transgender.” The homosexual leader of efforts in North Carolina to allow men to use women’s bathrooms is a convicted and registered sex offender, according to documents made available to Breitbart News.Ĭhad Sevearance is president of the Charlotte Business Guild … and his group have taken a lead role in seeking the right to allow males to use the restrooms and showers of females, including those of little girls, which is described by advocates as nothing more than nondiscrimination measures. The article reported that an individual named Chad Sevearance had spearheaded opposition to an ambiguously referenced ordinance involving transgender people and bathrooms: On 7 March 2016, the web site Breitbart published an article (titled “Convicted Sex Offender Leads Transgender Rights Effort in North Carolina”) which held that the “leader of efforts” to “allow men to use women’s bathrooms” was a convicted, registered sex offender.