Asheville lawmakers: Ban ‘conversion therapy’ in North Carolina

Asheville area lawmakers have proposed a North Carolina ban on conversion therapy, a practice critics say puts LGBTQ people at risk of addiction, depression and suicide.

The ban was one of three proposed laws to grow LGBTQ discrimination protections and repeal remnants of the "bathroom bill." The trio of bills were introduced March 28 by Buncombe County Democrats Rep. Susan Fisher and Sen. Terry Van Duyn, also a candidate for lieutenant governor.

Van Duyn, speaking at a morning press conference in Raleigh, said if passed the laws would ensure "there are no second class citizens in North Carolina."

One proposal, House Bill 514 "Equity for all," would offer protections against discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, insurance and education.

House Bill 515 would repeal the amended House Bill 2. That 2016 law, also known as "HB2" prevented local governments from approving LGBTQ anti-discrimination ordinances and directed transgender people to use public bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates. The Republican-controlled General Assembly in 2017 repealed portions of the measure with House Bill 142, but some restrictions remain in place.

The conversion therapy ban, Senate Bill 426 — also introduced as House Bill 516 — would outlaw state-licensed counselors, social workers and psychiatrists from engaging in professional efforts to alter a youth’s sexual orientation.

"We believe that members of the LGBTQ community are children of God, as are we all, and call out the dangerous and discredited practice of so called ‘conversion therapy,’" Van Duyn said.

In Asheville, local faith leaders and activists gathered at a "Born Perfect" press conference at First Congregational United Church of Christ to support the legislation.

"I can think of no better place than a house of worship to announce the good news that there are now before our state legislature three bills affirming the dignity and beauty of God’s creation in every person," said First Congregation minister Kim Buchanan, "including a proposal to ban a therapeutic practice designed not to affirm, but to do violence to the image of God in some of God’s children."

The American Psychological Association has come out against the practice, but versions are still used by about a dozen therapists and organizations in the state, said the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, director of the Campaign for Southern Equality who is also an elected Buncombe County Commissioner.

In July the Ridgecrest Conference Center in eastern Buncombe will host Hope for Wholeness, a South Carolina religious group that promotes "Freedom from homosexuality through Jesus Christ."

Nylene Wilds, an office manager for the group, said they do not consider what they do conversion therapy but do use licensed therapists and believe they could be affected by the bill.

"People come to us and say we struggle with homosexuality," Wilds said.

The Rev. Tom Cash of Asheville, said he experienced conversion therapy when he was in his 20s living in Southern California.

"At that time I was involved in the fundamentalist church. And I thought I was living in sin and was going to hell so I thought I better check in," said Cash, who is gay.

For four years Cash was under the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week house program of Deliverance Ministries that used "a lot of verbal abuse" and told him gay people have demons, he said.

At one point, Cash said program leaders tried to arrange his marriage to a woman to change his sexual orientation. He left after an argument with the leadership and suffered for years with alcoholism and PTSD.

"Because I believed what they told me about myself and the hate I had for myself and the hate I thought God had for me."

Cash said he found respite and acceptance at another California church open to LGBT members.

Now Cash leads 11 a.m. Sunday services at the Jesus People and Arts Worship Center at 278 Haywood Road in West Asheville, a ministry, "for anyone" he said, including people "who have been disenfranchised for any reason from the church."

Efforts to end conversion therapy have met success but also resistance. Fifteen states and the District of Columbia already have laws designed to protect children from the practice. Legislatures in Colorado and Massachusetts passed measures not yet signed by their governors. Bills have already been filed in three other southern states: Georgia, Virginia and Florida.

The bill’s fate is uncertain in North Carolina’s General Assembly with the GOP majority having passed laws to restrict, rather than enlarge LGBT protections.

Republican Sen. Chuck Edwards, whose Henderson County based District 48 includes part of Asheville and Buncombe, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Fellow Henderson Republican, Rep. Chuck McGrady said he wouldn’t comment on legislation he hasn’t read.

Republicans no longer have veto-proof control, as they did when the legislature approved HB2. That now provides more negotiation tools for Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who has said his long-term goal is a statewide nondiscrimination law.

Support for such measures may grow with more LGBT lawmakers in Raleigh. Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham County said as a legislator she hadn’t talked publicly about being a lesbian until the morning Legislative Building news conference.

A District Court judge before joining the House in 2017, Morey recalled "listening to cases affording people’s rights, when my rights couldn’t be afforded and the hypocrisy of that."

In Asheville, Commissioner and minister Beach-Ferrara said she believes "minds and hearts" can be changed even just by introducing such measures.

"Laws even when they are bills that have been introduced have a teaching effect."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville lawmakers: Ban ‘conversion therapy’ in North Carolina

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Asheville Airbnb real estate broker’s license revoked; kept property owners’ money

Entrepreneur Shawn Johnson speaks during a Citizen Times-sponsored event in 2016 on the challenges and benefits of building jobs from scratch in Asheville’s evolving economy.

(Photo: Colby Rabon/CITIZEN-TIMES)

ASHEVILLE – A celebrated entrepreneur has had his real estate license stripped after keeping "at least" tens of thousands of dollars owed to Airbnb owners whose properties he managed, state regulators said.

Shawn Johnson has been known as a hard-working handyman whose praises were sung on social media. As a real estate broker, he ran a business based on managing local short-term vacation rentals through Airbnb.

But in February, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission permanently revoked his broker’s license after Johnson admitted to multiple violations, including running an unlicensed real estate firm; putting Airbnb owners’ money into his own bank accounts instead of trust accounts; and breaking a city ban against most short-term vacation rentals. Johnson made those and other admissions in a Feb. 13 consent order negotiated with commission attorneys in which he also said he neither admitted nor denied forging bank loan documents as alleged by the commission.

The license action was regulatory and outside any criminal or civil proceedings, though Johnson is also involved in lawsuits over ownership of Airbnb properties.

What’s behind the license revocation?

A license is needed to sell or buy real estate for others or to manage property — though Johnson’s had been limited because of a past federal conviction. Revocations are rare, happening about a dozen times a year, but Johnson’s case stood out because of its "scope and breadth," said Rob Patchett, a commission attorney.

Because Johnson agreed to the revocation, the commission didn’t delve into exactly how much he wrongfully kept, Patchett said.

In interviews Wednesday and Thursday with the Citizen Times, Johnson gave mixed messages about the revocation. He said there was no need for him to keep trust accounts for the Airbnb earnings because he was partners with the owners, an arrangement that doesn’t trigger the same requirements as a broker-client relationship.

That explanation runs counter to the consent order in which he admitted he broke state regulations by not keeping trust accounts and wrongfully kept other people’s money.

"I’m not disagreeing with anything I signed in that document," he told the Citizen Times when asked about the apparent contradiction. "But I’m saying I didn’t feel like fighting it."

The revocation hasn’t hurt his business, Johnson said.

Sara Davis, who said Johnson owes her "thousands" of dollars in unpaid Airbnb rental fees, said he had a pattern in how he operated that "results in people losing money and results in him gaining control of other peoples’ property." She says she believes she was conned.

The commission alleged Johnson tried to fraudulently take Davis’ property, where she lives outside Asheville in the Emma area. But Johnson did not admit to that in the consent order. He’s suing Davis, saying he’s an owner of the property which Buncombe County records show belongs to her. Davis has brought counterclaims.

Johnson said he doesn’t owe money because he wasn’t acting as a property manager, but rather as a partner, something contested by those with whom he dealt. "I screwed up by not having written agreements," Johnson said, though with Davis he said he did have a written agreement.

Social media and real estate

Before he was a broker Johnson worked as a handyman. He was known for his can-do attitude and strong opinions aired in places like the West Asheville Exchange Facebook page, or "WAX."

He applied for a broker’s license in 2014, but was denied because of a 2010 federal counterfeiting conviction. Johnson requested a special hearing, and in 2015 the commission granted him a license but restricted him from managing anyone else’s property for seven years except under supervision of a broker-in-charge.

It was on WAX that Davis said she learned about Johnson, "so, I reached out to him and said I was interested in buying a house."

In April 2016, Johnson was picked as one of the featured speakers at a local economy forum, hosted by Western Carolina University and the Citizen Times. The same year, the commission received a complaint about him, setting off a multiyear investigation, Patchett said.

In January, the commission sent him a notice that it planned to hold an evidentiary hearing looking into multiple allegations. The trial-like procedure can result in a revocation, one of the commission’s most serious disciplinary actions.

The commission oversees nearly 107,000 brokers. From 2016-18 it revoked 10-14 licenses annually. None involved Asheville brokers.

Patchett said in most cases the commission attempts to negotiate a consent order, as it did with Johnson. Among his admissions were specific statutory violations including "pursuing a course of misrepresentation or making of false promises through agents, advertising or otherwise."

How much is involved?

Johnson collected $428,788 for nine or more Airbnbs he managed from December 2016 to November 2018, according to commission allegations. In terms of how much Johnson wrongfully kept, Patchett said it was "at least" tens of thousands of dollars.

"We believe it was a significant amount of money. I can’t put a dollar amount on it for sure for a couple of reasons," the attorney said.

One reason is that Johnson didn’t have written agreements with property owners as required by state rules. He also didn’t keep records, another state requirement.

And Airbnb’s system does not make it easy to discern payment histories, Patchett said

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Like Davis, Carl Woerman did Airbnb business with Johnson and said he had a similar experience.

"It’s like, ‘Hey, let’s buy a house with your money,’" Woerman said.

Johnson would then suggest he rent the property via Airbnb, Woerman said. "Then you say, ‘Hey, where’s the money?’"

Woermann brought a civil suit against Johnson for rental proceeds and Johnson brought counterclaims saying he didn’t owe money because they were partners. The case has not gone to trial, but Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Marvin Pope in a Sept. 29, 2017, preliminary injunction order said Woermann was likely to prevail, so he ordered Johnson for the time being to stay away from the property and stop making claims he was an owner.

In a separate civil case, Woerman in October won a $50,000 judgment against Johnson and builder Whit Rylee for not paying money owed in another business deal.

Rylee, who has been recognized for his local historic preservation work, declined to comment. County records show he owns 72 Tremont St., one of the properties the commission alleged Johnson managed in violation of state and city rules.

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The city has tried to take action against the short-term vacation rentals Johnson acknowledged operating counter to the city ban at 72 Tremont, 16 Upstream Way and 64 Pine Cone Drive. But when city staff tried to send notices of violation or collect fines for the three as well as two other unpermitted Airbnbs with which they say Johnson is involved they’ve hit roadbloacks, said Shannon Tuch, principal city planner and zoning administrator.

"It is unclear what Mr. Johnson is responsible for and what…the property owners are responsible for," Tuch said. "We will need to sit down with them to review their respective cases further."

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Limestone professor’s art to be exhibited at museum in Asheville, NC

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Limestone College art professor Carolyn Ford is one of 50 artists who have been selected for the Asheville, N.C. Art Museum’s inaugural contemporary exhibition, “Appalachia Now!”

The Interdisciplinary Survey of Contemporary Art in Southern Appalachia will be held in its expanded and renovated facility that opens in the spring of this year. The exhibition is comprised of works in a variety of media including dance, film, new media, painting, poetry, and sculpture.

Ford attended Middle Tennessee State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in ceramics, drawing, and painting. She received her Master’s in Fine Arts from Washington State University in ceramics and drawing. Ford has been the Chair of the Art Department at Limestone since 2010.

The exhibition in Asheville explores the union of tradition and modern perspectives through contemporary artistic voices of this region. “Appalachia Now!” situates artists not only within a regional and national dialogue but also within the rich history of creativity and making it historically associated with Appalachia. Whether works are personal or universal in theme, the cross-disciplinary exhibition invites visitors to participate in the individual experiences that make this part of the world unique.

The 50 artists represent a diverse group currently living and working in towns and cities in western North Carolina and its bordering areas, which include southern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western South Carolina, and northern Georgia.

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