A town hall meeting held at Diversity Richmond on the night of July 15 resulted in loud protests and half of the approximately 75 attendees walking out while chanting “fire him.”

“We just want our demands to be met,” said more than one speaker at the event where, in a flash questionnaire, more than 60% felt that Diversity Richmond had not acted in good faith concerning the handling of a recent harassment claim made by former Diversity Event Manager Danni Worthy-Mays.

A Diversity Richmond employee was accused by Worthy-Mays of racism and sexual harassment but cleared of wrongdoing by Diversity’s HR department and legal counsel and remains on staff.

“There were good things about the meeting and not so good things. The goal was to listen and that’s what we did,” said Diversity’s Executive Director Lacette Cross after the event. “There are people who are sad, who are grieving. There are people who are impacted because they have been affected by sexual harassment in the workplace and they have personal lived experience.”

Cross added that the protesters’ anger was clear, but “their call-out has been less than kind,” noting that “even though they have used forms of [online] harassment to our staff at Diversity Richmond, we still showed up willing to listen.”

The survey results taken at the meeting will be available soon on Diversity Richmond’s website, she adds.

Battle over a “safe space”

Before the meeting, the divisive rhetoric attacking the organization over its handling of the incident had been limited to the internet and news reports on WRIC Channel 8. Diversity Richmond, a leading LGBTQ+ support organization that oversees a popular thrift store, prides itself on being “a safe space” for the local queer community. It has distributed more than $850,000 to other like-minded nonprofits and organizations over the years.

It has also experienced something like this before. In 2021, Diversity employees protested what they said were unsafe and uncomfortable working conditions, including an alleged sexual harassment incident. Former Executive Director Bill Harrison [who was not the individual accused] eventually resigned amidst the protests, and company safeguards against sexual harassment were reportedly put into place. Cross said that the procedures adopted then are the ones that cleared the accused, whose identity has not been disclosed. By law, details of the investigation into the harassment claim have been kept secret.

“This is not similar to 2021,” she maintained. “There were no policies and procedures in place then, no HR in place. [Worthy-Mays] was simply not satisfied with the conclusion of the process, and she resigned and went to the public.

Cross added: “I believe Black women, I’m not questioning her story at all. But I can’t just unilaterally fire people based on the demands of other nonprofits.”

At one point, the town hall crowd heard a recording from Worthy-Mays, the queer Black femme and ex-Diversity employee at the center of the storm.

“She obviously didn’t feel safe going to the literal place where sexual harassment and racism happened,” said Andy Waller, who brought his own speaker to play the recording.

Waller is the president of TransJam RVA, a nonprofit that supports the trans community and hosts the Big Gay Market, which has cancelled its appearances at Diversity over the conflict. TransJam joins another nonprofit, For the Fem in You, that has stopped holding events at Diversity and is leading an aggressive charge against the nonprofit on Instagram.

“They say that they won’t tolerate sexual harassment but that is literally what they’re doing,” Waller said after the meeting. “Danni did everything according to the employee handbook.” Waller claims that while DR did an investigation, the process was either rigged or seriously flawed.

In the recording played at the meeting, Worthy-Mays talked about how the incident has affected her health and reiterated her charges of harassment and insensitivity, including Diversity’s alleged insistence that she continue to work the same shift as the accused.

She closed by saying that Diversity should “own up to its community and do better. The moral people of Richmond are waiting.”

A list of demands made

On Instagram, TransJam has made a list of demands to Diversity Richmond — reiterated by speakers on Tuesday — that includes: a formal apology and lost wages for Worthy-Mays, the job termination of the accused and the head of Diversity’s HR department, as well as sensitivity training for staff, comprehensive sexual harassment training by a sex worker, and “more robust health care options with employer contributions up to 60%.”

At Tuesday’s town hall, the divisions were clearly marked.

“Upon entering, you had to visibly choose a side,” nonprofit leader Kate Fowler of Studio Two Three wrote in a personal Facebook post about her attendance. “Sit at a table or stand with a group of protesters at the back. The way the protesters organized, it made it impossible for people to listen, learn and decide. It was an in-club … a nightmare to watch and I feel bad for everyone who showed up in good faith.”

Waller even distanced himself from some of his fellow protesters, calling them “obnoxious” and not helpful. The event’s independent moderators, David Campt and Matthew Freeman, often found themselves at odds with the crowd, sparring with attendees over everything from how much the duo were charging for their services to the use of AI software to collate instant survey data to whether or not speakers could hold the microphone while addressing the crowd.

There was often a lot of shouting.

A community divided

But not everyone was there to point fingers. One speaker, Evelyn, announced that she was concerned about how this debate was “dividing [us] as a community. I hate that it feels like there are sides here tonight. We’re all in the queer community, we are all we have, and I know that’s where a lot of the anger against Diversity comes from. But we are losing more every day, and we need each other desperately.”

When protesters began to chant and file out of the building, the town hall meeting continued but Lacette Cross and Kevin Allison, chair of Diversity’s board, followed behind and engaged with them in the parking lot. “It was a different vibe than what was inside,” Cross said later. “When you’re able to have a one-to-one, or one-to-two conversation, face to face, you’re looking in people’s eyes and it’s a different level of exchange.”

She added that one of the lessons learned was that the next Diversity Richmond town hall (to be announced) should be in a neutral venue. She also wanted to be clear that Worthy-Mays was invited to attend the town hall.

Meanwhile, TransJam will be co-hosting its own town hall meeting with For The Fem In You on July 23 at the Richmond Main Public Library at 5:30 p.m. Diversity Richmond is invited to attend, Waller said. When asked, Cross replied that TransJam has not actually invited her officially, but she will be there.