Kannapolis family raises money to flee home after months of anti-LGBTQ harassment
Kannapolis was once a comfortable, peaceful home for Andy Craighill and Lloyd Middleton to work, live and start a family. Now, they say they’re living in fear after months of harassment, vandalism and hate-fueled intimidation.
Craighill, an openly queer, Jewish and transgender man, said his Cabarrus County-native family is looking to leave their home due to acts of vandalism, including nails left on the driveway, a torn-down Pride flag and slashed tires. He believes the attacks are fueled by homophobia and transphobia because he ran for U.S. House District 6 in 2024 and has since launched a campaign for 2026.
Craighill and his husband have taken to GoFundMe to help raise money for the move. The couple launched a page where they request donations to help convert a school bus into a home.
“We don’t feel safe living there anymore. Maybe if it was just the two of us, but we’ve got to consider our son,” Craighill said. “It’s just been relentless. We’re at a point where during the day we’ve had people drive by screaming slurs so loudly they woke our kid up.”
String of vandalism
The harassment began in February, shortly after Craighill made the decision to revive his political campaign. Less than 48 hours after he launched his website, three of their vehicles — a car, school bus and trailer — were vandalized. Someone slashed the tires and left shattered glass on their porch.
“We figured, ‘all right, this really stinks, but we’re going to just fix it, do what we can and move on. I’m sure it’s just a one off,’” Craighill said. “And then it wasn’t.”
Four days later, the couple found more shattered glass in the yard where their 2-year-old son plays and nails on their driveway. One night while the couple was briefly out of the house for a Shabbat service, somebody wrapped chains around their bus and attempted to rip the bumper off, damaging the vehicle.
“At that point, it was kind of clear somebody was watching, because we were only gone for about an hour and a half,” Craighill said. “That was when it started becoming less of an annoyance and more scary.”
The family installed cameras, chains and motion detectors outside their home, but the vandalism hasn’t stopped.
Someone stole their mail, knocked down their mailbox and tore down a pole where a Pride flag once flew. People have shouted homophobic slurs at the family while driving by the house.
Looking to leave Kannapolis
Craighill said the Kannapolis Police Department – where they have filed five full reports – helped provide security to their home by conducting drive-bys, collecting evidence, improving the security systems and assigning investigators to their case. But they no longer feel safe.
Craighill said they don’t feel comfortable having a public, permanent address, and a mobile home will allow them to move around and be more discreet. So far, they have raised $5,480 of their $12,000 goal.
Craighill wrote on the GoFundMe page the family is close to making the mobile home a reality. They have found secure parking and a welder to help repair the vehicle, but still need to raise money to replace a few tires.
“We were so proud of what Kannapolis is becoming. We’re both from here. It just doesn’t feel fair that we should be the ones that have to leave,” Craighill said. “We’re people, and our family is American. We belong here. We shouldn’t be chased out.”
Is Kannapolis LGBTQ-friendly?
Michael Howard, the president of PFLAG Concord-Kannapolis, the only LGBTQ organization in the region for over 10 years, said hate crimes against LGBTQ people are not unusual in the area. He advises victims of crimes to report them to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and said the PFLAG chapter is a resource to anyone who needs assistance. Howard said he has noticed an uptick in hate crimes and discrimination over the past decade.
“We are taking the account of every instance, and it’s not going unseen,” Howard said. “We see it as a worry, because it’s not just the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s the communities of color, it’s (Latin American) communities, it’s everything.”
Even larger cities like Charlotte can be hostile to LGBTQ people, said Cameron Pruette, interim executive director of the Freedom Center for Social Justice. In 2021, Charlotte was considered one of the deadliest cities in the country for transgender people by the Human Rights Campaign, he said.
“These are very present, real things. And it doesn’t just happen in Union or Gaston or Iredell, it happens in Charlotte too,” he said. “We hear stories all the time of folks who are being discriminated against.”
Pruette recommends LGBTQ people in need reach out to organizations such as the Twirl Assistance Program, which provides emergency aid, and Time Out Youth, which serves LGBTQ people between 13 and 24 years old.
Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has only grown in recent years and in particular since the November election, Pruette said. Requests for help like Craighill’s could become more common.
“I am appreciative for the community members who have stepped up to help out Andy and his family, and that’s sort of a model that we’ll need for lots more folks going forward,” he said. “This is going to be a more common occurrence, and so folks (should) not close their eyes the suffering and to be prepared to help.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
