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Politics drive people to flee and seek South Carolina

Transgender and gay pride flags flew at the Charleston home of Mike Merrill and Greg Kanter before they fled South Carolina because of the state's recent ban on gender affirming healthcare for minors. The gay couple and their two daughters moved to Illinois this summer where LGBTQ rights are protected. June 2024
Victoria Hansen
/
South Carolina Public Radio
Transgender and gay pride flags flew at the Charleston home of Mike Merrill and Greg Kanter before they fled South Carolina because of its ban on gender affirming healthcare for minors. The gay couple and their two daughters moved to Illinois this summer where LGBTQ rights are protected. June 2024

Politics further divide as Americans self-segregate to red and blue states based on legislation and personal beliefs.

Colorful gay pride and transgender flags flew in front of Mike Merrill’s Charleston home for pride month in June. Typically, they’d hang out back. But the Merrill family grew tired of living in fear. So, this summer they moved, out of state.

“It’s scary and with the political climate and with the elections going on,” says Merrill. “I just want to get us to the other side of a blue state where I feel safe.”

That blue state the family fled to is Illinois.

Merrill and his husband Greg Kanter say they knew last summer they’d have to leave when their transgender daughter, Emily, could no longer get hormone treatments at the Medical University of South Carolina. Then, the Republican-led state legislature threatened funding. Now, it’s enacted a ban on all gender-affirming healthcare for minors despite objections from doctors who call it medically necessary.

“Yeah, we saw the writing on the wall,” says Kanter. “I mean, the politicians didn’t care about the facts. They used it as a political wedge issue.”

Farewell service for Rabbi Greg Kanter at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston. The Merrill-Kanter family moved this summer because of South Carolina's
Merrill-Kanter family
/
Provided
Farewell service for Rabbi Greg Kanter at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston. Kanter (right) and his family- Emily, Alayna and husband Mike Merrill (left to right) moved this summer because of South Carolina's recent anti-LGBTQ legislation. March 29, 2024.

Caught in the middle, Kanter says, were his children and his congregation. The well-known rabbi resigned from the historic Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston.

“Yeah, we saw the writing on the wall"- Rabbi Greg Kanter on his family leaving South Carolina

His 16-year-old daughters packed up bedrooms where they’d spent half their lives. Alayna was eager to leave what she calls the state’s hate-fueled laws.

“We’re not doing anything to hurt you,” she says. “We’re just trying to live our own lives and be ourselves, you know, live in peace.”

Emily was hopeful life as a transgender teenager would be better in Illinois where LGBTQ rights are protected.

“I might find someone who’s maybe just like me,” says Emily. “I don’t know if I will, but if I do, it’s going to be amazing.”

The Kanter-Merrill family isn’t alone in their desire to move because of politics.

Paul Chabot founded a real estate company called Conservative Move after relocating his family from California to Texas. For nearly a decade, he says, he’s found a growing number of people looking to leave heavily Democratic, blue states like he did.

“I jokingly say, they’re looking to move to America when they’re in America,” says Chabot. “That’s largely these red states, when you’re looking at freedom and cost of living.”

Chabot says South Carolina has quickly blossomed into a popular destination because it’s affordable and increasingly conservative. That’s why retired orthodontist John West and his wife Betty moved to Pawley’s Island from Georgia last November.

Betty (left) and John West (right) attend a gathering for Republican Congressman Russell Fry in Georgetown. The retired couple recently moved to Pawleys Island because they felt their Atlanta suburb was becoming too liberal.
Victoria Hansen
/
South Carolina Public Radio
Betty (left) and John West (right) attend an event for Republican Congressman Russell Fry in Georgetown. The retired couple recently moved to Pawleys Island because they felt their Atlanta suburb was becoming too liberal.

“We saw our state going very blue,” says West. “I’m sorry for whoever gets to hear this, but you’re either on one side of the fence or the other.”

West says they were fed up with crime in their Atlanta suburb. The Christian couple is concerned about immigration. They’re also pro-life and support school choice as well as gun rights laws.

“I agree with everything that they say here,” says Betty.

In South Carolina, Betty says, they can be themselves. That wasn’t the case in Georgia.

“No, we would never wear a MAGA hat or Trump t-shirt,” she says. “We couldn’t even put our Trump signs out on the street.”

South Carolina Public Radio caught up with the Wests as they attended an event in Georgetown for Trump-backed Congressman Russell Fry.

“I agree with everything that they say here" - Betty West on moving to South Carolina from Georgia

Political scientist Mark Owens wanted to know what South Carolina’s newcomers and natives care about most. So, he helped the Citadel conduct a poll earlier this year.

“One of the questions we asked was how do you feel about the other party,” says Owens. “Of the people who moved here just five years ago, 62% think the Democratic party is a threat to them is some way.”

Owens says the political impact on South Carolina is hard to predict as people continue to move to the state at a rapid rate. But, he says, people self-segregating nationwide based on politics could make it more difficult to challenge their own viewpoints.

“There might be a feedback loop coming back to what we feel most comfortable with.”

In other words, isolation may further deepen an already profound, political divide.

Victoria Hansen is our Lowcountry connection covering the Charleston community, a city she knows well. She grew up in newspaper newsrooms and has worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 20 years. Her first reporting job brought her to Charleston where she covered local and national stories like the Susan Smith murder trial and the arrival of the Citadel’s first female cadet.